By Harry Jayachandra

Dr Maiya Gunasekera

“According to the new constitution which is yet to be ratified, players will have to be registered at the Sri Lanka Rugby Football Union (SLRFU) so that they can play for their club” said Chairman of the Interim Committee for rugby in Sri Lanka, Dr Maiya Gunasekera.

Speaking to the Sunday Times, Gunasekera stated that they would be holding a Special General Meeting on January 29 to ratify the new constitution for the SLRFU.He said: “We will definitely hold the Annual General Meeting (AGM) before the end of February. Basically we are going according to the Sports Law and all rules and regulations are spelled out in detail.

For example office bearers at the SLRFU will have to have played in a Major Division tournament meaning the given tournament has to have had a minimum of six teams who have played each other at least once. Like the players the referees will also need to be registered with the SLRFU. In essence all players and officials of the sport will have to come under the purview of the governing body which is the SLRFU.”

Another change this year will be that there will be no sevens tournament to kick off the season. Gunasekera added “We want to start the league tournament early and finish off the 15 a side by the end of July or early August. The reason is the Asian Rugby Football Union (ARFU) has a definite sevens calendar which begins around the end of September. Thus we need to begin preparations early. If we qualify for Hong Kong Sevens next year we can review the policy again.”

Interim Committee member and likely President Asanga Seneviratne said: “We can only start the league around the end of April because we have the Asian Division One tournament near the beginning of the same month. I would also recommend that we have only one knock out tournament this year so that we can switch our focus to the sevens format at the earliest possible time. That means we will be able to play either the Clifford Cup or the President’s Trophy not both. That is my recommendation. What the incoming council will decide I do not know. At the moment we are just making tentative plans once the AGM is held the committees selected can submit their own recommendations”.

Meanwhile an inside source said applying the sports law to the SLRFU would mean that some committees could have 25 to 30 members. This in turn would mean that instead of making the game less politicized, it would make the game more politicized. Only time will tell what will occur.