Local Rugby’s connection to beggars and choosers
View(s):Beggars can’t be choosers – but I choose beggars; I use reason to decide whether to give or not. Walking along one end of Queen Street decorated by posh restaurants one may find a choice of beggars depending on the day you choose. If you study the scene you get the feeling that the panhandlers are on roster. Different people on different days and another story repeated.
There was this woman who asked for a pittance as she has to feed her mother. I had seen this woman begging similarly dressed telling the same story in the Seventies in Colombo Fort. Others who took turn had a story similar to which I had heard in Fort where it was lucrative to run space for asking. Then it was the same person on the same spot – now they work on roster and also change the working place.
I relate this because of what I hear and or read about Rugby in Sri Lanka. It appears very much that handlers of panhandlers have a story to sell except that place is the same but the spots change. Let us take the case of the fiasco at the Havelock’s vs Kandy match which stopped for a few minutes as the crowds thought of putting pressure on the match officials. What these people don’t understand is that what you get is from what you have. If the few who dare to be in the centre give up as some demand; will you take the whistle and be in attendance. In the place I mentioned earlier where begging is lucrative it may look odd to see a person pecking away on an expensive smart phone throwing a few rupees which you might think is measly.
Kandy SC is the only unbeaten team this season so far - File pic
There are beggars who will make a snide remark if the rupee is small while others will accept what is given. At the end of the day what they make is lucrative and better than what an executive makes in a day. Beggars too have a choice. It is like the rugby fan that comes by choice where some accept what is going on while others prefer to throw abuses going to the extent of even suggesting getting physical.
The Havelock’s vs Kandy match was a meeting of the giants of the 2015/16 season. The only two unbeaten teams and Kandy now remain unbeaten. The question is whether Kandy played superior rugby through the first round or was it the bad rugby dished by others that makes them a winning team. A point to ponder – the spectator is not choosey because he is blinded by club loyalty. The losing side of course is not satisfied and the blinded now want to choose. Not the players but the referee.
Another interesting story was reported in our sister paper ‘The DailyMirror’- the story of Shehan Pathirane, Havelocks and Kandy. The story like those who beg for alms in and around high society eating houses was no different to many a story we have heard in and around rugby where eminence graced. It can be seen as a repeated lore with only the theater of operations changing. Talking of theater, I am confused whether this is a Comedy, Tragedy or a Drama (Satyr).
According to reported facts, the player as I call him plays for Kandy on December 18 and Havelock’s lodges a protest claiming on December 27 that there is a contract which ends on December 31. The governing body decides to hold an inquiry and suspends the player until the inquiry is completed. The inquiry team could not make a final decision because relevant documents to substantiate that a contract existed was not presented. The player is suspended till the conclusion of the inquiry. Kandy then lodges an appeal that if there is no documentary evidences it is not fair to suspend till the inquiry is over and also that the contract expired on the December 31, 2015. The suspension is removed and the player represented Kandy on the January 2, 2016.
Technically and logically the action seems defendable. The ethical and moral obligation is another question that has to be addressed as the player played for Kandy on December 18 which was 12 days before the contract was to expire. That obviously is another question and the spirit of the game and the intention of the sport must be paramount in arriving at a decision to enforce the conditions of the contract is a matter for legal circles. But enforcing the spirit and the letter of the sport is a matter for the governing body. The other side of the coin is the possible defense the Rs. 250, 000 requested as compensation is not reasonable as there is only 12 days of the contract remaining.
The Sri Lanka Rugby Football Union Disciplinary Committee consisting of Ibrahim Hamid former SSP, Maj. Gen (Retd.) H.M.N. Krishnaratne and retired referee and coach S.W. Chang can fathom the story of a man being asked why are you eating with two hands: because I don’t have three. Then you have a reason to give or not.
* Vimal Perera is a former player, coach, referee and an IRB Accredited Referees’ Educator