• Compares sports in SL to a patient down with arthritis 
• Reveals millions of rupees had exchanged hands at NOCSL AGM 
• Bemoans most seek posts to further own nests 

The National Olympic Committee of Sri Lanka (NOCSL) Former Vice President Rohan Fernando stated that it was his intention to see the Professional Sports Journalists Association (PSJA) operate as an independent body without turning into being a mouthpiece for anyone in this country.

He made this comment as the chief guest, while addressing the Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the PSJA held in Polhengoda, Colombo on Saturday (11).

The veteran sports administrator – also a household name in the nation’s telecommunications sphere, said that he had personally opted to grant a sponsorship to the Professional Sports Journalists Association without anticipating anything in return.

Fernando said that it was obvious to him that most of the professional sports journalists engaged in the print media firmament were facing financial difficulties, and noted that he too will support any endeavour taken by the PSJA to tie up with prospective sponsors to further streamline their work.

“Sports journalists are those who strive to promote sports and athletes and we must protect this breed,” Fernando told the AGM.

“Therefore, I am ready and willing to support all measures taken by your association to scour for prospective sponsors. I am also keen to give leadership to such a committee. But you need to remember that such sponsorships should be sought for a national cause and not with the intention of gaining undue benefits.”

The ex-head of Sri Lanka Telecom Mobitel, bemoaned the current lackadaisical state of sports in the country, and remarked that politics creeping into the sphere had been to its detriment as opposed to its betterment.

“Today politics has crept into all spheres of this country and I am afraid sports is not an exception,” he told the PSJA membership.

“I reckon the day sports is able to extricate itself from politics, this nation and its athletes will prosper. I also believe that if your association is able to speak your mind even to sponsors and have a strong spine then you will be able to take sports even far.”

Fernando, who stressed that he was currently apolitical, compared sports in Sri Lanka to that of a patient afflicted with arthritis and opined that it will be impossible for such a patient to fully recover overnight.

“As you know any patient who is down with arthritis will take some time to recover from that ailment,” he observed. “Such an ailment needs to be cured and that is the current state of sports here.”

The former sports administrator also took a swipe at sports administrators serving currently and noted that most of them have been implicated in courts and alleged that the majority seek positions in federations to further their own nests rather than working to improve the outlook of sports.

“In those days Hemasiri Fernando told me to take over the NOCSL, but I declined outright,”’ the advisor to the Sri Lanka Rowing Association recalled.

“In those times my firm was also not on a sound financial footing. If I had taken over the NOCSL reins then my detractors would have turned back and criticised me saying I managed to get my company in the pink, due to my position in the NOCSL. I feel firmly that you need to tie up with individuals who work according to their conscience and without seeking anything in return.”

The former NOCSL Vice President also revealed that it was not a secret anymore that millions worth of money had exchanged hands between different factions and groups which contested the 2026 April AGM of the Olympic House.

He insisted that it was unnecessary to divulge the identities of those involved in such wheeler dealings, and pointed to the Olympic House of which he had been a past member, in its current parlous state.

He advised sports federations to take a leaf out from the book of the SL Rowing Association. “Look at the Sri Lanka Rowing Association. It was a mudhole. But, within a four-year span we managed to construct a state-of-the-art sports centre, which has now been acclaimed both locally and overseas. There over 600 athletes are engaged in rowing. There a system has been established for athletes to develop their strength and conditioning and mental wellbeing.”

Fernando singled out boxing as one sport which has been mired in a plethora of issues and saw one of the reasons for the debacle in the domestic fight game being the presence of incompetent officials with vested interests.