Domestic rugby drought continues
It looks as if Sri Lanka Rugby’s (SLR) wait to end its long affected competition drought will continue for more weeks to follow, or perhaps months, after the well-planned Commander’s Cup 7s was put off in the eleventh hour by the organisers.
SLR, as it is learnt, are presently having a series of meetings to look at possibilities of conducting their competitions, beginning with the 7s series, as they earlier revealed at a press conference held last year in Colombo.
The country’s rugby governing officials are planning to make a comeback attempt after the competition organised by Sri Lanka Air Force was put off suddenly with a new approach. They are said to be observing the new changes currently adhered to conducting sports events with the ‘new normal’ and are looking at arranging a possible 7s series, as followed by the successfully conducted Lanka Premier League last year.
The Commander’s Cup Rugby 7s was supposed to take place this weekend at the Air Force grounds in Ratmalana as the first leg and followed by a second leg in the coming weekend. But earlier this week it was reported that the two-legged tournament has been ‘temporarily postponed’ after almost completing the bio bubble created for 220 individuals — 160 players and 60 others including officials.
The latest development put SLR back in the defensive and in a dire position to find new sponsors to conduct a potential 7s tournament, after its main sponsor, Dialog Axiata, too stepped down from the project soon after Sri Lanka Air Force announced that the Commander’s Cup 7s will not happen after all.
It is learnt that SLR had demanded a chunk of Sri Lanka Air Force, who had reserved Rs. 34 million to conduct the Commander’s Cup, but neither party confirmed or denied about the facts which caused the reason to the sudden decision.
Meanwhile, sponsors Dialog Axiata, who sponsors SLR with the national team, inter-club league, knockout and 7s tournaments according to the agreement entered by both sides, had entered the Commander’s Cup 7s as sponsors through a tri party agreement.
The Sunday Times learns that soon after SL Air Force made its decision to ‘temporarily postpone’ the much awaited gala rugby 7s, Dialog Axiata too withdrew. From their total annual monetary commitment to SLR, Dialog Axiata annually reserves Rs. 3 million for the Inter-Club Rugby 7s and the Commander’s Cup 7s was a sponsorship beyond it.
Later SLR had requested Dialog Axiata to come forward as a sponsor for a new Inter-Club 7s through a written proposal, which had been declined after re-evaluating. It is said that SLR had added a further amount of over Rs. 7 million as operational cost in addition to the Rs. 3 million, the amount Dialog had allocated to the Inter-Club 7s played annually.
“We thought it was a ridiculous proposal. We did forward it to our top management, who seriously thought it was not a commercially feasible commitment. Dialog anyway sponsors SLR’s annual domestic tournaments, that including the 7s,” a source close to the sponsor told the Sunday Times.
It’s also said that a number of players within the bio bubble had been tested positive for COVID-19, but SL Air Force vehemently denied the fact stating the last minute decision was due to other issues, including the pandemic.
A keen rugby stalwart opined that with the present conditions coupling up with the Air Force was the best option SLR had to conduct a tournament of this nature due to the present surroundings. The same view was observed by SLR officials when the Commander’s Cup 7s was in its early planning stage, and they still remain with the same opinion.
Presently SLR are planning to regroup and reevaluate the overall pitch of what occurred with the intention of coming up with a revised mechanism to ensure the sport runs smoothly. SLR is said to have attracted sufficient sponsorships to conduct a 7s series but their main concern remain as the guidelines issued by health authorities, which have eased off from the time of the organising the now postponed competition.
Predominantly, the Commander’s Cup 7s had 10 teams in participation but without the presence of Kandy SC, CR&FC and CH&FC, due to various reasons. The 10 confirmed teams comprised of sides from Army, Navy, Air Force, Police and Havelocks SC and few other sides from the lower divisions.