The proposed new structure for the Schools Rugby League will not be implemented in the upcoming schools season due to a majority of its stakeholders not agreeing to it.
The Sri Lanka Schools Rugby Football Association, which is the governing body for schools’ rugby in the country, took it upon themselves to change the existing league structure that had been in place since 2014 in a bid to increase the number of participating teams.
From the current 12-team format, the SLSRFA had planned to bring in a 16-team format for the upcoming 2018 schools’ season. The reforms were initially drafted by the governing body as early as September this year.
However, following the meeting that was held yesterday (8th), a decision not to proceed with the new structure was reached, as many schools were opposed to it.
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Therefore, the next year’s schools league will go according to last year’s format and will have a 12 team first round and later a second round where the top tier will compete for the Cup Championship while the lower tier will contest for the Plate title.
This will mean that the schools that were relegated from this year’s ‘A’ division; Prince of Wales and Science College will not get to play in the top division.
The suggested new system consisted of 16 team that included all the teams in the Cup and Plate championships. Had it been implemented, Science and Prince of Wales would have gotten a taste of the top league of Schools’ rugby.
The structural adjustments will be taken to discussion again next season.
The groups for the upcoming Schools Rugby League 2018 will be as follows:
| Group I | Group II |
| Royal College (1) | Isipathana College (2) |
| Trinity College (3) | Wesley College (4) |
| St. Joseph’s College (5) | St. Peter’s College (6) |
| S. Thomas’ College (7) | Zahira College (8) |
| St. Anthony’s College (9) | Dharmaraja College (10) |
| Kingswood College (11) | D. S. Senanayake College (12) |
The Schools Rugby League will kick off in March 2018.
