Basketball the game of the youth

There are a ton of school basketball tournaments going on these days, both for boys and girls. The tournaments are receiving quite a bit of fanfare and media coverage and without a doubt basketball now is the school sport of Nepal.

Unlike football, which requires a massive field and a squad of 16 to 18 players, and the martial arts, whose purpose is to wound one's opponent, basketball is an ideal sport for Nepali schools.

I would love to see schools and the Nepal Basketball Association (NeBA) work together to really proliferate the game in the country. The goal should be for virtually every school to have a basketball court and a team. They would play in local school leagues and there would be a national championship for the top schools.

The dream scenario for sports lovers would be if in the future kids picked a school based on the reputation of the basketball program and the sport became the central event that brings together a school's alumni base. Countries like the USA and Japan have a great school sports culture and it would be wonderful if we could one day have that in Nepal through basketball.

Anil Gurung's official website

Anil Gurung has launched an official website. Great timing by the Shillong Lajong striker, as interest in him is at a peak these days. The website has a creative layout - using a key chain as a navigation menu. Other than that it is fairly basic at the moment, but has most of the information that fans and media would be looking for.

Around the sports world

Preity Zinta is taking a sports management class at Harvard. I wonder if Rekha Thapa is thinking of doing the same?

American comedian Stephen Colbert's television show, the Colbert Report is sponsoring the USA Speed Skating Team. That would be the equivalent of Deepak Raj Giri's super-hit show Tito Satya sponsoring one of Nepal's national teams.

Sport England is spending GBP 1o million to encourage women to play sport. It would be great to see similar initiatives in Nepal. Let's stop wasting money on tourist athletes.

Here is a link to few Sports Marketing & New Media presentations (FC Barcelona, NFL, IMG, etc.)

Treat sports like a business

A big reason Nepali sports is on life-support is because our sports officials treat sports like it is a village "mela". All one needs to do is give notice to the local band a few days in advance, make sure there is enough food and liquor for everyone, and invite the most prominent politician in the area to grace the function. Once the "mela" is over everyone limps back home and all that is left at the village ground are heaps of garbage and a few passed-out drunks.

Sports have evolved substantially in recent times and "mela" management techniques do not work anymore. Our sports officials need to start treating sports like a business: there needs to be a strategic plan, proper accounting and audits, human resource development, a board of directors with real executive powers, customer service management, annual reports and reviews, etc., etc.

Sponsors need to be looked at as partners and not donors. The Government should be a resource and not the solution. Senior administrators must have the mindset of a CEO and not a 3rd-world dictator. People should be hired and promoted based on merit and not nepotism.

With all this in mind, I have added a new section to this Blog (see left hand column) which lists links to various sports business resources like news sites and management degree programs . I will also start posting interesting tidbits from around the sports world which I hope will educate and inspire Nepalis involved in the sports sector.

I am all for "melas", but they would be a million times more fun if it was to celebrate excellence in sports instead of the current mediocrity.

Prize money sends wrong message

Virtually every youth tournament these days is offering prize money to student athletes and schools. Perhaps this is the only way tournaments can attract participants, but it certainly sends the wrong message to kids.

When prize money is involved the ideals of sportsmanship, skill development, teamwork and having fun, which should be highly emphasized at youth levels, take a back seat to winning at all costs.

As a result the systematic development of youth players is compromised, there is a peak in match and age fixing, and students learn poor life lessons.

School and youth level sporting events should stop the practice of awarding prize money. A simple handshake after the match and some delicious Long Pie for the bus ride back home is more than adequate.

18th Asian Athletics Championships

Here is a link to the 18th Asian Athletics Championships. Nepali athletes are not doing too well at the event.

Does cheating pay?

I always questioned why a country would used overage players in youth tournaments. The use of over-age players is immoral and does little to develop football in the country. Well, that's what I thought.

After the dismal results of the current Nepal youth teams in AFC competitions, I now question my firmly held beliefs.

The horrid results have been condemned by fans, media, and the football fraternity alike. It has probably produced the greatest amount of collective venom ANFA has received recently.

