An impending legal dispute will not affect this year’s Under-20 Schools President Trophy knockout from taking place as scheduled according to the secretary of Sri Lanka Schools Rugby Football Association (SLSRFA), Susantha Mendis.
The annual rugby tournament sponsored by Milo faced a major setback last year during its semi-final stage and dragged to the extent of seeking legal opinions later. But this year the competition will be played as scheduled next month.
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| A sad moment in schools rugby-Isipatana players walking off after refusing to play their match against St.Peter’s last season |
“The tournament will be played from September 20 as planned. The tournament committee will sit on August 26 to decide on the final preparations. The schools participating in the tournament will also be announced soon afterwards,” Mendis stated.This year’s knockout rugby tournament however will commence without defending champion as a court ruling obtained hours before the final between Royal and St. Peter’s forced the officials of SLSRFA to convert it into a friendly fixture which eventually ended with a thrilling win in favour of the Peterites.
The dispute was stirred up during the 27th minute of the first semi-final match between St. Peter’s and Isipathana last year, the match came to an abrupt stop after a section of spectators began protesting on a referee’s decision. St. Peter’s were leading by 14-nil at that point. The spectators continued their protest and efforts to bring down the situation and proceed with the match proved futile. After wasting a hour the match was called off by referee who controlled the game, Priyantha Gunaratne.
The officials of SLSRFA had to make a crucial call and they decided to replay the match from the duration of the stoppage. Isipathana agreeing first made a request later to the SLSRFA that the match should be replayed in full as a new game and later sought legal assistance. The court injunction was brought to the front against SLSRFA as a result.
The action of the then rugby committee of Isipathana was criticized by many including the top officials of the Sri Lanka Rugby Football Union and even some of the prominent past rugby players of Isipathana. In addition actions of the then principal of Isipathana, K.A.D. Punyadasa who was interestingly also the president of the SLSRFA then raised many questions after he failed to bring the situation under control despite being at the venue during the entire period of the incident.
However after a pointless battle for almost a year a judicial decision was made to replay the semi-final match in full which is an impossible task as at present. “After almost a year how can we get the same set of players to play a match which should have been played sometime back. Most of the players from both teams are not in the country and some of them even have given up rugby. Anyway abiding by the court order, chances of replaying the match are very remote,” Mendis explained.
There were also speculations that the present Rugby Committee of Isipathana College is eager to withdraw the case after understanding the impossibilities of the verdict given. The case will be brought up again on November 4 according to Mendis and officials of both parties are eager to settle the matter by then.
If both Isipathana and SLSRFA come to an informal conclusion which will be the ideal solution for the matter, then last year’s knockout finalists Royal and St. Peter’s would have to be declared as joint champions. However Mendis was not clear on what will the final outcome bring as matters are still blurred sans proper coordination in the ongoing court case.
“What I can say is that last year’s problems will not be of any hindrance to conduct this year’s knockout tournament. So far only Royal has withdrawn from the competition and others are willing to take part,” Mendis further revealed. The competition which was named as Milo knockout tournament will be renamed as ‘President’s Trophy Knockout tournament’ again from this year. |
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