Sports
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The
Good the Bad and the Ugly Rugby football is a game found to be favoured by many Sri Lankans who are otherwise cricket crazy. Violence in the rugby field is not only directed at referees but also at players and spectators. This season, as reported in the local press there have been no less than four occasions when there has been violence at school matches where spectators have assaulted players as well as other supporters. The inactivity and inaction of those responsible has lead to physical abuse and possible permanent injury as witnessed in the recent incidents in the Havelock's vs CR & FC match on 1st August. This followed an incident of physical assault of a referee at the CH vs Kandy match played in Kandy. It should be clear now to all concerned that there is an urgent need for serious damage control and for implementation of very stringent rules. In regard to abuse of Match Offcials the IRB says: "As a sport rugby is becoming serious business. Players are becoming fitter,faster and sometimes knowledgeable. The expectation is that the referee matches these qualities in the facilitation of the game. It is fair enough to expect as the game becomes professional from the players and coaches position. However the expectation that perfection is required from referees is unrealistic and unfair and leads to friction and finally to abuse. Until recent times, abuse constituted hurling verbal insults at the referee during and sometimes after the game. Verbal jibes in good natured comments and banter may be enjoyed. It has now escalated to personal comments and insults which is abuse and has now led to physical assault. It is when the most dastardly acts of physical violence takes place ." ( source IRB guidelines on abuse of match Officials) There have been a series of reports of violence on the field by players and mostly the foreigners playing the game. This is confirmed by the number of red and or yellow cards issued this year. Ironically the punch that felled referee Aruna Jayesekera was thrown by a Fijian who received a yellow card on a previous occasion. What would have happened if this was done in his country? An article in the Fiji times of 4th August 2004 is evidence of what is possible. THE Naitasiri rugby team could miss out on the remaining Telecom Fiji Cup competition if a Fiji Rugby Referees Association's report is endorsed by the Fiji Rugby Union..The Association called for the suspension of the Naitaisiri team from all remaining cup matches and a life ban on Naitasiri lock Nemani Vuto. As from this week FRRA will not officiate in any game where Naitasiri is involved. The report to the FRU highlighted incidents that occurred after the match between Lautoka and Tavua last week.Association secretary Eminoni Roraduri said the report includes the referee, touch judges, the match commissioner as well as reports from several witness. Back home what has led to this situation could be the inaction of the local authorities and the unrealistic expectation. This conclusion is possible if we compare the action taken elsewhere such as Australia, New Zealand England as well as in the Asian continent. In another incident the IRB is to investigate Woodward's comments where the IRB is to ask the English rugby union to investigate comments made by coach Sir Clive Woodward after his side's second test defeat to the All Blacks in June 2004. Woodward's comments came during a televised press conference after the match, a tape of which was sent to the IRB by the New Zealand Rugby Union. In England "THE Rugby Football Union's Referee Manager Ken Bracewell has welcomed the eight-week suspension given to Lydney RFC coach Pat Kiely for abusing a touch judge. In Sri Lanka's rugby scene one hears of many occasions where officials at National Club or school level as well its coaches and the assistants and sometimes the players making verbal comments, gesticulations as well as written comments with impunity and go unchecked. This then leads to players as well as supporters of their favorite club or school taking the law into their own hands believing the dissent and provocations of either their past heroes or the administrators are correct . If you listen to officials, coaches and spectators the expectation of the referee is a comparison of what is seen from televised international matches where the best of the world play. On the other hand do we not expect the same discipline from coaches, players and other match officials? Sri Lanka ranked 56th out of 95 countries playing rugby attained this position after the recent win over India (placed 92 ) and Thailand (placed 61) and the only other team below us in ASIA being Malaysia (70) It then follows that our skills and playing style cannot be compared to the first 10 or even to Japan which lies 18th . Could you then expect refereeing for a game flow at the level of the elite? This seems to be the incorrect comparison that leads to the abuse of referees. The charter also describes Rugby Football as a