Police-Navy curtain raiser; Kandy favoured to retain title
Captains of the 8 Clubs with the Trophy L-R: Chanaka Udara Sooriyaperuma (Police), Shane Sammandapperuma (CR), Dushmantha Priyadarshana (Havelocks), Roshan Weeraratne (Kandy), Gayantha Iddamalgoda (Air Force), Chanaka Fonseka (CH), Manoj de Silva (Army) and Roshan Ranasinghe (Navy)
With the experimentation of the TV Match Official (TMO) and with an obvious favourite in Kandy Sports Club, the Dialog Rugby League 2016 is set to kick off next Friday (4) with Police SC hosting Navy SC at Police Park.
According to Sri Lanka Rugby Football Union (SLRFU) Tournament Director- Lasitha Gunaratne, the TMO will be made available at a selected match per week, where 4 matches per week, is set to take place for 7 weeks. The Tournament, as usual, will be played on a ‘home and away’ basis.
The schedule will cover a total of 14 matches during the League Tournament, where the TMO facility will be in operation, courtesy Dialog under its web streaming and television feeder, thepapare.com.
“If you take the Tournament as a whole, injustice may occur at certain games when it comes to the TMO, because we will be able to cover just one game per week for now. This is just the initiative and, with time, things should improve,” Gunaratne said.
Gunaratne further elaborated that, as the country’s topmost domestic Rugby competition is experiencing the TMO for the first time, there may be hiccups, until the officials, players and the spectators get accustomed to it. Just for starters, he stated that, the final decision on the whole issue will be with the on-field Referee.
“We know the TMO is new and even most of the match officials are not very familiar with it. However, we have quite a few experienced officials who have updated themselves with the constantly changing rules of Rugby. With time and experience, I’m sure the officials, players and spectators will begin to find TMO a useful and essential tool for the game. Nevertheless, it’s certainly here to stay,” Gunaratne added.
The Dialog Rugby League 2016 will feature 8 teams, where defending League and Knockout champs Kandy SC will go out favourites. Others in the fray are CR&FC, Havelocks SC, Navy SC, Police SC, Army SC, Air Force SC and CH&FC.
“This is Dialog’s unbroken 5th year association with the League and Clifford Cup Knockout tournaments, which have a huge following among the young and old in Sri Lanka,” stated a Dialog media statement.