Rugby Coaches’ tour of New Zealand in jeopardy
The intended programme of Sri Lanka Rugby (SLR), to send eight hand-picked Rugby coaches to New Zealand for a two-week Level II Coaching Programme is in jeopardy the Sunday Times learns. The project, funded by the Ministry of Sports, is in the balance after many involved in the sport, raised questions of the transparency and criteria of selecting the eight potential candidates.
Coaching programmes are held very often, but this instant, picking trainees for the land of the All Blacks, local authorities have been questioned by many more than once - File pic
Priyantha Ekanayake, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of SLR, confirmed that the SLR piloted project, supported by the Ministry of Sports, is in question as a result and that a final decision was with the Ministry.
“It is now beyond our control”, he said.
“The SLR made a proposal to the Ministry of Sports on a project to send eight local coaches to New Zealand for a residential training programme. The Ministry of Sports gave us the green light and offered their support. They wanted SLR to recommend eight coaches. We gave them the eight names after going through a certain selection criteria, but the process is yet to be approved by the Ministry of Sports. We are not certain if it will move forward as planned, or will be called off, which means the project is pending ratification from the Ministry of Sports, who are funding it,” Ekanayake told the Sunday Times.
The selection criteria followed by the SLR or a unit appointed by them, came under heavy criticism after the eight names of the selected coaches were made public earlier this week. Reports revealed names such as Sri Lanka Women’s, Under-18 7s and Under-20 7s coach Sudath Sampath, former Royal coach Asanga Rodrigo, current St. Anthony’s coaching staff member Nalaka Weerakkody, Zahira coach Shamly Nawaz, Isipathana coach Lasintha de Costa, well known player and manager Rajeev Perera, and also, Amila Chathuranga, a St. Joseph’s coaching staff member and a Sri Lanka Women’s player Thanuja Weerakkody.
The project was made feasible with the involvement of Sajith Jayalal, the Director General of the National Institute of Sports Science, Rohan Gunaratne, the Executive Director of SLR and Inthi Marikkar, the High Performance Director of SLR. But what came under the spotlight was a ‘so-called criteria’ of selecting the candidates, something that was never made public.
Several senior officials of SLR maintained the fact that the selection was based on providing the opportunity to the “promising and potential”. But that argument becomes questionable by the inclusion of Sampath, who is a well-established coach already associated with three national level sides. In addition, some question the job profile of Marikkar, who is said to have been involved in selecting the eight names.
One source familiar with the rugby officialdom said that the High Profile Unit is doing “a fine job”, but questioned if it had a proper structural plan.
“Marikkar usually accompanies any national team whenever they go overseas, and that’s been insisted on by the SLR, because he is representing the governing body and he will know what to plan next. Sri Lanka has always been getting positive outcomes in recent times because of that. We also know that there are wheels within wheels and there are all probable possibilities of taking things for granted. We cannot direct fingers at Marikkar, but there are also grey areas he has left, for instance in this case of selecting those eight coaches,” said the source, who wished to remain anonymous.
The selections became an issue in rugby coaching circles when the list missed top potential coaches in the likes of Sanath Martis, Nilfer Ibrahim, or Mothilal Jayathilake while including Lasintha de Costa and Shamly Nawaz. Including Nalaka Weerakkody may come in as welcome news given the fact of his track record as a former high profile player. But the rest of the lineup has been the talking point to most of the fraternity, who are well aware of the ins and outs of the sport. It’s also reported that a number of well known coaches in the local arena have declined the offer to fly to the land of the All Blacks due to other commitments.
SLR officials and the top brass of the Ministry of Sports have been getting telephone calls from unhappy coaches, officials and followers of the game as soon as the names were released. In fact many top coaches opted not to even talk about the ‘New Zealand tour’ which they claim, “never had a proper selection criteria”. They claim that apart from one or maximum two, many were friends of certain friends, who have been included to take part in an all paid trip. With that background, the Ministry of Sports is under pressure to approve the list.