The resignation by the seven officials of the All Manipur Football Association (AMFA) on April 17, 2018 stands valid only if the remaining AMFA officials are also scrutinized in the High Court of Manipur unless these officials in fact be found punishable under the law court instead of the officials that have resigned. This fact is so because to see the truth of the proceedings many of the officials of the AMFA from the time of its becoming a influential sports association in the state have been from a particular locality in the state capital Imphal, a locality that has had influence in terminating the spectator interest in football in the state and reduced the game of football to mere official and legal proceedings amounting to a nagging and prolonged nepotism that has disrupted the inter-club transfers of football players from the state and also caused long-standing confusion in the state leagues and tournaments in the state. AMFA officials L Ranjit Roy, Jyotirmoy Roy, coach Kamini Kumar Singh and his brother Sushil Kumar, and N Bormani have been the officials of the state official body for football and except for Kamini Kumar Singh who died of heart attack, something that happens rarely with sportspersons and coaches, the others still are officials although football is a popular sport in the state and so many officials must have vied for the AMFA posts pointing to the fact that officialdom has been rampant in the AMFA sports association.
A logically and legally identifiable problem is the prolonged terms of the officials in the AMFA, a case which if resolved could also solve the matter of appointments or elections to the state’s sports associations. What are the criteria for appointments and is it not necessary to do away with rules that harm the freedom of sports as played on the field and how is it that officials that have not played for any clubs, leagues, tournaments and other features across the state officiate from influential positions that mar the sport and sports careers of the players – a mockery of sports and sports enthusiasts that has come to a situation where the sporting careers of competitive players like K Sanjita, in weightlifting, are being taken up in the legal jurisdiction of international sports committees for doping that seems to be irrelevant in the case but is justified from the opinions of the international sports committees on doping in competitive sports.
Manipur is not concerned much with doping tests in sports at any competitive level especially in the local sports competitions, as is specified under the doping rules, and there have been no cases of doping tested positive according to the doping rules of national and international sports competitions. It is then quite contradictory that sportspersons, as they come on to the international arena, are found wanting again and again and the disappointment that causes in sporting circles in the state is obvious. Testosterone is an anabolic steroid that is necessarily not orally ingested but is also caused by a genetic mismatch that causes chromosomal disorder. Overt male dominance does cause the gender mismatch and there are many factors in the state that point to the possible cause for the confusion in the matter of doping in sports. Would this be a matter that could be legally taken to a conclusion by the doping federations and if left unchecked what would be the future of sports and sportspersons in the state – a question for the day and another day in the future also – pertinent and commonplace.
Writer- RK Lakhi Kant