game that is physically challenging. This gives rise to an over-reaching requirement for discipline and control" Ultimately there will be a loss of interest and reduction in sponsor demand which will lead to loss of funding and the demise of rugby playing clubs and schools. It is in the interest of the game that all those involved; The Union, the club hierarchy and school authorities review the situation and take action to arrest the trend and mete out punishment and or instill discipline however bitter it may taste. While the referees continue to be at the receiving there was an article that appeared in the weekend paper of 8th August wherein the writer virtually represents an appeal made by the CH & FC Rugby to permit a player who has received a red card to play. The letter as quoted says "An inquiry held on the 3rd of August it was clearly understood and stated by Mr S . Sivendran, Mr Q . Israel and Mr A. Abeyratne that the said referee assigned for Kandy SC vs CH Fc Game on the 31st of July 2004 was not a competent referee. It is evident as stated in his report in his second paragraph as follows. The reason for his conclusion is that the referee has consulted the touch judge before he confirmed the try. As stated in the letter sent by the Manager the referee awarded the try and the CH & FC players inquired with regard to his decision and he turned towards the touch judge who then acknowledged his decision. Is there anything wrong in this? Match officials are expected to work as a team of three. Internationally the three officials are wired to each other for communication. The laws of the game ( 6 a.8 (b) ) allow the use of technological devices If the referee is unsure of his decisions in in-goal involving a try being scored or a touch down, such official may be consulted. Are all the international referees who consult the third official to be considered incompetent. The referee in Sri Lanka has no support of technological devices and or communication equipment for support in such circumstances he can only consult the touch judges and his consultation has to be viewed from what is allowed and what we have. On the other hand as stated in the letter " the CH players inquired with regard to his decision" which in other words is disputed. This in itself is contrary to law 6 (a) 6 Players disputing a referee's decision. The quoted letter also adduces incompetence to the referee consulting the match commissioner before calling off the match. The match commissioner is an official appointed by the Union and his duties should be on the conducting of the match and the referee consulting him in the context of his appointment cannot be cited as a fault. The match commissioner is not a recording officer as stated in the letter. Assessing
a referee, involves considering the key components and descriptors
gathering accurate information on the referee compliance with the
descriptors. The component of a referee performance include For
each component descriptors are provided. For example, the issue
at stake as per the letter of the CH Manager that there was no control.
It is difficult to understand how incompetence of Referee Rankothge's is arrived at purely on a subjective conclusion derived from the referees report and from the match commissioners statement which are void of supporting criteria. On the other hand it is incorrect to give publicity to a statement attributed to the disciplinary committee as ones defense for appeal. The criteria for an appeal are quite different to the reasons given in the quoted letter. Which in itself is evidence as to who does not seem to know what? In the circumstances it seems all involved in administering the game of rugby in Sri Lanka have a role to play in order to foster the continuation of the game. Absence of a defined or acceptance in practice the regulations leads to further abuse. After all in Sri Lanka one abuses a Match official physically and yet end up holding office in what ever capacity in the governing body. This has happened and will continue to happen unless action is taken now. Consider the persons involved in incidents of assault on Wimal Senanayake and Asela de Silva ( Referees Report 1996 Match Old Trinitians Vs Petersens Sports Club) The
rugby saga goes on The Sunday Times spoke to the Honorary Secretary of the Kandy Sports Club Mahesh Weerasinghe regarding Dhanushka Pushpakumara's cross over and he said "Pushpakumara was contracted to play for the club until the end of Clifford Cup this year and all of a sudden without informing anyone, we heard that he was attending practices at CR & FC. Any one will get angry if a player has this type of loyalty towards a club that looks after its players at the very best". He further pointed out that he should have informed the club in advance and obtained the approval "we will not tolerate this kind of behavior from any player. May be he is a national player but we treat every one equally. The second thing is that he was found employment by the upcountry club and was also given financial assistance. As