Isipathana protests about SLSRFA findings
The officials of Isipathana College are on fire over the Sri Lanka Schools Rugby Football Association (SLSRFA) for not swiftly responding to an official protest they made against the verdict issued with regard to their incident-marred Schools Under-20 rugby match against Royal College, the Sunday Times learns.
According to the Master-in-charge of Isipathana College Wasantha Kumara, they sent a letter challenging the SLSRFA for overturning the result of the match which earlier favoured them. The disciplinary committee of the schools rugby governing body headed by Ranjith Chandrasekera, who also heads the SLSRFA, had reverted the original result of 27-20 as a 20-all draw at a special meeting which took place on June 1 in Kandy. In addition, Isipathana has sought explanation from the SLSRFA for letting the Royal College first XV team walkout scot-free, after they abandoned the match alleging assaults from their opponents.
FLASHBACK: Royal skipper Rimze Jamaldeen holds back his team mates while Isipathana scored a try when the score was 20-20. - Pic by Amila Gamage
“We are asking for a fair trial. How can a team walkout of a match when there is play time available. They walked out without official consent and then they get away without a punishment. This will definitely lead to a bad precedence in the future. Any team, when they are badly placed, can suddenly decide to walkout and then getaway. Is this what the SLSRFA officials are trying to convey to other schools?
“Though it is not acceptable, we don’t mind taking away the win from us and calling the game a draw. But we strongly object to the SLSRFA for letting a serious blunder go by when the consequences of such an act is clearly set in the official handbook,” stated the master-in-charge of Isipathana rugby.
Kumara went on to say that Isipathana authorities were prompted to send a second letter within 14 days after the SLSRFA officials did not respond to the first. On both occasions the Isipathana officials have sought a realistic judgment against Royal. If not, Kumara revealed, that they would be left with nothing else but to seek help from the higher authorities or even beyond.
“We have made our stance clear; the SLSRFA should set an example considering the future of schools rugby. If the end result remains the same, we will keep ourselves out from the Schools Knockout tournament for the first time since 20 years. Isipathana has been a forceful team in both tournaments and without us the knockout tournament, will be like a wedding ceremony without the groom or bride. Besides that we will take this issue up to the Sports Division of the Ministry of Education. If that goes awry, there is a possibility of taking the issue to courts. We will hold on for seven more days,” Kumara revealed.
On June 1, the disciplinary committee of SLSRFA decided to amend the final outcome of the game to 20-all, from its standing result of 27-20 which favoured Isipathana earlier. The match ended in a controversial manner when Royal players left the field with 20 minutes of play remaining at the Royal Complex on May 18. When Royal walked out the scores stood as 20-all and Isipathana scored an unopposed try soon afterwards when the referee awarded them a penalty when the Royal players walked out in protest.
The referee of the game, Pradeep Fernando, who was later handed a one-year suspension by the Sri Lanka Rugby Referees’ Society (SLRRS) for poor handling and negligence, officially called off the match with the result standing at 27-20 in favour of Isipathana. Afterwards video footages of the match revealed certain players from Isipathana engaging in physical attacks on Royal players.
In addition to the first amendment the committee, after reviewing the video footages, gave the Isipathana rugby officials the authority to identify the players and issue severe warnings or to take appropriate disciplinary action against alleged members of their first XV rugby team, after probing into the matter. The Royal team however walked free after its Principal issued an official letter to the SLSRFA explaining reasons leading to the action.
Official sources confirmed that the Royal Principal had taken sole responsibility of the team’s walk-out stating that he was prompted to call the team out after considering the safety of the players involved. But Isipathana officials on the other hand seem to be dissatisfied with the eventual outcome.
“The SLSRFA officially notified us to identify the players and severely warn them so they will not repeat the same act in the future. But as a leading rugby playing institution we have gone beyond that. We have formed a committee to conduct a series of inquiries involving all players who played or were named for the game against Royal and we will release a report to the principal, who in turn will hand the accused the suitable punishment. We could not complete the inquiries as the team had to play a few games during the past two weeks but the probe is nearing its end. We will be able to complete the process by this week,” he added.
The school authorities have appointed Kumara as head of the committee which comprises eight other officials from the Staff, Old Boys’ Association and the School Development Committee. They have been appointed to inquire into the misbehaviour of their players in the match against Royal.
Kumara further revealed that Isipathana has made two protests, against St. Peter’s and Science College for including overage or ineligible players in their teams during the tournament. He lamented the SLSRFA officials are biased when dealing with such matters.
“When they (SLSRFA) had to conduct an inquiry relating or of against a certain school, they act swiftly. But when other schools are involved, they take their own time. We made these protests in April, but the SLSRFA has done nothing so far. This shows how biased they are to certain schools,” Kumara complained.
Meanwhile Susantha Mendis, the secretary of SLSRFA rubbished all allegations leveled by Kumara. He told the Sunday Times that Isipathana, though they are threatening to withdraw from the knockout tournament, in reality they will not be included this time. In the knock-outs this year only the first six team are included from Division I ‘A’.
“We looked into the inquiries brought forward by Isipathana. We could not find a single overage or an ineligible player in any of the teams – St. Peter’s or Science. But from our side, we have still have not replied to them on those findings officially. We will respond to all the Isipathana questions, including their latest protest very soon,” said Mendis.
Royal College officials declined to comment on this issue.
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