Although there have been several instances of political interference in cricket administration, those running the sport and their political bosses have strongly denied that cricket decisions are politically motivated.
However, a secretly recorded audio of a recent SLC Executive Meeting shows the board’s President Jayantha Dharmadasa informing Board Members that there is widespread political interference in the administration of the sport.
Cricket administrators had been debating about who should fill the vacant position of Vice-President of SLC and Dharmadasa during the meeting goes onto claim that he and Nishantha Ranatunga (another political appointee) are under pressure to appoint Asanga Seneviratne as the new Vice-President of the board.
“I am telling you very frankly that the Minister came to this office, Nishantha and myself were there and he said, let’s appoint Asanga as the Vice-President and finish this off. So immediately I came and told you that this is what the Minister wants,” Dharmadasa goes onto claim during the meeting.
Asanga Seneviratne is a former Vice-President of SLC, but he is currently the President of Sri Lanka Rugby Football Union. Some members of SLC Executive Committee had resisted his appointment claiming that his remarks that he wanted rugby to be the number one sport in Sri Lanka in a few years’ time weren’t going to help develop cricket.
While previously there had been political interference only at national level, recent happenings showed that even the outcome of a club election isn’t spared.
