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ANFA DISPUTE By Bikesh Shrestha The Nepal Football Fan Club (NFFC) is deeply saddened that the much awaited
All Nepal Football Association (ANFA) elections has failed to resolve the long standing
feud within ANFA that has crippled Nepali football for the better part of a year. The various parties involved continue to put personal benefit over the
interest of Nepali football. This is utterly deplorable. The manipulative, calculated and
deceitful way in which the elections were held clearly show the character and intentions
of the personalities and associations involved. There was great optimism that a single election would bring the two ANFA
factions together and allow Nepali football to move forward. Unfortunately both ANFAs
decided to hold their own separate election and have perpetuated their feud to the
detriment of Nepali football. The NFFC is very disappointed that the AFC and FIFA have not been proactive
in trying to resolve Nepalís football crisis. They have shown minimal interest in trying
to research all the facts of the situation and to bring the two sides together. They
continue to send funds to one faction of ANFA despite the fact that it has not been able
to do anything in the last year for the average Nepali footballer or football fans. Nor
has the other faction of ANFA done any better. It has been over two years that the Nepali public has been unable to see its
national team in action on home soil or on television. We still lack a proper national
league or youth development system. Football clubs are in disarray because of a lack of
proper guidance from ANFA, and absence of any rules and regulations. There has been no
football infrastructure development. The majority of football players receives negligible
training and is not cared for. The NFFC will no longer stand and watch Nepali football being destroyed.
Effective immediately we will start an international awareness campaign to shed light on
what is really going on in Nepal as the international football community seems to be
ill-informed about it. We will ask all international donors to temporarily stop all funding for ANFA
and seriously review the way they allocate funds to ANFA in the future. It is our view
that the lure of cashing in the foreign grants, and the perks associated with being in the
ANFA executive have contributed to the current dispute in ANFA and will continue to hinder
the stability and development of ANFA and Nepali football. The NFFC is extremely disappointed that we are put in such a position. The
Nepali football fans deserve to have their football back! The football fans of Nepal
neither started nor picked sides in this feud. Therefore it is wrong that they have to
suffer because of the greed and politics of a few. Having said that, we still continue to invite the two ANFAs, the national
sports bodies and international football bodies to come together and resolve this crisis
for the sake of Nepali football and football fans. n |
Send your feedback to the
editor: spotligh@mos.com.np |
