Anecdotes about how great Sri Lanka was in the past, appear to be failing to restore the public’s hopes about building a future in the country. The economy has been on a drastic downward trajectory for over a year now. Although various efforts are being made by the government, including its supposed ability to revive the economy, a considerable share of recovery efforts do not look promising.
The result is the public equating the country to a sinking ship and trying to escape before it sinks further,which is not unfair, because, at the end of the day, each person has to prioritise their own well-being and every other factor becomes a secondary priority.From unskilled laborers to highly specialised medical experts, workers of all categories have chosen this route.During the past few months, the country witnessed scores of people migrating to foreign countries, and it is continuing in both legal and illegal ways.Among them, those who leave the country for various official purposes,such as foreign trainings or competitions,illegally staying back in foreign countries appears to become a more common sight, and certain sports personnel have played a key place in this phenomenon with many incidents involving such figures.
As per media reports, the latest incident of sports persons leaving the country seeking greener pastures involves a national level Sri Lankan pole vaulting champion who bid farewell to her athletic career to embrace a non-sports profession which she has decided was better. The media reported that her decision was triggered by financial hardships, and that she left the country to work as a housemaid in a foreign country.The situation is such that sports persons would rather become daily wage workers with adequate income in a developed foreign country than remaining as a financially-unstable, national-level sports figures in her motherland. It would not be wrong to say that this situation is more prevalent among athletes, possibly because media reports pointed more at athletes leaving the country than other forms of sports persons, and that begs a question as to whether the country has failed to make athletes feel valued and compensated adequately. Despite the fact that athletics as a sport, has brought fame to the country on numerous occasions, including at Olympic level, it is only during tournament seasons that they receive adequate attention, particularly from the relevant authorities and generally from the public.
It is the job of the authorities to capitalise on the recognition that sports persons gain.With such support, certain other forms of sports, such as cricket, have gained financial through mammoth recognition. In fact, a number of national level cricketers remain among the wealthiest sports persons of the country, and they often get profitable chances to enter international contracts such as brand ambassador positions. It is definitely a right recognition to the skills and talents. And undoubtedly that would be the correct ascending path for the growth of the country’s sports sector. What does not seem right is similar support not being extended to other sports. The country has heard of more than enough incidents where athletes missed international competitions and slept in public buildings unable to bear costs of accommodation because the relevant authorities did not make the necessary arrangements on time,yet we have never heard such stories around cricket tours and tournaments.
Could this be a matter linked with the financial stability shown in cricket, in local as well as in the international context, is a question we need to ask. However, considering that cricket is played only in a limited number of countries, specifically within the Commonwealth countries, athletics, on the other hand, is a globally played sport. Yet, whether it is a matter of international popularity is doubtful.
On one hand, sports persons leave the country along with their desired profession, because they feel that their personal situation has already worsened to an unmanageable level, and on the other hand, they do not see any promising future signs to dedicate themselves to sports. Therefore, as it has been stressed in all brain-drain related discourses, that the authorities must focus on addressing root causes of the situation. They need to pay sufficient attention and implement solutions in all forms of sports, finding ways to strengthen, promote, and capitalise on the growth of those sports as they did with cricket. If not Sri Lanka would soon be left with limited sports avenues while our national level sports champions would become assets of other countries.