Booters express career concerns

KATHMANDU, OCT 13 - A delegation of footballer s, coaches and referees led by national team captain Sagar Thapa handed over a memorandum to minister for Youth and Sport Purushottam Poudel and the National Sports Council member secretary Yubaraj Lama voicing fears over their career on Sunday.

The team led by Thapa, which consisted of women’s team captain Chandra Bhandari, youth team captain Bimal Gharti Magar, youth coach Bal Gopal Maharjan and Fifa referee Lava Khatri expressed concern over their future following a recent Public Accounts Committee (PAC) directive to “put on hold” the Anfa office bearers’ authorities. “We are not against Anfa probe. In fact we are of the opinion that if any Anfa official is found, he/she should be duly punished,” said skipper Thapa after handing over the memorandum to Lama. “But the state of uncertainty in football that has resulted from the PAC directive must be addressed properly to ensure that we will not be deprived of our profession.”

The national team skipper also expressed fears of the world’s governing body Fifa imposing a ban on Nepal as a result of the PAC directive that deprives Anfa officials from exercising their power for two months. PAC two had directed the Ministry of Sports to put on hold the power of Anfa members including president Ganesh Thapa to dig into the corruption chargers brought into notice by two Anfa vice-presidents Karma Tshering Sherpa and Bijay Narayan Manandhar.

The players, who conspicuously remained silent when Anfa its inability to organise the national league this year, said they joined hands to save their future. “We might have made an error of judgement by not objecting to the stalled national league but the situation at the moment is far more serious as it concerns not just our future but also that of the coaches and referees,”  said Thapa. Another national team player Sandeep Rai said: “The laws of Fifa clearly state that it will not tolerate third party interference and if it (Fifa) does decide to suspend Nepal, it will be the players who will be directly affected.”

Coach Bal Gopal Maharjan, in charge of the junior team said: “Our junior teams have shown great potentials and the current situation can jeopardized their future.