Amidst chaos, SLR to conduct trials for Commonwealth Games
Yoshitha Rajapaksa is among the 54 players in line for the CWG 7s selections at Longdon Place - File pic
It is now becoming evident that the former Minister of Sport’s decision to suspend the duly elected administration of Sri Lanka Rugby (SLR) and appoint the Director General of Sports Development of the Ministry of Sports, Amal Edirosooriya as its Competent Authority is sort of a plot.
With the final trials to pick the Sri Lanka 7s squad for the Commonwealth Games 2022, due to take place at the CR&FC ground in Longdon Place from 7.00am to 10.00am, it is learnt that two well connected individuals have already secured their places as a player and a coach in the final contingent, despite the stance of the regional and global rugby bodies are unclear if the decisions of the Competent Authority to SLR are in a state of acceptance.
On April 1, the Ministry of Sports, through an Extraordinary Gazette Notification, temporarily suspended SLR, that was under Rizly Ilyas and made Edirisooriya the man in-charge. Days later World Rugby (WR) and the National Olympic Committee of Sri Lanka (NOC) issued letters pertaining to the development.
WR stated that it would closely observe the development and that SLR is a full member of the global rugby body, while the NOC straightforwardly stated that it only recognises the duly elected officials as the ‘sole representatives of rugby in Sri Lanka’.
Days after it was reported that the regional rugby body, Asian Rugby Football Union (ARFU), has suspended the membership of SLR, which questions the decision of the former Sports Minister to scrap the duly elected office bearers in April 2022 for a matter that occurred in 2019.
“Of course as per the Sports Law in Sri Lanka, the Minister of Sports has the authority or power to suspend any affiliated sports federation or association if there are any misconducts or misappropriates. It should be mentioned that the Director General’s powers are even greater than the Minister of Sport, when the portfolio is vacated. But we have to accept that Sri Lanka rugby is in a confusing position,” an expert, who wished to remain anonymous, said.
With the deadline to name the pools ending on April 30, SLR is expected to act fast on its selection process and naming the Men’s and Women’s 7s squads for the Commonwealth Games 2022 to be held in Birmingham, England later this year. However what could transpire after the final selections are made is unclear with WR, NOC and the International Olympic Committee being made aware of the situation of SLR. In addition, a representative of ARFU is currently in Sri Lanka on a fact finding mission on why SLR was suspended by the Ministry of Sports on April 1, and his report on the findings is due tomorrow.
With this background, Sri Lanka’s changes of fielding teams for the Commonwealth Games, which comes once in four years, are still on a balance pending approval from the global pipeline that are in-charge of making the final call if the island nation will be given the green light to go ahead with their representation in England.
Today’s final trials to pick the two teams to be held at the Sugathadasa Stadium for women and at Longdon Place for men may come as a task to fulfill on behalf of SLR with further decisions beyond the control of local authorities.
In addition it is also learnt that requests have been made to beef up security around the CR&FC ground at Longdon Place due to an individual who is among the 54 players taking part in the trials. If this occurs, it will be a signal to the global and regional rugby bodies that the suspension of SLR had hidden agendas other than the reason that was given.
The said player was supposed to play his final game at the same venue weeks before, but with the sudden political turmoil in Sri Lanka and the suspension of SLR, all pending matches of the Nippon Club Rugby League 2022 were called off.
Though rugby experts vehemently oppose SLR’s decision, now under the Competent Authority to select unsuitable players for the 7s version, sources say that the said player and his sibling coach sum player have already made it into the Commonwealth Games Men’s rugby contingent. With chaos reigning in rugby for the past 24 days in Sri Lanka, the true picture could be confirmed after tomorrow’s report from the ARFU representative and decisions or ratifications from the global sports entities.