The Royal –Isipathana game that concluded last week, no doubt still has many questions that have to be answered. ThePapare decided to look into a few finer points and delve into the opinions of both camps.
The encounter ended up in controversy with the Royal camp walking off claiming the opposition was intentionally injuring their players.
Firstly, speaking to the top official in the Sri Lanka Schools Rugby Football Association (SLSRFA) it was gathered that, an official ruling will be made after a disciplinary committee meeting. This meeting will entertain any inquiries, but the bulk of the decision will be based on the referee’s report, especially since video evidence is available.
An important member of the Isipathana Camp was of the view that the situation is beyond their control, and the responsibility lies on the referees and the match commissioner who would draw up the final verdict. However, he also claimed that there was no incident after the drop goal, and the two offences were in fact penalised, with the first one being a ‘send off’ and the other, where the referee had issued a warning.
He also was of the view that, the blood injuries occurred due to usual contact that is prevalent in the sport, and not due to unruly behaviour of the Isipathana team, and that there is ample video evidence to prove this. In conclusion, according to him, this seemed more of a ploy to rest players for the ‘blue ribbon’ of schools rugby, the Bradby Shield, and teams will have to decide as to whether it should take part in the league if they are not fully committed.
On the other side, the Royal camp suggests that there has been in intentional infringement of safety by the Isipathana players that has led to four of their players being treated with fairly severe injuries. Manusha Abeykoon who was treated in the eye hospital suffering with the worst, due to a direct blow to both eyes and if proven intentional the offense is considered to have a six week ban in terms of punishment.
Thivanka and Keshan who both had laceration with the former being concussed, and Yasoun Weerasooriya who had received many blows to his head were all treated at the accident service, with the above details being part of the doctors report.
Speaking to a senior official in the Royal camp, it seemed that there would be an official complaint lodged against Isipathana College and their conduct, and they too claim that there is ample video evidence to show that these infringements were more intentional rather than accidental.
As mentioned before, there will be an inquiry to the above matter soon, and a decision will be made as to the fate of the game, as well as the incident as a whole. Stay tuned with ThePapare.Com for further details. However, until then the scores will stand at 27-20 after the uncontested try just before the 60th minute with Isipathana recording only their second victory in the current league.