But where was the outrage when Nepal blatantly used overage players (and no matter how much ANFA might try to deny it, the fact is they knowingly did) to advance to the AFC Under 16 finals in the past? On the contrary everyone celebrated the accomplishment like a Diwali night and was more than happy to look the other way on the over-age issue.

Let's face it, ANFA does not currently have the will to develop a formidable youth development plan. Knowing they cannot produce great teams through a well constructed youth system the choices left are either to use over-age players and do well or be honest and get beaten like hand-washed laundry. Why should anyone then subject themselves to scorn by playing fair?

Anil brings hope to Nepali football

Anil’s contract with SLFC is not only a great personal accomplishment but provides something far greater for Nepali football , something that has gone missing from our country’s favorite sport for a very long period of time. Hope!

Read my full article at GoalNepal.com

Athletes receive little support

There have been a host of stories in the local rags about the difficulties our sportsmen are facing as they prepare for the SAF Games. Basically each article reads like one of those Thamel t-shirts:

No Diet
No Facilities
No Good Allowance
No Government Support
No Job
NO HOPE!

Time to throw away any expectations you might have had for Dhaka.

Time to sterilize Rangasala

Is anyone really shocked by the missile throwing incident at the AFC Under 19 match between Nepal and Jordan? From the Aaha Gold Cup in Pokhara to the Martyrs Memorial League matches in Kathmandu to even pick-up games in the rice fields of the Terrai – spectator disobedience has become part and parcel of Nepali football.

With football officials setting terrible examples by bullying their way into stadiums without proper accreditation or shouting obscenities throughout matches, and the police boxing themselves in to corners of the stadium where they laugh and giggle with each other like nursery school kids while having little manoeuvrability to respond quickly to incidents - even the casual fan quickly realizes that Kurukshetra is literally a stone’s throw away when attending a football match.

While admittedly many of our spectators have a lot of growing-up to do, football officials and the police must share the blame for the continued security lapses at matches. For our football officials security basically means making sure the police are present at the event, and for the cops it means having enough lumber to lathi charge fans after they misbehave. This obsolete view of security needs to change.

Along with proper sports centric security planning and training, the authorities need to also try to change the hostile culture that exists at football games. Incentives to lure women and children to matches, keeping the stadium constantly clean and ancillary entertainment options for spectators (food, prizes, cheerleaders, etc.) are some ways they can start to sterilize the atmosphere. While some may feel that this will turn football stadiums into meditation centers, I would argue that Nepali football never has had a passionate supporters culture in the first place, so I fail to see what we would lose other than a bunch of trouble makers and continued fines from the AFC .

ROI: Football versus Cricket

Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN) announced a budget of 68 Lakhs (Appx. $90,000). I found that number shockingly low when compared to ANFA who just between their grants from FIFA and AFC get around $430,000 (3.35 Crores). That does not even account FIFA Goal Project funding or domestic sponsorship and allowances which easily add a few hundred thousand dollars more to that total.

Looking at the numbers, one would have to conclude that cricket easily offers Nepal ten times the return on investment that football does. While both CAN and ANFA should do some soul searching at their poor record at developing their sports at the grassroots levels, with less coaches, facilities, sponsorship, etc., our cricketers have been able to muster far better results than their football counterparts by reaching the finals or semi-finals of virtually every international tournament they participate in. Obviously Nepal is not playing against the likes of Australia and India in cricket, but neither are they competing with Asian powerhouses Japan and Korea in football.

Details of Anil Gurung's journey to Shillong Lajong

Nice write-up by Ajay Phuyal in the Republica on how Anil Gurung found his way to Shillong Lajong Football Club.

Asian Indoor Games

The Prime Minister saw off the Nepali contingent participating in the 3rd Asian Indoor Games in Vietnam. A very strategic decision by the PM as receiving the players after the conclusion of the Games may be a bit embarrassing.

Nepali athletes will be participating in Snooker, 3 on 3 Basketball, Archery, Chess and Boxing. The official website of the event can be found here.

Anil Gurung signs for Shillong Lajong

Looks like Anil Gurung took my advice ;-) and signed with Indian I-League side Shillong Lajong. According to Goalnepal.com Anil has signed a 3 year contract worth around 63 Lakhs.

