Four member team to probe school rugby woes

By Harry Jayachandra

The schools rugby season has finally started. But even in its initial stages there are quite few hiccups and complaints. Principal of Royal Upali Gunasekera said they had to go ahead with the tournament as many of the players had come up through the junior levels and not participating would be unfair by them. But he added that due to the late start and demanding schedule some senior players may not be able to play every game. This is due to the ‘A’ Level examination that commences in the early part of August.

Chairman of the Rugby Advisory Committee of St. Joseph’s Ravi Thangiah said that the physical toll on the players would be massive as at times they had to play matches with a break of only three to four days. And in addition to the tournament games, St. Joseph’s also had to play two more matches against S. Thomas’ and St. Peter’s which are Shield games.

Director General of Sports Medicine Doctor Geethanjan Mendis said: “This kind of schedule is very bad for players. Rugby is a contact sport and young players need at least two days rest. Otherwise they can suffer from a range of problems including breathing, bad injuries and severe exhaustion. This is because they do not have a recovery period.”

President of the Sri Lanka Rugby Football Union Nimal Lewke told The Sunday Times: “We did have a chat with members of schools association. I sorted out some of the problems they had. I have also appointed a four member committee comprising Fazal Mohommad, Senarath Seneviratne, Colonel Sunil Ranasinghe and Dilroy Fernando to have another meeting with representatives of all the schools and members of the association. This meeting will take place on May 18. If schools have a problem with the schedule, they can bring it up at this forum. Currently schools rugby comes under the Education Ministry, but I reminded the representative of the schools association that we are the parent body. I have also appointed S.W. Chang and Ananda Kasthuriachchi to spot talented players and we will keep a record of them. This is because we want to build and train a good squad for the Youth World Cup. I will be keeping a close eye on the progress of the tournament and if there any major problems we will step in.”

Vice President of the Referees Society Dilroy Fernando said: “There were some problems at the start. One referee was half way to Galle when he was told that the game was not going to be played. Another went to D. S. Senanayake College only to be told that there was no game. Yet another went to Zahira College but Vidyartha said the ground was not suitable for a game. We did have a meeting with Secretary of the Schools Association Rohitha Indunil who has promised to work closely with us. But there are problems. Schools have not been informed of rule changes in the game. This should have been done before the season started. When you are blowing there is only so much you can do. In previous years there was a booklet issued to all the schools. This year that has not happened.

As a result schools are ignorant of the change in rules for scrums sin bin offences etc…” Informed sources also said that up to now no disciplinary action has been taken against the Kingswood player who came off the bench and assaulted an Isipatana player in the schools sevens tournament. The Isipatana player had to be hospitalized as a result of the blows he received.