The recently concluded All Island U17 Football Tournament organized by the Sri Lanka Schools’ Football Association seems to be a replica of the National School Games Football Tournament, full of many mishaps of its own.
Here’s an in-depth review of the tournament by ThePapare.com
Timing
Many of the players who participated are readying themselves to face the GCE O/L exam in December and having the tournament in October would of course have been stretching the student athletes beyond their limits, having to balance both a tough government examination as well as an All Island tournament.
Coach of Maliyadeva Balika Vidyalaya, Mr.Satyaraj shared his thoughts on the issue with ThePapare.com;
“This tournament was not held last year. Even though it is admirable that they organized it this year it would have been better if they had held it a sooner. With the exams so near it is hard to get our players to come for practices and we cannot blame them either because the O/L exam is no joke. I believe hosting this tournament during the second term of the school calendar is the best option.”
Coach of Zahira College, Colombo Mohamed Roomy gave his comments, saying;
“My team had to play 3 matches on the final day. These players are still teenagers; their bodies need time to recover. Cramming in matches like this is not good for them. They will not be able to play well and that would their affect their mentality also. I think it is best if they held this tournament for at least 3 days.”
Refereeing
Refereeing decisions were another point of discussion during the tournament. One such decision by a referee led to quite a dispute resulting in one of the host schools, St.Sebastian’s College, Katuneriya, pulling out of the tournament.
When asked about the incident St. Sebastian’s Coach Philip Fernando said;
“During the second half in our match against St. Mary’s College, Negombo, a penalty was awarded to them with our keeper getting a yellow card as well. The penalty was taken before the whistle was blown so the referee made him retake it but did not issue a yellow card to the player in concern. The retaken penalty went out of target and when our players got ready to take the out kick without any notice the referee beckoned for another penalty saying that our keeper came forward from his line before the kick was taken. True if such a thing occurred, a penalty should be retaken but referee should point it out at the very instance. But this referee did not blow the whistle and when the players readied themselves for the out kick he is using hand signals for a penalty and after some time too. What is the meaning of such refereeing?”
According to FIFA regulations, although a player who takes a penalty before the whistle is not awarded a yellow card, an infringement by the goal keeper such as is mentioned above, should at once be countered with a re-kick regardless of whether it was a goal or not.
The referee’s inability to issue the decision immediately certainly raises questions regarding his credibility in becoming a referee.
Mr. Philip went on to say;
“We only had one referee in our ground and he was accompanied by two Nigerian nationals, who are players of a club, as the side referees. The inability of the SLSFA to field in proper referees for an All Island tournament is a big joke. They have the resources, so why are they holding back like this?”
Allowing people who are not qualified to officiate any match is a very serious breach of conduct by the organizing committee. The SLSFA, who are responsible for the development of the game at school level, acting in such a manner surely points in the direction of imminent decline of football in Sri Lanka.
Mr. Isuru Perera, Coach of St. Peter’s College, Colombo also confirmed the issue on the side referees;
“Refereeing was not up to standard. In one ground I saw two African nationals taking up the roles of side referees.”
“Some referees don’t even know the rules. At one instance I had an issue about an offside decision. When I inquired about it some people said I had no right to ask and refused me any explanation.
Also organizing-wise it was very unsatisfactory. They only play for 25 minutes. The organizers just want to finish a tournament without hosting it properly. We have to seriously consider about participating in such tournaments again.”
It was also seen that two other young men who also were not referees acted as side referees alongside the Nigerians alternatively.
Zahira and Maliyadeva Girls’ win U17 All Island Championships
Zahira College, Maradana demolished St.Mary’s College, Negombo 5-0 while Maliyadeva Girls’ College outclassed Jayakody MV 2-0 to win the Boys’ and Girls’ categories respectively in the U17 All Island Football Championship organized by the Sri Lanka Schools’ Football Association at the Albert F. Peiris Stadium, Wennappuwa.
Coach of Zahira College, Colombo Mohamed Roomy also provided his views on the referees;
“Usually the SLSFA fields in inexperienced referees paying them a low amount. A single decision from such a referee is enough to crash a team’s progress in a tournament. Such poor short-sighted actions by the SLSFA not only affect the tournament but also the whole of Sri Lankan footballing community.”
Record keeping
Abysmal record keeping by the organizers was visible especially in the St. Sebastian’s Grounds where both girls and boys matches were played.
When our reporter requested a record of the results for Day 1 of the tournament, none of the officials were able to provide the results. They had to be acquired the next day at the Albert F. Peiris Stadium and by then the accuracy of the records were questionable.
It is advisable to maintain a proper method of record keeping in such a major tournament like this to prevent any unwanted issues as well as to keep a proper standard of a tournament organized by the SLSFA.
Ground conditions
As always, the issues with grounds came up in this tournament as well. The St. Sebastian’s Ground was quite visibly not up to playing standards and the pitch of Albert F. Peiris Stadium was divided into two to form playing grounds.
As this is an Under 17 tournament as well as being at the All Island level, we hope the organizers would select better playing grounds and give the players the opportunity to play a better game in a full length ground at least from next year onwards.
This is very important if we as a country are planning on taking Sri Lankan Football to the next level.
