Schools rugby fiasco begins early

The schools rugby season for the year 2008 is more than three months away, but alas! it has already been hit by controversy. The Singer sponsored league tournament is scheduled to kick off on April 21 and end by June 22. Now itself, the participation of two top schools hangs in the balance. The reason is that the sponsors have insisted that all participating players wear the designated company logo.

One of the schools is Royal. Speaking to The Sunday Times, Principal of Royal Upali Gunasekera said: “Nothing has been officially communicated to us as yet. However, I met a representative of Singer at a function and he wanted to have a discussion with us. At the moment though, we have every intention of competing in the league.”

Unlike last year, where ten teams competed in three groups, this year will see nine teams take part in the Tier One of the league competition. Informed sources at the Sri Lanka Schools Rugby Association (SLSRA) said that the eventual goal was to have just seven teams competing in three groups. Since this cannot be done overnight, the three teams placed at the bottom of each group would be demoted, while the top two teams from the second group would be promoted. This formula equates to the SLSRA achieving its objective of seven teams in each group by the year 2010.

Following are the teams playing in group A, B, and C;

Group A: St. Peter’s College Bambabalapitiya, Dharmarajah, S. Thomas’, Kingswood, Isipatana, Vidyartha, Trinity, Royal and St. Anthony’s.

Group B: Wesley, Thurstan, Ananda, St. Sylvester’s, Mahanama, St. Joseph’s College Colombo, Prince of Wales, Science College and Lumbini.

Group C: Zahira, Maliyadeva, Carey College, Nalanda College, St. John’s Nugegoda, St. Benedict’s College, D.S. Senanayake College, Piliyandala Central and C.W.W. Kannangara MMV.

Meanwhile the knockout tournament for schools is scheduled to commence on June 29 and end on July 12. The teams that occupy the top sevens places in Group A along with the winners of Group B will compete for the Presidents Trophy. The same criteria will be used to determine the schools that will play for the Premier Trophy and the Chairman’s Trophy, with the only exception being for the latter whereby the top school from Tier B will qualify to play.

No rugby follower is likely to forget the fiasco last year and all the pundits are hoping that there will not be a repeat performance this year.