Former President of the Netball Federation of Sri Lanka (NFSL) Tamara Dharmakirti-Herath says that a consistent programme should be lined up by the Ministry of Sports if players are to harbour hopes of a bright future in the sport for Sri Lanka.
She asserted that without a professionalised and well-coordinated programme, it would be all but futile to expect players to perform miracles when competing in both regional and global competitions.
Dharmakirti-Herath made these comments when pressed for her views on the current state of the game in the country, with the sport’s local governing body having been dissolved and brought under the supervision of the Director General (DG) of the Department of Sports Development.
“I do not particularly fancy talking about the sport at the national level considering its current parlous state,” she told The Sunday Morning Sports on the sidelines of a press conference held by her old school Ladies’ College, Colombo last Wednesday (27).
“Since you asked me, I will put it this way: I feel this is one sport which, if professionalised, could even be brought up to the level of cricket. It is also one of the rare sports in the world where local women could achieve success and bring fame and glory to the country. But for that to happen, the system has to undergo some long-overdue transformation and the cue for this has to be taken by the ministry,” she added.
Dharmakirti-Herath, who has served the local administrative body during three separate terms commencing in 1996, observed that much pre-planning was needed ahead of fielding a national team for global events along with requisite investments.
She identified high performance as an aspect that needed to be addressed if local netballers were to hold their own against their more advanced and versatile regional and global counterparts.
The former netballer was of the view that Sri Lankan girls were not short of talent, but rued the fact that inadequate exposure outside home shores on a regular basis had stalled their progress.
Dharmakirti-Herath maintained that this fact was on display in their performances during recent events and called for urgent action if interest of players was to be retained in the game, both in the short and long term.
While urging the ministry to take the lead in uniting the stakeholders of the game if netball was to be put on the global map, she remained rather sceptical at the same time as to whether it could be achieved without a duly elected ruling body.
“I firmly and honestly believe that Sri Lankan women could aspire for recognition and greatness via this sport if it is managed professionally, as is the case in most other countries,” the Ladies College alumna opined.
‘’This sport is tailormade for them to do so. But all those within the netball community must sing from the same hymnsheet if this is to become a reality. There has to be a sustainable programme put in place. The ministry, I am afraid, has to look into this forthwith, but I prefer to reserve my comments on how things will pan out in the current context.”
The NFSL was dissolved by former Minister of Sports Harin Fernando in late May 2024 over its failure to hold its election of officebearers before the annual cut-off date of 31 May; it was subsequently brought under the supervision of a Competent Authority in the form of Department of Sports Development DG Shemal Fernando.
Fernando has since retired from office and the NFSL is currently under the supervision of the ministry’s Acting DG of Sports V. Premachanthiran.
Efforts to seek the views of the incumbent Sports Minister in relation to Dharmakirti-Herath’s comments proved unsuccessful.
(JK)