- 2-year terms and max 2 terms for president, secretary, treasurer
- Age limit capped at 70
- Votes to be limited to 40-45
At a special press briefing organised by the Ministry of Sports and Youth Affairs on Friday (16), Minister Roshan Ranasinghe elaborated on several changes put in place through an extraordinary gazette dated 14 December 2022.
Since the appointment of National Sports Council Chairman Arjuna Ranatunga, Minister Ranasinghe has been focusing on sports administration, hoping to eradicate corruption in the system. So far, his decisions have been challenged by several major sports bodies. However, these changes in law may prompt all sports bodies to fall in line with the Minister’s plan.
The major changes in the extraordinary gazette could affect the administrators of the major sporting body who have been holding office for several years.
As per the new regulations, the Minister had decided to allow only two terms for an individual to hold office as president, secretary, or treasurer, with each term being for a period of only two years.
However, in the case of the National Olympic Committee of Sri Lanka, the elected body will have four years per term with two terms in total, aligning with International Olympic Committee regulations.
Furthermore, the age limit for those eligible to hold any position in a sporting body has been brought down to 70.
Another major change in the regulations relates to voting, given that the voting systems in the national body for sports have come under a lot of scrutiny in the recent past. To eradicate these allegations, the Minister had implemented several changes.
As per the new regulations, local, district, provincial, and special clubs will have one vote each. However, to be eligible to vote, these bodies must have the facilities for the respective sports and squads and training must be done thoroughly through the year. If not, their vote will not be accepted at the Annual General Meeting (AGM). This move is expected to reduce the votes to 40-45.
There have been numerous complaints over the years on vote buying and on most occasions, votes are bought via paper clubs, which determines who wins the election.
The Sunday Morning Sports asked the Minister whether there would be any financial support to uplift sports in the local, district, and provincial sectors, to which the Minister responded: “Sorting out the funds is a responsibility of the national body. See what has happened to rugby and football. There are major companies which are willing to support financially, but they are reluctant to do so because they don’t believe in the elected body. If the national sports body can’t secure enough funds to build sports from the grassroots, the board should resign and give the chance for another party to take over and get the work done.”
Meanwhile, these changes in sports law do not align with most constitutions in national sports bodies. Accordingly, the Minister said he would grant a grace period of several weeks for these bodies to amend their constitutions in line with the new changes and asserted that all sports had to abide by the National Sports Law.
The Sunday Morning Sports also asked about claims by national sporting bodies on how their international sporting bodies are against any outside interference, to which the Minister responded: “I have had discussions with many international bodies and they have made it clear that they are only against any interruptions when it comes to selections and matches. These rules are for the betterment of the sports and they will not have any issues with these changes.”
These changes will not affect the current elected bodies and will come into effect from their next election and AGMs.