If all goes well schools league to resume tomorrow
View(s):The briefly stalled Dialog Schools Rugby League 2024 is likely to resume by the end of this week but what comes as a hindrance is the inability of both Sri Lanka Schools Rugby Football Association (SLSRFA) and Sri Lanka Society of Rugby Football Referees (SLSRFR) come into a common ground. The school rugby season, which peaked after three weeks of action packed games, came to a standstill on June 30, after the altercation occurred at the Air Force ground in Ratmalana soon after the close encounter between hosts Science College and S. Thomas’ College.
On field referee Ishanka Abeykoon and assistant referee Jeewaka Fonseka were manhandled and mugged by a few infuriated followers of Science College after a controversial try during the last few minutes of the game sparked a brief uncontrollable situation. The two referees suffered severe injuries and were later hospitalised.
SLSRFR says that its members needed a breathing space after the unexpected altrecation
Following this incident, where eventually S. Thomas’ walked away with a narrow 30-26 win, assumptions were made of different statures pointing fingers on all parties involved – including the referees of the match, the hosts Science College, mainly their followers, and even the venue for failing to allow private security personals who usually provide security to match officials, players and spectators.
But following a series of meetings, initiated by the sponsor Dialog Axiata, who invited officials of SLSRFA and SLSRFR in addition to the members of the Independent Technical Advisory Committee, there was some relief. The referees earlier made several demands and pulled out of the league until June 15.
As days progressed since Wednesday’s initial meeting, SLSRFA and SLSRFR have had different forums to address the issue with a permanent solution. On Friday night, the SLSRFA had an emergency gathering after SLSRFR made public a list of demands if they are to officiate in future games.
The demands were that SLSRFR will no longer officiate any schools league, knockout or short tournaments at the Air Force ground in Ratmalana, beginning from June 6 this year and this decision, as its head Dinka Peiris explained, is based on the belief that the host team not the SLSRFA are in a position to provide security measures for match officials, players, team officials or spectators. In addition the SLSRFR strongly stated that they ‘will abstain from officiating any matches of Science College for a period of 12 months, beginning from June 2 this year.
They have drawn the importance of having the designated match commissioner at least 30 minutes before the senior game and SLSRFA to ensure sufficient security measures by the host school, including to the junior games. They also demand a comprehensive inquiry on the assault of the match referees on June 30 and take necessary action by July 22, and the compensation for the loss of three wristwatches, a match official referee whistle, and two sets of match officials’ communication devices, amounting to Rs. 300,000, and the amount to be paid before July 10.
Finally they have indicated that ‘any of this nature of event take place, on or before July 12, the SLSRFA will be compelled to move out of the tournament with or without notice’. This gave an indication that SLSRFR were willing to take back the whistle from July 12, which Peiris confirmed to the Sunday Times.
“It’s not that we referees are willing to completely sabotage the game. When such an incident happens, especially physical harm, referees naturally take a back step because of the psychological trauma they face or one of their colleagues faced. It takes time to return to normal self and resume duties as a match official. We needed some breathing space to recover ourselves and contribute to the game,” Peiris stated.
Yesterday, the SLSRFR gathered all its members at a well known rugby venue in Colombo to conduct a day-long series of programmes to encourage all members. The day included a two-hour motivational programme conducted by a renowned instructor in the presence of the Minister of Sports, Harin Fernando and the Director General Prof. Shemal Fernando.
“The SLSRFR has conducted many development programmes in the recent times, and we have managed to contribute four referees at Asian level. In addition we have 30 female members and four of them are already officiating in the top division schools league as on field referees and assistant referees. We love this game and we value the contribution of the schools and the young players, out of whom some are playing in their final year. We, referees are human too, and we too put in a huge amount of commitment to lift our standards,” he added.
Meanwhile the SLSRFA, who met on Friday evening have come to a common ground that it needs to see at all possible avenues to have the now stalled schools league resume sooner than later. Its General Secretary D.W.M. Nimmana stated that the SLSRFA decided to officially resume the schools rugby league from June 8, but they also have decided to officially write to SLSRFR to reconsider some of the listed demands that the referees society has made public.
“We have decided to write to them officially to reconsider some of their demands before the resumption of the league competition. I’m sure they are willing to get together with us in having the league back on track. Our intention is to move forward together, but things are still at negotiation level,” Nimmana told the Sunday Times.
It is believed that the demands SLSRFA have requested SLSRFR to reconsider includes the one-year withdrawal of referees from matches played by Science College. In addition the Principal of Science College, Susantha Mendis, who is currently on tour in England with the Sri Lanka Under-19 cricket team as its manager, has had a personal conversation with SLSRFR head, Dinka Peiris and conveyed his apologies yesterday.
“Mr. Mendis spoke to me over the phone, and we had a cordial discussion. He requested to send some of his school officials to meet us to have a useful discussion, to which we agreed. I’m sure all will be amicably settled,” Peiris added.
If all parties make swift progress in resuming the Dialog Schools Rugby League by this week, the top segment will recommence from the fifth week fixtures, while the hopped fourth week encounters will be rescheduled for the final week, which falls on the first weekend of August.