When Manilal hit the net for soccer

Elmo RODRIGOPULLE

The Prince of sport promoters Manilal Vernon Fernando, scored winning goals for the game of football and for himself when he deftly and with aplomb answered questions posed to him by main host Kingsley Ratnayake in the popular “Kelin Kathawa” question and answer programme on Sirasa on Wednesday night.

Every night Sirasa kept flashing on their programmes that Fernando would be featured this time, and he certainly would have had a large following watching him perform at the show.

Fernando is one who does not believe in talk. Work, honesty and always being ramrod straight have been his stepping stones to success.

Ratnayake posed questions that were straight and some tricky.

Fernando took strike like a brilliant batsman, faced the bouncers bowled by Ratnayake and answered them cleverly playing a straight bat and replying quite cleverly.

Fernando faced questions initially as an entrepreneur,then sportsman and later his experience as a politician.

It is not the facets of sport, entrepreneurship and politics, the writer will comment on, but the footballing aspect of Fernando and how cleverly and interestingly he went on the programme.

Initially Ratnayake paid glowing tributes to Fernando and showered praise on the good work that he has been doing to take local football into the promised land.

When asked how he got into the game and its administration, Fernando said that in school he took part in cricket, soccer and rugby and then being popular and a lawyer much in demand, the soccer teams in the Kalutara District - Kalutara is his home town -, forced him to take charge of the game and once he stepped out on to this field, he never looked back.

“I am a straight man. And honesty has helped me to success”, he told his host.

When asked for his views of politicians getting involved in sport he said: Politicians who can do a honest job and work for the benefit of the sportsman and the game is a good thing.

“Take for instance volleyball. Now there is a politician at the helm and I must say he is doing an admirable job”, he said. Incidentally the head of the Volleyball Federation is Dilan Perera, Minister of Justice.

When questioned about the money that is coming into the Federation,Fernando said that the money is well accounted for and that it goes down the line and no room is left for question.

“For some years,we did our own accounting. But of late we have left that important job to the Auditor General. Of course the accounts cannot be made public, but it is available to the membership.

“Today it has to be made a rule for all national sports bodies to hold their annual general meetings and send in their statements of accounts in time”. The Football Federation is an example in this aspect it must be said.

When a question was posed to him that there is a belief that he is a sort of dictator, he said that he would like to be that, as long as he could do things for the benefit of the player and the game.

He even quoted the former Singapore dictator Lee Kuan Yew, who he said as a dictator was an example.

When asked about his son coming into football, he said that he is a medical doctor by profession and that he does a honorary job in treating injuries. “If he wants to get into the administration that is his business. He must open the door, it is not for me to do that”, said Fernando.

Fernando said that his one ambition is to see that the primarily poor man’s game hits the big time here.”Before I close my eyes, I would like to see 10 to 12 good teams emerge here, so that we can pick the best and be a force to be reckoned with in the future”, said a cheerful Fernando.

Speaking on the progress of the game Fernando said that in the Asian region we are lying somewhere in between 24 to 25 and in the world scene we are in about the 135th position.

Fernando admitted that soccer is the world’s most popular game.

He also revealed that Sri Lanka won the SAF Gold Cup in 1995 beating the Indians and have also won several other trophies. When asked whether there were any religious differences in the team, Fernando said that there is no such thing and that the soccerites play as one family.

Fernando also revealed that in the good old days when the game was played in Jaffna a crowd of nearly 30 to 40 thousand would throng to savour the action.

“Even when Muralitheran plays there, there wouldn’t be that much of crowd” said Fernando.

The consensus was that Fernando came out tops in this show, silenced his critics and raised his esteem.

Incidentally Fernando is in big demand not only in the Asian scene,but also the world scene being a trusted lieutenant of Bin Hammam and Sepp Blatter.

Fernando “lived his dreams” as the blurb implies when one enters the imposing “Football House”, that he helped build.

More strength to his elbow.