Politics hounds Nepali football
By Sushil Thapa
(December 2001)

Sad to announce that Nepali football is back to square one. The cycle of  controversies, conspiracies and internecine  fighting revolving around the most sought after  sports body in Nepal, ANFA, continues unabated. As a result the situation has further deteriorated, thus pushing football  deep in a rut. 

It has been almost a   year since the  infamous fight for the coveted seat exploded.  Sadly the feud remains unresolved to date. The implication on  football and footballers  has been devastating and shattering. The failure of  Sports Ministry, National Sport Council (NSC) and  Nepal Olympic Committee (NOC) to resolve the dispute  clearly  reflects their  administrative incompetence and shortcomings.

Lack of  accountability and maneuvering  ability  on their part has  kept the  wrangling  alive to this day.  Hard to  believe  that they are the same people who are in charge of  the entire national sports scene. What a pity, what a shame!

Coming back to the ANFA feud, the rival groups  have displayed rock solid determination, to prevail in the battle. The latest  ANFA election held by Ganesh Thapa turned out to be  yet another  sham. The ready made  election saw Thapa and his supporters triumph unopposed. The election was a photocopy of  the last two. The election was immediately condemned by the three national sports bodies, ANFA (Rana) and about forty clubs across the country.  They  also requested the Asian Football Confederation ( AFC) to nullify and void the election. Despite  the phony nature of the elections, the AFC officials who observed the elections, expectedly,  were tight lipped. Though queried by the media,  they made no such comments to embarrass Thapa . Instead they  opined that they were least concerned about the  internal ANFA  squabbling.

Guess what? - their election report card is bound to validate  and endorse Thapa's latest stunt. Not to be surprised because  they belong to a football confederation the AFC - where members seem much more concerned about jockeying for positions and titles, than football development.  Most AFC members, especially the South Asian ones, clearly  understand the significance of each and every  vote needed  to  further  enhance and consolidate their position in  the AFC and  beyond. Driven by these  selfish motives they continue to lack neutrality and and form a nexus with Ganesh Thapa. As long as this relationship remains intact the ANFA feud will continue. It is a feud that could have easily been solved, had the AFC done its homework, stayed neutral and just given Nepal a few moments of its time (Like it did to Lebanon a few months back). It obviously seems as solving the ANFA feud, which will almost certainly mean curtailing Ganesh Thapa's power, is not in their vested interests.

The AFC members have to rise above their own  interests to rescue  Nepalese football!   How long are they going to keep up the pretense of  not knowing the root cause of  ANFA  dispute?  Nepali football is now being crippled by the AFC's petty politics! Do the AFC members think  we are  living  in a fool's paradise? We know what the likes of the AFC and FIFA can and cannot  do  in this matter.

Be it Ganesh Thapa or Geeta Rana or Tashi Ghale, whoever becomes the president of ANFA, I care little, as long as they  make it through a  free and fair election. At such, I have nothing against Thapa, who has done  so much  for Nepali football. Personally I have great admiration for him. Neither  am I a supporter of Rana or Ghale  whose contribution to football  is something to rave about. More than these individuals the interest of  Nepali football and footballers comes first and cannot be taken hostage.  

What I and the entire football community in the country want is  a quick end to the present limbo.  It's now up to AFC to solve the problem or compound it further.