Now it’s gravel rugby

Imagine playing rugby on gravel – perhaps a first for Sri Lanka or anywhere in the world for that matter. The Sri Lanka Schools Rugby Association has conducted a junior tournament on gravel at Campbell Park. Another ironic fact is that the tournament will be continued at the same venue on Tuesday.

“Parents were cringing. But there was nothing that could be done. On weekdays surely a decent ground could have been found. I foresaw what a mess the schools season was going to be. This was the reason I told our Chief Executive Officer Dilroy Fernando to invite the heads of the top ten schools for a meeting. Unfortunately only one turned up. As you know officials of the schools association came for a meeting only after our President Nimal Lewke spoke to the Minister of Education. Now they are begging us to intervene. But what can we do since the season is already half way through. Years ago I was involved with the schools association which is how I knew that the situation was not good. Now all we can do is ensure that at least our 19 squad is properly geared for the Youth tournament,” said Vice President of the Sri Lanka Rugby Football Union (SLRFU) Asanga Seneviratne.

Meanwhile Secretary of the schools Association Rohitha Indunil told The Sunday Times that the issue of Kingswood fielding a player who had been sent off a sevens final had been resolved. He said that player concerned would be banned from representing hisschool in three matches at the next sevens tournament which happens to be the Singer Sri Lanka International Sevens. He added: “The way the league season is going it will only around late July. The ‘A’ Level examination begins in the first week of August. As a result we had to postpone the Presidents Trophy tournament which will now begin on September 10.”
Former Nalanda coach Shamrath Fernando is also in the news again for all the wrong reasons. Fernando, who was sacked by Nalanda for fielding two ineligible players in their campaign last season, has allegedly done the same thing at Lumbini where he was appointed to coach this season.

However when questioned, Indunil said he had spoken to the principal of Lumbini. Lumbini’s principal had stated that the two players in question were banned from playing by his school and not due to the fact that they were ineligible. This decision had apparently been conveyed to Fernando who had gone ahead and played them any way. Nevertheless the principal of Lumbini has been told to send all the relevant documents needed to validate a player’s eligibility to the schools association by tomorrow.

With regard to Sri Lankan cap Chamara Vithanage’s alleged assault on referee Pradeep Fernando following the match between Kingswood and Trinity, Chairman of the Disciplinary Committee T. M. Hamid said they had submitted their report to the SLRFU. He added that the Council had to ratify the decision and it would probably be announced on Wednesday.