 Two old friends, who had played rugby, spend most of their last days together. Mike visited Joe whenever possible. During their last days Mike thinks Joe will go before him so he asks him for a favour. When Joe gets to Heaven Mike wants him to find out if there's rugby there. “Shortly after wards Joe passes away and one night appears to Mike who is awakened from his sound sleep. He remembers what he saw in his dreams. He remembers calling "Mike--it's me, Joe from heaven, I have some really good news and a little bad news."
"The good news," Joe says," is that there is rugby in heaven. Better yet, all of our old friends who died before us are here, we're all young again. Better still, it's always spring and it never rains or snows. We can play rugby as we want, and we never get tired.”
“That's fantastic," says Mike. "It's beyond my wildest dreams! So what's the bad news?”“You're in the team for this Saturday!!!"
Referee in action at the CR Kandy game
(Pic Ranjith Perera) |
You may have probably heard this story before. I thought it was worth repeating considering the morale of the story “Don’t worry about what is there in Heaven, make sure you will be there!”
Take rugby in Sri Lanka in the post Interim Committee era. Some are interested in small things or in pinching others wherever possible rather than thinking of the game and what needs to be done.
What is “Heaven” for the game? We are to play in the Asian five nations in April next year. What are we doing and or planning to do to get further up the ladder and to remain amongst the first five nations of Asian Rugby? Have we thought of whether we should stick to what the world is talking about, the number of phases that will take us to the goal line? Are we to build on the speed of the game to get to the goal line? That is what we should be talking about with such little time on our hands.
The club game is getting slower as the mantra of more phases gets us bogged down. That is how I see it. We have to take on the big boys in Asia. Is it not important that we have a ring master to plan our action and workout strategies?
Despite the questionable voting system, a council was appointed at the last AGM. The ‘A’ division clubs which wanted a say have got the opportunity to put their heads together and work for the betterment of the game. The SLRFU has as its head a proven leader to whom handling this self inflicted potty mess should be an easy task. However it does not appear so, as those who kept on pinching and needling seem to be having a field day and continue to do. This is with or without the puppeteer who put them there at some time or another.
I am certain this little poking to upset some is done by a few and has no backing from the head or most council members. It is time to put the big foot down and take control or else all blame will be on the head of the Head.
Going back to my little story, it is difficult to understand why rugby has not taken precedence at all levels of the game. At the micro level some forget what their task is. Heaven to a coach is to see the boys doing better. For this you have to follow the game, be strategic and work to achieve your goal. If you have been watching the referee most of the time you probably miss the game. Then what will it be that you hope to develop for a better performance? It is strange when people ask who the referee for the match is.
I would have thought that is to plan to get the better of the poor soul. When you want to know who the Assistant referees are then a natural question is why? Are you planning to put a boot and or be on the wrong side and take advantage? Take those who keep bickering and issuing statements. They are the ones that have not performed as well as expected. If you think heaven is where you want to be and that comes via a bottle of alcohol then school rugby is not for you, as the heaven you promise a young schoolboy is way out of what the world would want of you.
The macro aspects are required much more for healthy rugby competition, which requires an even distribution of players so that there is a competitive balance. If it is one sided and history is repainting in a different form of poaching I am certain the poor clubs will face closure and then rugby will be for a privileged few. Has anybody at the helm put their thoughts in this area?
John McMillan writing on ‘Rugby Meets Economics’ states,” A Rugby Club by itself is an economic producer though it produces no output. Their output is a game that can be produced with others. The output is produced jointly and the spectator interest is high if the competition is even. The quality of the output depends on the playing strength of all teams and not just one or two. If a few acquire a lot of stars and get all the best players it increases the share of the pie by raising its chances of winning. But it shrinks the total size of the pie by unbalancing the competition.”
End result is fewer sponsors and smaller crowds that will wipe out some of the clubs. The bigger picture needs to be addressed if we are to make sure that Rugby reaches heaven. Not just find that there is Rugby in heaven.
*Vimal Perera is a former Rugby Referee, coach and Accredited Referees Evaluator IRB |
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