Politicians heading Indian sports governing bodies: Recipe for disasters

Image source - India Map

With the Wrestling Federation of India's (WFI) President BJP MP Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh being accused of sexual harassment and how protesting wrestlers were treated, it raises the question of how politicians being the Presidents and higher authority can lead to sporting disasters in our country.

Not only was it heartbreaking, but it was an international humiliation of how our wrestlers were treated. The same goes for many other sports governing bodies. Either players and staff are not treated properly or there is corruption and no growth in the sport at any level.

Though Presidents and higher administrative of a few other governing bodies like the All India Football Federation (AIFF), BCCI, and Hockey India are former national level players, WFI's President had no sporting history. 

With pure political background, with as many as 38 criminal cases filed against him, it's questioning why he was even put in the head administrative position? Though personal, when his own son committed suicide blaming his father for his selfish attitude, how would he even treat others? One who has openly given a statement of murdering someone else? The allegations of harassment and sexual favours for assistance have also been put against WFI secretary Vinod Tomar. 

Personally, with all his criminal history and humiliating others in public, I do think wrestlers are right here.

Not just here, even AIFF's former President, with no football history, almost got AIFF shut down, which could have been a blow for all footballers and footballing in India. From Golden Era of Indian Football during 1950-62, any governing body might have ceased to exist in 2022 because of the politicians' actions. 

The majority of politicians can't be trusted because of criminal history and not fulfilling the promises they made during election campaigning. Though I am not in favour of it, a lot of players have to get into politics after they retire to sustain themselves (Bhaichung, Gambhir, Navjot Singh Sidhu, to name a few; either still active in political arena or left) . Other than cricket, not many players from other sports get to live a comfortable lifestyle after retiring and even have to run errands (despite being medalists at the international level). It can be a little different if they are skilled, achieved something while being in the national team and contributed to the growth and victories of the Indian team. If a player, who started from grassroots level, from scratch and went on to achieve beyond the sky in their respective sport, and wants to see their sport grow after retirement, they can be the right fit for administrative sports. Like Bhaichung Bhutia for football (rooted for him to win AIFF Presidential elections, but umm). A politician won't really care for the development of a sport unless s/he has not gone through the struggles to get to the top as a player, from scratch.

The recent incident at Narendra Modi Stadium (naming stadium after a politician😶) during the IPL final has received criticism too. Despite being the richest cricket board, ground staff had to dry up the outfield with sponges was a public embarrassment. If this gets repeated in the World Cup being held this year, that would be even worse. If BCCI is so rich and can afford the latest technologies, to cover up the main areas of the ground, why did the ground staff resort to jugaad. Where did the money go to purchase the latest technology? *coughs*

To conclude, sporting bodies in India need former players with administrative skills to work at top administrative positions, as well as the other positions, so there is no corruption; there is growth from the grassroots level to the top, and players and coaching staff are treated right.