Finally the right royal impasse has been settled. The Royal College hierarchy and its old boys, after a lengthy meeting earlier this week, reinstated Imal Liyanage as Captain of the 1st XI cricket team on Friday. Liyanage and six other senior players of the Royal 1st XI team were banned for 4 matches and the captaincy stripped from Liyanage by school officials after having been found guilty of indiscipline after a cricket match at a popular restaurant in close proximity to the school.
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| Imal Liyanage reinstated |
The players had been at the restaurant after a school fixture when, on a tip-off, the school's Games Master and some officials of the Old Boys Union had arrived. The incident occurred in January almost at the start of the first term season and the suspensions took immediate effect.
The six players were however recalled three weeks ago after old boys argued that the school authorities had been too harsh on the players. Liyanage is a seasoned campaigner and one of the most senior players in the team. The team's fortunes began to fluctuate after their suspension as Under 15 players were inducted into the senior team in the absence of the seniors. The Under 15 captain led the senior team in three matches. Last week, Royal lost to Wesley after 43 years and earlier to Richmond.
With the 133rd annual Royal-Thomian Big Match scheduled for the first week of March, the school's Games Council comprising old boys met the Disciplinary Committee comprising masters with the Principal Upali Gunasekera chairing. During a heated discussion, the Chairman of the school's Disciplinary Committee, Annesley Roazairo was steadfast in his position that discipline came first and asked if the Old Boys did not agree with his position. Former Attorney General and 1968 Royal's rugby captain C.R. De Silva PC argued that it was not that the Old Boys did not think discipline was paramount but that the punishment must fit the crime and that some of the boys were suspended for merely being present at the restaurant even though they had not committed any misdemeanour. He said that Liyanage was one of them.
After the meeting the Principal was left to make the final decision. When the Sunday Times contacted Mr. Gunasekara he declined to comment on his decision to reinstate Liyanage as the captain stating that it was an internal matter of the school.
"A school's internal issue does not need publicity. This is a sensitive matter where schoolboys are involved and unnecessary publicity will only further harm their careers and mentality," said Mr. Gunasekara, the Principal of one of the country's leading public schools.
Last year, the Royal cricket captain was involved in a much more heinous offence to be committed by a schoolboy when he was representing the national Under 19 team. Principal Gunasekera when asked why he was applying double standards was reported in the Sunday Times as saying “As I mentioned earlier these are internal issues. Depending on these circumstances we have to take decisions. Maybe there are some things beyond our control as well,” Mr. Gunasekara commented. It was a known fact that the Principal had been asked to hush the matter then by a telephone call from the highest levels of the government. |
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