Assad; one of the many first division players playing at an island level tournament in Eydhafushi

Maldives football season has ended couple of months back and the thorny question is are the footballers reaping the benefit of much-needed rest after a grueling season of football scarred by unwelcome breaks and distraction. Have they been nursing back old injuries, knocks and nudges to full recovery and recharging the old batteries for the upcoming new season? Have the rejuvenated and revitalized bodies been strong enough to battle through the last tournament of the season? Indeed questions of paramount importance when you start a new season!

A casual look at different corners of Maldives scripts an entirely different story. Many of the first division players, especially national team players are fighting tooth and nail in different parts of the nation at atoll-level competitions. The so-called professional players under a contract with a top division club plying their trade under the guise of vacation exposing themselves to the immense risk of injuries and fatigue. Have the clubs been aware of it or turning a blind eye to it just because this is their vacation?

Surely no club would want any of its employees to lose a new season preparation to unwanted injuries.

With a limited pool of top-level players available at any time the stakes cannot be any higher. But here you see many of the national team players pushing their bodies and limbs to extreme adversity when they very well should have been giving their tired mind and exhausted body what it craves for… in a peaceful corner of Maldives.

Alas, we call ourselves professional footballers! Tragic!

2008 is not one of those years where you can earn your salary in bulk and kick a ball in Galhulhu Stadium. It is an year when a Winner of South Asian sporting rivalry are determined, Maldives being so near yet so far since making it to the final in 1991 the hurt now grown too much to bear without a gold in our backyard. But how many of our players are acutely aware of it, taking precaution and doing exercise and staying fit. Nobody.

We talk of wishes and dream that are quite rosy but our action on and off the pitch don't meet the standard to speak of professional players in the process of acquiring one. Once a season is over our players hands are full with too many commitments that hardly help their career: they are fully occupied, that of taking part in tournaments during the rest period, playing all kind of physical sports under the sun like Baibalaa. You wonder is this how a concerned footballer goes about his sporting life when you are an employee of a top club.

True, in the good sense of the term, our national sport is still languished in its infancy. Here and there, there are many obstacles and impediments for a steady development of this game, or for that matter to take the full sense of the term professional. Many of the first division players can't subsist on a life on football alone. There are too many family obligations and financial strain. We play it just for the love of the game and enjoyment not to major a career out of it.

But an unforgiving truth is we have come a long way, it has been more than 50 years since we have been playing regular club football, more than most of the South Asian countries but since no proper football set-up has been in place to utilize young brigades to harness them to make a reliable career out of it we still as good as we were ten years back. At regional level we many have couple of players or recognizable talents who can make a mark at international level. But come an offer and we more often than not snub it with the carelessness of a school boy. There is no seriousness attached to it for which you could make millions. There are many countries, poorer than us, but their players are keeping alive the glow of their country and their region sparkling in the European big stage. Two of the local players who went further afield, beyond the border of South Asian, are now talking of a comeback to home. Whatever the reason Maldives is still not able to sustain a credible level of development in the national game!

And the reasons are many and multiplying. Our players wish to be multi-tasked players; if there is volley completion they play volley ball, if there is a cricket completion they have to play that also, if there is chess they are into it – their life revolve around all kind of sports, not one sport. No wonder if you pitch in for all kind of games you are good at nothing.

The glaring reality is there are millions of questions to be answered before we call ourselves professional footballers. Having a player under a contract on remuneration doesn't mean you can wash off your hands saying we have turned professional. FAM needs to order the house itself. Players need to take a leaf out of their European counter parts if we are to carry our game to the next level. Kicking football everywhere, on and off the pitch, pushing your body to follow where heart desires won't land you a gold medal. Nobody gets what you desire but what you deserve!

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