SLRFU decided to seek legal advice they have written to CR & FC and was advised not to field this player until the clearance and this will take around ten days. But within this period "Red Shirts" fielded this player and eventually lost the game to the Gymkhana Club and they also fielded this player against the Havies, which was played under protest by the Havelocks". He further stressed "our spectators were well behaved and the Club has provided visiting teams with the maximum security for the players as well as the officials". Mahesh further said "as the game was played on Full Moon Poya Day and to our surprise the appointed referee Nizam Jamaldeen did not turn up. As we found out that CH & FC had objected to him blowing for this important encounter. This move by the CH & FC was very surprising he is such a good referee who does not take sides. As the referee's society appointed Runkothge we had no objection and we wanted the game to go on. But when we were leading 24-17 and scored a good try initiating from our "22" CH & FC objected and one of their players Shashika Cooray pushed the referee when one of their players (Nawaquara) was given "Red card" for continuing argument. At this moment all the CH & FC players surrounded the referee and the spectators would have thought that they are going to manhandle the referee and a few stones were thrown in to the playing area. After CH & FC walked out and even after things calmed down the Gymkhana Club players refused to come and play even after the Match Commissioner 'Viper' Gunaratne called them to continue. May be they would have accepted defeat at that point". Mahesh concluded by saying "almost all of our players are representing or have represented the country but none have argued or gone and hit the referee as our management is very strict on discipline on and off the field". Then
CH & FC said... He further said "at the time we were behind 17-24 Kandy scored a try which was initiated from their own 22 but this was a clear knock on not once but twice. As our player Nawaquara went and told the referee. Then the referee without giving an answer kept on walking away. This made the players very unhappy and while all were going behind Shashika Cooray had accidentally kept the hand on the referees' shoulders which the referee thought he had been pushed. But Runkothge had enough time to inform the SLRFU but there was no clear evidence to tell that Shashika had pushed him. Even at the inquiry he was not given any punishment". When
elephants struggle it is the grass that suffers According to a senior official of the Longden Place Club they are eligible to take part in all tournaments run by the Rugby Union, for the rest of the season. Gehan Canagaratnam the secretary of the CR & FC said, that the committee was answerable and was prepared to accept the ungentlemanly behaviour of Joshua Kala during the CR - Havelocks game where he assaulted Referee Aruna Jayasekera. "The CR rugby committee has made a personal apology to the Rugby Union, The Refrees' Society and to Mr. Aruna Jayasekera. The letter to the Rugby Union was hand delivered on August 2 while the letters to the Referees' Society and to Mr. Jayasekera on the day of the incident (August 1). The club has maintained high standards of sportsmanship on and off the field in the past and will continue to maintain its integrity" said Canagaratnam. Q:
How come Joshua Kala, who was the assistant coach of the Thailand
team, was drafted to the Longden Place Club when he was on contract
with the Thai Rugby Union? Q:
Don't you think with his behaviour he has done an irreparable damage
to the game and for the club? Q:
Then how come the club being suspended from all rugby this season? Q:
Then how come CR gets a suspension? Not getting a letter of authority to release the player concerned. As a result the Rugby Union apparently is found wanting. At present all is not well with some of the sports bodies here and the respective disciplines have suffered including the participants. The Ministry of Sports too is answerable. When elephants fight it is the grass suffers. Here the game and the players, too suffer. When the best teams are not in the scrum the standard, too deteriorates.
And now …..CH & FC withdraws from Clifford Cup When holding office in any body they must forget other personal issues - loyalty or otherwise. Secondly the Clifford Cup one of the prestigious tournament has come to a standstill. Just keeping players waiting for the outcome of the court ruling is a financial burden to the club. The sponsors, too have lost interest'. "This issue should have been settled amicably than with the strong - arm of the law, thereby suspending CR and FC for the entire season. The controlling body has never been consistent in their decision making. As a result the game has suffered. The
SLRFU says the judiciary will decide It will be heard on August 16 (tomorrow Monday) said the president of the SLRFU Mohan Balasuriya. Its upto the judiciary to decide - BW |
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