In the hallowed halls of Nepali sports, few names resonate with the same electric intensity as Sabitra Bhandari ‘Samba’. She is a phenomenon, a record-breaker, and a symbol of what a girl from rural Nepal can achieve when she possesses an unbreakable spirit. Yet, yesterday, we saw that spirit being tested by the bureaucratic indifference of her own government and the governing body of her sport. It is a national travesty that Nepal’s most accomplished footballer was forced to take to social media, palms joined in a digital plea, to crowdfund for a surgery that should have been guaranteed the moment her knee buckled on a pitch.

The achievements of Samba are, quite simply, unrivalled in the history of Nepali sports. She is the all-time leading goalscorer for Nepal, and her footprint is global. She has dominated leagues in India and Israel and became the first Nepali to grace the elite D1 Arkema in France. When she signed for Wellington Phoenix, it was hailed as a ‘huge coup’ for the club. Samba has carried the Nepali flag to heights previously thought unreachable, yet when she required the nation to carry her through her darkest hour, she found the state’s shoulders remarkably narrow.

Samba has suffered a complex re-injury in her right knee. For an athlete of her calibre, the recovery process is about returning to the elite level of performance. She has sought treatment at Aspetar in Qatar—an ultra-modern facility she trusts after a successful recovery back in 2021. The estimated cost for this surgery and the subsequent seven to eight months of gruelling rehabilitation is $80,000. To a government that squanders millions on political pageantry, this is a pittance. To an athlete whose career hangs in the balance, it is everything.

The response from the All Nepal Football Association (ANFA) has been nothing short of pathetic. While a foreign club that has known her for less than a year is backing her fundraising and releasing every cent of her insurance payout, ANFA has offered a measly Rs500,000 and told her to ‘handle the other procedures’ herself. Even more galling are the whispers from within the association, suggesting that because she was injured playing for her club, she is no longer their responsibility. This is a myopic and disgraceful argument. Samba plays for the Phoenix to sharpen her skills. She plays abroad to put Nepal on the world map. To abandon her now is to tell every aspiring player that their service to the nation is transactional and their health disposable. The fact that Samba’s Facebook plea was shared 14,000 times within hours should serve as a wake-up call to the Ministry of Youth and Sports. The people have already spoken with their wallets, donating the required amount, and more, through crowdfunding sites because they refuse to watch their hero suffer in silence.

But this was never the public's problem. If the government had acted on time, it could have set a vital precedent, showing that sports players are valued by the nation. Little girls and boys across Nepal look up to Samba as proof that their dreams are valid. What message has the state sent them by letting the Samba of our dreams beg for help online? Samba has vowed to return to the ground wearing the Nepal jersey. Her resilience is inspiring, but she should not have had to fight this battle. For a player who has brought such joy to her country, the least the nation can do is ensure she has a path back. Let us not be a nation that fails its icons.