Fifty years of football in Nepal
By Sushil Thapa
(November 2001)

I barely remembered  that 2001 marks 50 years of active football in Nepal.  A very special year for Nepali football, indeed. Hard to believe that All Nepal Football Association (ANFA ), the national football governing body  is more than 30 years old. My gosh, how  fast time passes.

When we talk of Nepali football   the name General Nar Shamsere Rana, father of Nepali sports,  immediately  strikes  our minds. Had he not been committed  and devoted to sports, specially football, surely  we would have been a late starter in international football. Rana a brilliant sportsman, excelled in a wide range of sports from wrestling to football. His accomplishments   are  not  only  exemplary but also a source of inspiration and encouragement to every would be athlete in the country. Football, the most popular international  team event  topped his priorities. By building   a strong Nepal Police team, he  succeeded in  giving the public  a taste  of the game. From there on  the game  rolled by at a leisurely pace.  

Nepal Police, the  Titans of Nepali football then, faced  stiff opposition from civilian teams. The  footballers displayed a high degree of  skills and football knowledge not even  seen in contemporary booters.  Considering the pool  of talents, it was apparent that Nepal  stood a pretty good chance to  become a force to reckon with in the region. Despite a flurry of activities there remained  a lot to be done to revolutionize the game in terms of development and promotion. Bearing  in mind the  fragile  political system and economy  it was a stupendous task on hand.  More importantly, an association was needed to take care of the  affair. Rana did establish Nepal Football Association  only to be deregulated by the supreme court later. Nonetheless, he deserves full credit for his  role in the development of football. Then  followed the   formation of ANFA as we know it,  in the early 80s. Steps were taken to organize and  systematize football, however, the pace of development moved at a snail's pace due to  petty politics, absence of  infrastructures, and a paucity of funds.

Contacts  and links  with the outside world was established eventually. In retrospect, 50 years of football  has yielded   nothing  spectacular and dramatic. Football politics  got a head start after the dissolution of the Rana led Nepal Football Association.  Since then ANFA has  been   in the thick of dirty politics, thus  seriously hampering the overall development of the game to this day. No one can dispute the fact that we have  a  wealth of talents, however we   lacked and lack  adequate resources, healthy environment and a strong association  to nurture them. Over the years, we have witnessed hundreds of   promising footballers surface only to vanish  into oblivion, much to our chagrin.

Since Nepal became a member of  Asian Football Confederation and FIFA, our participation in international   and regional  tournaments has increased dramatically.  Result wise  it has been a story of  drubbings  and whitewashes so far, notably  in World Cup, Olympic qualifiers and Asian Games.  By  soundly defeating  Macao  twice  recently, the best   ever result   in a World Cup qualifier was achieved  by the national team. 

The recent historic qualification to the final round achieved by our youth team  in the under 16 Asian Youth Football Championship  turned out be a fiasco at the end. The Asian Football  body  penalized Nepal for not cooperating in the verification of its players' ages. Not for the first  time was Nepal  disgraced, but this time it would also be barred from  international participation at youth level for several years.

By far the  South Asian Federation Games  has been the most successful event for us. Twice we crowned ourselves champions of  the region. Since our  gold winning performance at the Bangladesh  South Asian Federation Games in 1993, football has taken  a mind boggling fall. Today we find ourselves  like a lost entity in world football. Former ace striker Ganesh Thapa  brought  new promises and hopes after he  successfully stormed   the ANFA  citadel. Wasting no time he undertook  measures  to  revamp and revitalize  the  almost dead game. To remind  readers prior to him under Phursottom Shrestha football  activities had virtually stagnated. Four years into his presidency, Thapa gave the impression that he was the right person for the job. He  set up a football academy and   training centers across the country, lured sponsors, brought aids from regional and international governing bodies,  doubled the national teams' international participation, activated grass roots level football  and youth projects. He did a lot, catching his critics completely off-guard. Sadly he  has become a victim of his own success.  His accomplishments have been overshadowed by his haughtiness, ignorance, arrogance and unprofessionalism.

Today he finds himself   in a precarious position, facing stiff   and hostile opposition from   Geeta Rana , president  of  rival ANFA (supported by National Sports Council, Sports Ministry and Nepal Olympic Committee). The deadlock between the two conflicting ANFAs has once again brought football activities to a  grinding halt. The sufferers, obviously  are thousands of promising footballers, hoping to make big splash in international football and of course the millions of football fans in Nepal. What next? We  have to  wait and see.