It is time to look back at the rugby season of 2008. I would think that we should not be looking back at anything at any point of time but we should be looking forward. That is from whatever time you are in. In another few weeks, we would be facing another milestone in the rugby history of Sri Lanka. It is one hundred and thirty years of rugby in Sri Lanka and hundred years of the Sri Lanka Rugby Football Union.

Time for celebration will be in August. One hundred years is a long time for anybody and one hundred thirty is longer. Rugby Football (Union) has been a popular sport particularly in Australia, Argentina, Canada, England, Fiji, France, Georgia, Ireland, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, Romania, Samoa, Scotland, South Africa, Tonga and Wales.. Other countries with a long tradition of rugby, although as a minority sport, include the USA, Sri Lanka, India, Singapore, Malaysia, Paraguay, Uruguay, Chile, Netherlands, Belgium, Russia, Moldova, Portugal, Spain . That is the company that we keep.

When we think of the long history of rugby in Sri Lanka, one cannot forget the constitution. It was in 1992 that a new constitution was promulgated. There was promise for rugby in Sri Lanka to have a structure that would have helped the expansion of the game. Sixteen years later we still have the same names competing for the club “A” division title. The numbers are virtually static. The names are still the same. The same two teams have been competing for the top slot in the last few years. The outcome is predictable and the competition has no fresh expectation as Kandy has continued to dominate for almost a decade. Is it that they have the talent or has to do with being better managed? Yet one cannot attribute that Kandy was the product of provincial development as envisaged by the 1992 constitution. Kandy was in existence even prior to the change. Despite the dominance of the Kandy Club there are no new clubs entering from the hills. That is despite so many schools playing rugby and good rugby in the Central Province. What has happened to all those schools boys that are playing the game there?

While Kandy has dominated and the Western Province continues; there has not been any appreciable development elsewhere. Except some small, scale effort in Sabaragamuwa and the Southern Province. There are numbers in these provinces at the junior level. Still there is nothing in the horizon to suggest there is a team that can rub shoulders with Central Province or the Western Province. That is why I say it is small-scale effort. May be we can consider them big as juniors are poached by some of the schools in Colombo.

School Rugby consists of eighteen in segment one and two of group one. There are also nine schools in segment three. Yet there are only about three schools who have taken to the game in the last decade. In group two and three there are twenty two schools who are newcomers to the game. The net it seems has been cast wide and many are taking to the game. The question that needs answers as the Union steps into the new century is what happens to all those that have taken to the game. It is like a funnel: A large catch area that has a small outlet. What is needed is a radical change in the structure of the game. Otherwise we .will continue to be at the same place as we are.

The changes in the laws of the game as I stated last week will take it to a new level. This will have an effect in our performance at the Asian circuit. To get where we want to be will require the National Players to have adequate competition that will test their skill. Can we look back to the long time we have been in existence and say with confidence that we have an opportunity to test the skills of the players..

If we take the game at the top level, we will find that except for a few matches among a few teams others are not evenly matched. Does this mean that we have to change the competition format? The new school format proved that when evenly balanced teams play each other the fortunes swing like a yoyo. Then what followed the schools league was a disaster. The knock out where some of the best kept away,
Every year we prefer to look back and present a report on how good we have been. Is that enough of what we have to be proud of being one of the oldest rugby playing nations?
= Vimal Perera is a former Rugby Referee, coach and Accredited Referees Evaluator IRB