Professionalism in Nepalese Football: long way to go

(Although the price tag of players have reached Rs. 1 Lakh , Nepalese football clubs must put lots of effort to turn professional)

By: Dinesh Thapa
football_nepal@yahoo.com

Before the start of the Martyrs League 2061, clubs in Nepal compete with each other to sign quality players. Although the clubs are financially poor, they really battle with each other to sign quality players for their team which definitely is a step further towards professionalism. The clubs paid up to Rs. 100000.00 to a player and the clubs are starting to be professional but they have still lots more to do.

Lack of corporate sponsor, not having own football pitch and poor financial ability of the clubs in Nepal may take some time for the clubs to be fully professional. Most football clubs in Nepal are social clubs established with the purpose of social work in the community which later turned in to football clubs. Unlike other countries clubs don’t have corporate sponsors. The clubs don’t have their regular sponsors and their regular income source. And the prize money they won by winning the competition or league in Nepal is so less that clubs are always on loss despite spending over million in players. Football won’t be fully professional in Nepal unless football is accepted as industry and private clubs must be motivated and given chance in the league.

The motivation factor for this years big investment on players from clubs are the increasing prize money if the club wins the league. But that is still not enough. Jawlakhel Youth Club, NRT, MMC and Three star club spent more than a million rupees to buy players. And if they won the league they will get only half a million rupees. Is that enough? Due to the lack of the regular income source the amount that clubs are spending on players looks unreal. It looks like they are spending huge amount only to show other clubs and to keep the pride of their club alive.

Regular Income source of Clubs?

Football being the number one sport in Nepal, is attracting more sponsors to the game recently. But the cubs have different story. Due to the lack of corporate sponsorship or private ownership, the clubs of Nepal find it difficult to prepare budget for the season. Its hard to believe that clubs that are spending more than a million rupees don’t have their regular income source.

Big companies in Nepal don’t show interest in sponsoring the clubs, they will rather sponsor the competition. Surya Tobacco is sponsoring Khukuri Cup and Everest Beer is the sponsor of the League. But clubs in Nepal are still unsuccessful in finding the corporate sponsors.

All of the clubs are running by donation made by it’s members, and advertising the sponsors products on their jerseys. Three Star Club organized a musical night  to raise fund for the club’s football team. Jawlakhel Youth Club, the only Nepalese club with own playing field makes money from hoarding boards and advertising materials. NRT which have their own building in front of the stadium incomes from the rental of building and that is approx Rs. 80,000 per month. Sankata and RCT’s income source are the same of NRT’s.

Due to the lack of corporate sponsorship, clubs have made jersey sponsorship a medium of income. MMC, NRT, Three Star, Jawlakhel Youth Club takes more than Rs. 100,000 for their jersey sponsorship. Almost all the clubs in the Martyrs League 2061 teams have their own jersey sponsors. But it’s sad to say that whatever the clubs are getting form the companies as their jersey sponsorship or any other help is just based on the personal relationship with the club officials. Some clubs have bitter stories to tell. Last year Boys Union Club signed with Rohit Group for their jersey sponsorship and their agreement was worth Rs. 200,000 payable to BUC in 4 equal installments. But after getting 1^st installment of 50,000 the group refused to give them the remaining. BUC officials still in hunt for last years money.

Although some clubs spent million on players, there are some clubs which don’t spend on players. Like RCT only pays Rs. 2,000 to Rs. 3,500 per month for the players. RCT president says, “We pay them according to what we can. What others pay is just not realistic. It’s just like elephants two teeth.”

The effect of big clubs spending million rupees on players affects the smaller clubs in the league which don’t have money to spend on the players. Like Kathmandu Club, Boys Union, Brigade Boys Club and Mahabir Club, they don’t spend on players. They just use local young players hoping that they will survive the relegation. Boys Sports didn’t take part on the league and was relegated to “B” division cause of financial problems.

But whatever the outcome of this financial tussle between the clubs, it is clear that the club with more money will get best players in the country and it’s a good sign of professionalism. 

Field: primary problem

Other problem rather than the regular income source, is the lack of football field. Jawlakhel Youth Club is the only top division club in Nepal which own their own football field other than Police and Army. Clubs are looking for some empty place to practice.

Following are the list of clubs and their training place:

Clubs like NRT, Boys Union, Kathmnadu, RCT, Sankata train on the open fields with no markings and goal post. Can we imagine that Nepalese top division club practices on that type of field? The clubs that uses Tudhikhel have to go to Army headquarters to get approval every week. What can we expect from the team that practices on the field with no markings and goal post. And some clubs like MMC and Mahabir share a field to train on.

So I still think despite the clubs spending million rupees on players, they should consider building their own infrastructure and the facility to take further step towards professionalism. Only asking donations and finding jersey sponsors won’t help the Nepalese football to become professional. Private clubs must be encouraged and ANFA should make different road map for the professional football in Nepal. And I know this will take some time and many effort form ANFA, the clubs, big companies, journalists and off course football fan like us.

By: Dinesh Thapa
football_nepal@yahoo.com