Someone rightly said that nowadays, nothing good is heard about Nepali football. The very mention of Nepali football has now become nothing but strife, conflict, accusations, and spectacle.

The news came just the day before that the head coach of the Nepali men's national football team, Matt Ross, resigned. On Friday, All Nepal Football Association (ANFA) Senior Vice President Bir Bahadur Khadka was suspended.

However, the work that should be done is not being done exactly as it should be. Football is a game of its nature, work should be done accordingly, but only the opposite is being done. To be precise, Nepali football is currently going astray. Since Bablu Gupta came as the Minister of Youth and Sports, he did the first visible thing, called ANFA officials and club representatives to the ministry and started discussions.

The topic was how to organize the Martyrs' Memorial 'A' Division League. After the discussion, ANFA General Secretary Kiran Rai said that if the league is to be organized, government support is needed. That too of a large amount. It was said that the government should also find sponsors for the clubs. Football does not work like this in any country. The job of the minister and the ministry is to make policy-based decisions, not to have discussions like this about why a particular game was not organized. Football is a game run by associations and clubs. In its form, neither government support nor government interference is acceptable.

The main issue at the moment is that the ‘A’ Division League could not be held. And it is the ANFA’s job to make all the arrangements to hold this league. If ANFA cannot hold the league, its usefulness will end. This is its job.

As the time of the upper division league not being held in Nepal has approached three years, its consequences are starting to be seen. One of the reasons for this is the resignation of head coach Ross. If sources close to the coach are to be believed, as the head coach, he no longer had the opportunity to select players for the national team. If there is no league, how can the coach test the players?

Coach Ross had been looking very disappointed lately. That is why after the friendly match against Bangladesh ended in a disappointing goalless draw, he said, ‘It is great that the players have played so much since there has been no league for a long time.’ It was not just the coach who was disappointed. All the players were disappointed. Some key players are even considering retirement if Nepali football continues like this.

ANFA, which has a budget of more than two billion rupees per year, is running only with the support of FIFA and AFC. The ANFA Executive Committee, led by Pankaj Bikram Nembang, should raise its hand and say bravely that we could not do it. He will not be the only one to blame for this. They will also be responsible for creating a separate faction within ANFA by continuously opposing him, for the current bad situation.

Again, some are welcoming the government and ministers themselves when they discuss the league.

This is only an intention to make the situation even more ridiculous. In particular, the current intention of ANFA does not seem right. That is why they come up with many new proposals to find an excuse to stop the league and confuse everyone. For now, the concept of 'Home and Away' is the same, nothing else. Instead, the proposal for the upper division clubs to form a separate league committee and run the competition may be right. But this is also a matter for discussion. The biggest need for now is to have a league and for that, ANFA itself should show courage. Suppose, for now, the government provides a large amount of money to run the league and then next year?

If there is no such support then, will the league be stopped? Then why should the government continuously invest in a competition for the same sport? The government should treat all sports equally. If the league really cannot be held in the coming months, a serious situation is certain. Some old players have started saying on social media that if the league does not happen on time, anything can happen.

This includes players who have played for the national team for a long time to the captain. I repeat, it is only ANFA that makes all the necessary arrangements for the 'A' division, not anyone else. Again, everyone should understand that the Martyrs' Memorial League is a competition with a very rich history in itself, there is no need to look for alternatives to it. The national league is just a competition that weakens the country's main league.