Sports

Sports

Eligibility criteria and new challenges
By Vimal Perera
At the time this article was written there was no official statement issued by the Sri Lanka Rugby Football Union on the action taken on the report of the disciplinary committee. Possibly by the time of the article’s publication there may have been an official statement released. The time taken for the disciplinary report as well as the delay in making public the decision has led to many versions being talked about. No doubt the issues at hand are of serious consequence and the disciplinary committee had to give opportunity for people to be heard.

The council has to make decisions which will have far reaching affects and therefore caution is necessary. Hopefully the suspense will be over for all concerned and the sanctions will be made public. The disciplinary sanctions when enforced will have an impact on all and will be a deterrent to unruly participants of the game. We all wait hoping the correct decision is made.

It is discussed that the council may not entertain the continuance of those involved and hold official status in various forms in the union’s administration. There has to be some expectation from those holding office to set an example to the followers. If they are the cause and or have contributed to the disruption they can no longer expect to be entertained by the host. In this sense the responsibility is more on them to support the union or else they should voluntarily step down.

Along with the now infamous walk out one must also consider the need to prevent the abuse of match officials in the coming season. The council must have in place checks and balances in a system that will bring to book offenders who resort to abuse.

There is a need for a strategic program to reduce the abuse of match officials. This will require an effort with the participation of the union. the clubs management, coaches and referees. Education and emphasis has an important role to play. The tournament rules and disciplinary hand book must include and alert all concerned of the provisions for dealing with abuse of match officials and the relevant regulations.

An area of concern as voiced at the last ruby congress was “referee recruitment and retention”. The need is now felt more than before to ensure the implementation of the necessary areas of the regulations of the IRB. The affecting of the regulation should be through education, positive strategies and incentives.An interesting aspect in the strategies for dealing with abuse of match officials is the practice adopted in a particular country. A player receiving a life sentence may receive a pardon if he referees for one year on the pitch and attend training courses and also continue to referee for a second year.

The idea being that you will understand and appreciate the difficulty. The sentences being lesser in Sri Lanka, may be they can take to refereeing as a means of getting the sentence reduced. As reported some players are to get a sentence of one year suspended for two years. Why not referee and appeal for a reduced sentence. Who knows a talented player like Nalaka may become a good referee. The challenge is yours.

Another area of the regulation that needs to be seriously looked and canvassed with the sports ministry is the one on national representation. “The eligibility to play for the national representative team”. The eligibility criteria allows a player to represent if he was born or one parent or grand parent was born or has completed thirty six continuous months of residence immediately preceding the time of playing. The impact of these requirements has to be understood. Most of the countries in the Asian Region have taken advantage of this rule. Japan.

Hong Kong, Thailand, Malaysia, India etc have taken advantage. Sri Lankan Rugby being on the rise, there is one easy way to go. That is down. This is what we have to plan against and be strategic in trying to achieve the objectives of the Union. There could be at least one player who may be eligible to play for Sri Lanka as they get ready to battle Hong Kong and China. He should also be available to play in the Asiad. There have been inquires from children of Sri Lankan Parents who have citizenship in other countries. This may be the route to follow. Then there will also be the need to look at the domestic structure if we are to accept the eligibility criteria for national representation. The participants cannot be myopic in their vision. They must look beyond if the achievements are to be sustained and targets set are to be reached.

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