Sri Lanka Rugby Football Union (SLRFU) has been in the minus side of the news lately. With reports of players not being paid for the medical treatment in the recently concluded Asian Five Nations Tournament, Jersey’s not been handed over till the first Junior Asiad game in Hong Kong, National Coach’s monthly payment being delayed and his House rental running in to arrears along with the news of referees not been paid for the first round games.
If one says that Blunders and SLRFU go hand –in-hand there is nothing wrong in the statement. Sri Lanka Youth Asiad 2011 rugby team which took wings to Hong Kong after only two warm up games were put under the national coach Ellis Meachen. Earlier local coaches in the calibre of Sanath Martis, Nilufer Ibrahim and Ananda Kasthuriarachchi have done the country proud by some good results. Further these local coaches were with the young lads for the last decade and they know the history of each and every player.
Yet what happened this year was Sri Lanka was demoted and lost its position in the top division of the Under 20 format of the game which the country were holding on to a long time.
Not to underestimate this stint should have been given to local coaches who are on duty with the school. SLRFU did not stop here their blunders continued. At the recently concluded Asian Five Nations Tournament one of the UAE players were not eligible to represent the country and again media came out with the article and SLRFU failed to take the matter up with the ARFU (Asian Rugby Football Union) or the IRB (International Rugby Union (IRB). In the end even the senior team was demoted to the lower division after hosting three of the four games.
Referees being the hot topic these days --the Sunday Times spoke to a few leading clubs on their view on the subject. Shane Dullewa rugby Chairman at CH & FC said “the referee standards had gone down very badly. We lost three of the key games in the first round encounters due to poor refereeing and we were at the receiving end”. He further said that CH & FC received the bonus points due to losing within 7 points and this shows how close these games were.
Chairman of Police Rugby Hafeel Marso was unhappy with the way the referee’s assignments were handled. He was very critical saying that in one of their key games were lost due to the opposition side scoring through a forward pass. Till that time Police were leading he said. He ended by saying only one or two referees earn respect from the spectators and the rest yet to come up to a good standard he concluded.
The national Head Coach Ellis Meachen whose contract was extended by one month in order to cover the Junior Asiad had not been paid for the last two month’s by the SLRFU. Further his house rent is on arrears for the same period. Further Meachen had got some Video Analysis equipment and DVD’s for the local players. But apparently none of them had reached the players or he reimbursed.
The Sunday Times contacted Lasitha Gunaratne – the secretary of the SLRFU on the matter. He said that referees have not submitted the full report of several matches. Further on a few occasions they were not signed. Also for example if one referee is assigned and there are yellow card in that game then we need that report too. This was also missing. They can’t accuse us. Out of the 28 games we have received completed reports for only ten games “We will pay for those by next week”. Gunaratne added.
On the matter of none payment for the Head coach he said “Ellis Meacham’s contract lapsed in February and we got him for a further one month due to the Asian Five Nations. We will pay him according to the new contract and also the funds should be given from Development for Rugby since the tournament is over.” Gunaratne said in conclusion. |
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