PESHAWAR, June 12: The NWFP Sports Board has yet to release funds to the NWFP Football Association for the current financial year, leaving the association in difficulties.

 Haji Ilyas, the association secretary told Dawn Wednesday that the sports board was to release Rs 50,000 to the association for the current year as a operational cost and organising tournaments at district level. But the sports board did not release the allocated amount while the financial year was about to end, owing to shortage of funds.

 He said that the sports board officials had assured the association that the amount would be released before the end of current financial year. Each district receives only Rs 2,000 annually for organising football matches or tournaments in their respective areas.

The association organisers are of the view that soccer appears to be at the lowest of the board’s priority which could not arrange such a meagre amount for the whole financial year.

Fareedullah, former secretary of the association while spelling out the reasons of the decline of the game at provincial and national level, said that the state-run electronic media did not give due coverage to soccer.

He pointed out that according the national sports policy, Pakistan Television should have to air at least one league match in a week to motivate people towards the game.

John Layton, an English coach who was deputed by the Asian Football Confederation in Peshawar, told Dawn that Pakistan Football Federation should design a general structure of football in the country and constitute Under-16 and 19 to qualify for the international events.

He maintained that the federation needed a national league, educate coaches to produce better players, organise coaching camps and include more matches in Pakistan’s sports calendar.

The Asian Football Confederation a week back organised two- week long coaching programme in Peshawar for district level coaches to promote soccer in the province. Some 21 players from various NWFP districts and two tribal agencies attended the training camp.