Can we bring back that magic to our unflattering Rugby
View(s):The fever of World Cup Football is griping the world with new names in battle, while old hands are being stretched to keep a place in the last 16. Qualifying from the Asian segment were Japan, Korea, Australia, Iran and Saudi Arabia. Japan has advanced most and taken some by surprise. It is not only in Football, they also surprised the World of Rugby.
There was a time when 7s Rugby had a major impact on locals
South Korea is in the forefront of Rugby, in addition to Football, in Asia. Fidgety Sri Lanka takes centre stage for reasons that are less in the spirit of the game, whether it is Rugby or Cricket. The larder is full of men whose backs bend backwards to support the kings help themselves, than promote the game. Suck or be sucked.
As we end a school season and are about to begin a club season of Rugby that is less patronised, do you wonder when or how it all changed. If you think it is in decline, question one is “Where did it go wrong?” Was it when the game and players shifted to the hills or, was it when players shifted to Welisara or, was it during the advent of an interim. Or, did the game go sour because of the referees. Or was it the nouveau. The bickering is endless with little light in sight. The SLR is in a state of flux, as the AGM is still to be held, if the accounts is what is holding the new brooms from sweeping, who is to be blamed. Is it the then Council which was in office, the President, the Treasurer or the Executive Director who also has a CEO in support?
On the other hand, is it because we lost integrity or, lost men who had a love for the game at the top of their heart as well as their head — is it because some deserted or retired? Or did the nouveau have other things in mind in directing the game. There are some in the old brigade still sitting around giving the wrong signal, but are not aware of new guidelines and or, directions.
There was a time when Rugby was a sport for all, whatever you’re following, school or club. Both sectors played at the same time. The crowds were still attending games. At that time, it was a school match during the week and a club game in the weekend. The Knockout was played around October, where a club match was after a school game. The club match was under lights. The matches played at Sugathadasa stadium North of Colombo, were heavily attended. Can we expect a return to that period when the interest in the game was high?
That would need to have a look at the game to be presented in a changing environment. When Indra Nooyi took over as CEO, the core business of Pepsi was soda and chips, the ultimate in junk food. She had to face the shift of a health conscious population. Nooyi as CEO faced the challenge and for almost a decade, Pepsi recorded growth while holding on to the historic business, calling it the “fun range”, but providing healthier versions as additions. That is holding onto the historic business and extending the products marketed as “better for you” and then adding the “good for you” range which provided the healthier options.
I read that Romesh Abeywickrama has retained his position as President of Havelocks, while the news is about players looking for other places. It is good to note that you are re-elected uncontested. Across the Park, where a school is about Rugby, there are splats of dung being traded by the older boys as to who has done better. These only serve to distract while Rugby is at the crossroads.
Whether it is school or club, nowadays, everyone in the game is semi professional. A finely tuned athletic specimen of muscle and power, able to squat and bench press obscene amounts of weight and, when required, run through brick walls. At least they look that way. The spate of injuries suggests otherwise. The cardboards make the backs to be bigger and stronger than the forwards that played when Romesh was a lad. But yet, they fall like 9 pins. Professional or not, money talks (and places are traded in clubs as well as schools).
Even at junior level of school Rugby, the ambition of physical conditioning is beginning to play a major part, with abs replacing flab. But they fall injured, as seen during the latter part of the League, as well as during Knockouts. The belonging and passion of old boys keep the games alive, unlike among the clubs.
If the crowds are to be there and the club is to be pushed, the pitch has to be changed to get the beer bellies into the field, like when Indira Nooyi changed the stage for Pepsi. Let Rugby go on playing the League, but provide the others a version so that members will have entertainment – a reason. Then pull and push them to have a healthier option. To be on the field and enjoy a match in company, whether you win or loose.
That is the refuge from the spiraling physical perfection and money drive, to promote the category of the game known as community Rugby. Introduce the basement level of the game. Create a bottom structure, the equivalent 3rd or 4th XVs, where shape, size, age and proclivity are irrelevant, so long as you turn up approximately on time for ‘Kick Off’, and make sure you buy a round in the clubhouse afterwards.
It is the continued existence of this level of the game that gives hope to this overweight former backs and forwards ranging from 20s to 50s, with the turning circle of an ocean liner and all the pace of a road roller shift, so that, he may one day take to the Rugby field again, to play a match with his much younger, fitter, faster and way more talented son, or friend. Feed the overweights, but also make the menu to the millennial and the news I generation. Funds? What funds will be the membership. It is for them a motto.
Vimal Perera is a former Rugby Referee, Coach and an Accredited Referees’ Evaluator IRB