‘Keep soccer above other interests’

BY A STAFF REPORTER

Kathmandu, Feb 4: The ANFA controversy stems from the demand for the amendment of ANFA statutes by a large section of ANFA members who felt that the existing statutes had outlived their utility and required a thorough review to suit the current realities. This is stated in a press release issued by the ANFA today.

Without respecting the wishes of the vast majority of members, Ganesh Thapa, the then President of ANFA attempted to hold organisational elections on 28th and 29th Jestha, 2057 in a secretive manner.

A stay-order was issued by the honourable court in response to an appeal made by the dissenting members. The NSC directed Thapa to hold the elections after making the necessary amendments to the ANFA statutes. Though Thapa was in favour of changes in the statutes while he was the Vice President of the NSC, he failed to keep his commitments. He ignored the NSC directives to amend the statutes and decided to go ahead with the elections thereby violating the act, which guided the NSC to issue directions to ANFA. It should be remembered that this is a serious violation considering the fact that the NSC is the apex body of Nepalese sports.

In the meantime, the tenure of the committee led by Thapa expired on 23 Ashwin, 2057. By then Thapa had lost the trust of the majority of members due to his reluctance to amend the statutes and to honour the directives of the court and the NSC.

In a press statement has said, since no organisation can function in a vacuum, Mrs. Geeta Rana was chosen to lead a committee to look after the day to day affairs of ANFA till an acceptable solution was found. The interim committee led by Geeta Rana was also entrusted with the responsibility of amending the statutes and to hold free and fair elections to break the exiting stalemate within ANFA.

The interim committee has done a commendable job so far by successfully organising the Birthday Cup in the recent past. It has also conducted training programmes for referees and players.

At a recent press conference in Kathmandu, Thapa has said that he had been instrumental in shifting the venue of the World Cup qualifiers from Nepal to Kazikshthan. Such a heinous act was a severe blow to football in Nepal. Thapa alleged that the NSC was responsible for the change of venue due to its rigid stand against him and his committee. Nothing could be farther from truth. He should have approached ANFA, which is the apex body for football in Nepal. The interim committee of ANFA would have certainly taken measures to prevent the change of venue if only he had sought its assistance. Instead of doing this,he
misused his clout with international organisations to get the matches shifted to another country.

The interim committee has already planned to provide necessary training to the Nepalese squad for the World Cup qualifiers. It is doing its duties in a religious manner.

This is not the time to trade charges against each other but to work in unison keeping the interest of Nepalese football above other interests. ANFA urged all the referees, coaches, players, clubs, districts and well wishers to join hands to save the sport from degeneration.