· Beena was the eldest of the four
daughters of a rubber tapping labourer from a hilly district of Kerala. Mr Thomas,
the physical educational instructor of St George School spotted the athletic
talent in this poor, slender girl, while she was in Class 7. The dedication
that she made to athletics that day continued for several years. When she won
her district, state, and country many gold medals, no one knew that she ran on
empty stomach and that her family lived under thatched roof. When an
opportunity came to showcase her talent in a prestigious international meet,
the selection team and the sports authorities quietly replaced her with another
less competent girl who had political backing. Beena’s talent remained in her
remote village and is now living as a plantation worker.
This
is just a representative case to show how patronage from the powerful can
decide one’s future in sports.
· Indian Hockey team arrived
jubilantly after defeating a strong opponent. But they were reportedly
ridiculed and humiliated by offering a paltry twenty five thousand rupees per
player whereas each cricket team member received rewards in lakhs for a similar
victory.
Why
this discrimination? Critics say, cricket is big money, honey!
· India won more than 100 medals in
the in the recent Commonwealth Games, held at New Delhi. Apart from this, the
final tally included 45 cases
of corruption and more than a dozen arrests.
It was alleged
that there is misappropriation and mismanagement of thousands of crores.
Dick Ritger
had said: ‘All sports are games of inches’. But we can correct this to, ‘All
sports are games of riches’!
The above three are
just representative samples of thousands of instances of dishonest, unfair and
unscrupulous actions by the powers that controlled the sports in India. The first
one is an illustration of how millions of meritorious sports persons are
unjustly pushed out of the courts to make way for those who wield power. The
second one is a clear indication of how business interests make or break a
game. And the third points towards a deeper malaise that increasingly gripped
the Indian society. The cancer of corruption has spread far and wide to every
institution of society. And field of sports is the latest casualty.
What is common in all
the above cases? Power and Money. It doesn’t matter whether there is a
politician, bureaucrat, businessman, sports person or a social activist at the
helm of the affairs. What matters is their driving force. Either the source or the
destination or both could be either money or power or both. Let us analyse this
in detail. Before we analyse this in detail, let us try to answer the following
controversial question.
Should
we make sports leadership out of bounds for politicians?
My instinctive answer
is a big NO. But, if many politicians are corrupt, we have as many corrupt
bureaucrats, sports persons, activists and religious leaders. There is no
sector of the population which is untouched by the evil of dishonesty, nepotism
and corruption. We need to rank which profession is corrupt based on the
opportunity to be corrupt. Politicians and bureaucrats are at a comparatively
vulnerable position to use and abuse money and power. But when the right
opportunity knocks at their doors, our sportsmen, activists or the spiritual
gurus also quietly tread into dishonest paths for personal gains. We have
innumerable examples of unethical practices by persons from each of these
professions. Thus the persons don’t matter; but an environment that facilitates
corruption and inefficiency matters. What is needed is the creation of a system
that insulates corrupt practices in sports. Before I conclude this topic, let
me discuss once again if we should ban politicians from heading sports bodies.
Probably there may not
be any other professional label in English language that instantly evokes a
suspicious response than the word ‘Politician’.
The negativity triggers such an intense feeling that people started
using this noun to anyone who is manipulative, shrewd and deceptive. Even
politicians do not like them to be addressed as such, but prefers nomenclature
like civic leader, social worker etc.
In a democratic polity,
the politicians, whether actually a part of the ruling power structure or not,
represents a cross section of society. They are assigned the roles of presenting
and solving the issues faced by people. In a representative governance system,
ideally, the political leaders decide about the generation and utilization of
resources for the common good. Thus by having a politician as one of the
decision makers in a sports body would prove to be beneficial for the prospects
of sports which should be done within a systemic frame work explained at the
end of this article.
Can
the leadership of the sports bodies be entrusted exclusively with sportsmen?
….And if they are having political or commercial interest?
Konrad Lawrence
wrote: ‘A specialist knows more and more about less and less and finally knows
everything but nothing.’
This is true in the
area of sports as well. The roles, functions, powers, vision and mission of a
large sports body are wide, exhaustive and comprehensive. There are technical,
managerial, supervisory, and inspirational skills needed to lead such an
organization. Expertise in sports or a particular game is only one of the many
attributes to step into the shoes. While a sportsman can assess the needs and
priorities through his technical expertise, he also needs professional
competence, ethical standing, managerial effectiveness, wider outlook and
leadership traits that ensure cohesion and solidarity. If these are present, a
sportsman would be the most suitable person to head a sports body.
Unfortunately, as in
any other field, sports are also marred by allegations of dishonesty, unethical
practices, and nepotism by sportsmen, former sportsmen and sports officials
like coaches, umpires etc. That does not mean that there is a dearth for
honest, disciplined and visionary individuals among the sports persons. As any
other person of similar integrity and competence, sports persons are also
eligible for selection to the top leadership of sports bodies. In fact, other
things being equal, they would be at an advantageous position as compared to
others due to their core competence.
It is a fact that major sports events are not
just a platform to showcase healthy competition, but avenues to provide mass
entertainment, to make huge profits, for wide reaching advertisements, and to
derive opportunities to wield power, and become points of strategic convergence
of all of these. Therefore, there are conflicts of interests, promotion of
particular interests and suppression of public interest. Being an important
party in the events sportspersons do play a crucial role in all of these. This
is more conspicuous when the sportspersons either directly or indirectly,
manage or control marginally or substantially an event. Though many instances
of such unholy nexus between sportsmen and various interests have come to light
and available in the public domain, specific references are avoided here as
some of these are continued to be disputed legally.
It is clear from the
aforesaid discussion that sportsmen with commercial and political interest,
latent or manifest, or direct or indirect cannot be a fit candidate for
occupying any decisive role in any sports body.
The
solution
What is imperative
today is to create a system in place that formulates clear rules and guidelines
regarding the eligibility and fair selection of office bearers of sports body
and detailing a clear code of conduct.
Here are some
suggestions:
- It is immaterial who the person is; be it a politician or bureaucrat or businessman or sportsperson, or an activist. The eligibility should be restricted to persons of proven integrity, exemplary conduct in public life and higher levels of competence to manage and lead the team and reasonable expertise in the area of sports.
- There should be a fixed tenure and should not be eligible for re-appointment.
- In case of any allegation of conflict of interest, the onus should be shifted to the functionary to disprove the allegations with clear evidence.
- The body should consist of representatives who satisfy above criteria and should necessarily have sufficient representation from important categories of sports.
- The National Sports Bill, which is yet to be passed by the Parliament, should be reformulated.
- Politicians who are saddled with ministerial responsibilities should not be permitted to head the body.
- Sportspersons and others who are selected for the post should give a declaration that they or their close relatives or associates do not have any pecuniary interest that has any remote connection with the performance of roles and functions associated.
- There should be a comprehensive cost and system audit and the report should be tabled in Parliament. The auditors should not be eligible for reappointment.
Concluding note
Thus, I would like to conclude my discussion
stressing that, the posts of heads of sports bodies, instead of reserving only
to the sportspersons, can be given to any person who has proved his integrity,
core competence, administrative efficiency, and inspirational leadership
traits.
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This post has been published by me as a part of IBL; the Battle of Blogs