I am really thrilled about the news and here is why. You can follow Lajong Shillong on their Facebook site.

Newspaper websites need reprogramming

Kathmandu Post finally fixed the glitch in their website which made it difficult to access their sports stories, but finding archived stories remains cumbersome. The Himalayan Times website continues to be out of whack with no domestic sports stories ever appearing on its front page and very old stories populating the sports section. As for the Rising Nepal, do they cover Nepali sports anymore or are they just not bothered to post those stories online? All these newspapers are really doing a disservice to their scribes with such poorly built websites. Thankfully, Republica is keeping me sane.

Chhetry highlights IP issues

If any publicity is good publicity then Soccer In Nepal Blog should buy a few plates of momo for Udipt Singh Chhetry. The last few days, Chhetry, the webmaster of NepalSportsPhoto.com went on a crusade to name and shame the little known Blog for blatantly using his photos - watermarks intact! I venture to guess that traffic to the site must have doubled or tripled since Chhetry brought attention to the Blog.

After a few days of flooding Facebook and the Blog's own comments section with vicious posts against the site, the webmaster of the Blog, who remains anonymous, finally took down all of Chhetry's pictures.

Though the operator of Soccer In Nepal Blog is probably a passionate Nepali football fan who simply was not well versed on IP issues, I applaud Chhetry for his efforts. It is really frustrating when someone takes your work without permission, especially when you calculate all the effort and costs that go into producing the product. Hopefully this incident will serve notice to media outlets in Nepal that they need to be much more mindful of intellectual property rights.

Update: Chhetry is now going after Three Star Club's Facebook account for using his photos and Brigade Boys Club...

Top volleyball player gets spiked

A top Nepali volleyball player, Prem Bahadur Shahi, has been kicked off of the SAF Games squad for failing to turn up for practice. He claims he was not able to arrive at the trials on time because of the road from his district being closed. Does the punishment fit the crime? Seems a bit harsh to me, but if the news reporting is accurate, there seems to be a lack of sobriety at the Nepal Volleyball Association.

ANFA losing the plot

It is outrageous that injured players are being played in a youth level tournament. Why risk the kids' careers in a competition that is meant to develop players? ANFA has really lost the plot.

Although the big names in the squad, Rohit Chand and Dipak Bhushal sustained minor injuries in the first match, coach Shakya hinted there would be no change in the playing set on Tuesday. “After losing the first match, we are under tremendous pressure to win. “I am not in the situation to take risk keeping the key players in the bench,"
-Himalayan Times

Another report says Nepal's top prospect Nirajan Malla is also not fully fit but will be playing.

Government has the right to ask questions

Politics should not interfere with sports, except when it comes to providing apathetic sports officials tickets to international sporting galas, giving grants to mismanaged sports federations, providing free land for the construction of corruption filled sporting infrastructure projects, and subsidizing international tournaments which have a limited impact both socially and economically for Nepal. That pretty much sums up the sentiments of most of our sports officials.

If the government provides money to a firm for the construction of roads, the public is right to demand the government makes sure that the company is held accountable. Similarly if sports want access to government funds they need to be prepared to answer to Uncle Shyam.

Just the other day the government increased allowances for SAF Games athletes. Will those same athletes and their respective sports association be accountable if they fail to put on an inspired performance in Dhaka? My guess is that they will just make more excuses – the lack of facilities, load-shedding, global warming, an Indian conspiracy against Nepali athletes, etc., etc.

It is not that I do not sympathize with our athletes, the ineptitude of the NSC has been highlighted on numerous occasions on this blog, but too often the government is used as an easy scapegoat to shield the incompetence of our sports associations and the under performance of our athletes. If the government is asked to step-up and bat, athletes and sports associations need to reciprocate.

Under 16 National Team post-mortem

Goalnepal.com carries my thoughts on Nepal's dismal showing in the AFC Under 16 qualifiers. Unlike the mainstream sports media, I do not think it is correct to blame the players or coaches. ANFA's youth football strategy - or the lack of it - is the real culprit.