SLRFU hits out against ‘swindling’ allegations and threatens to suspend SLSRFA.
Drama continues to unfold after the Sri Lanka Rugby Football Union (SLRFU) put a temporary full stop to the activities of the Sri Lanka Schools Rugby Football Association (SLSRFA) last week. The full stop is related to the suspension of the forthcoming schools league and other school’s tournaments since the SLSRFA refused bend to the requirements of the SLRFU who are hoping to develop and uplift the sport from the grass root levels.
The Under 20 Seven’s tournament which was supposed to officially kick off the schools season this weekend will come under fire as Secretary of the SLSRFA Susantha Mendis hopes the tournament would continue.
Speaking to ThePapare.com, Mr. Susantha Mendis explained ‘For now we hope to conduct the tournament as scheduled. An issue may arise if the Referee’s Society fail to turn up. A further decision on the matter will be taken at an executive committee meeting tomorrow’.
Earlier this week the SLSRFA had made strong allegations to the media against the SLRFU and its members with a leading Sunday newspaper also carrying a story that the SLSRFA had accused the governing body the SLRFU to have been trying to swindle the schools segment with a proposed sponsorship deal that is allegedly one-third of the total amount received currently.
ThePapare.com managed to speak to the Secretary of the SLRFU, Mr. Rizly Illyas on the matter. He explained that this alleged accusation against the SLRFU will not be tolerated, and the SLSRFA being a member of the SLRFU have fallen out of line and action will be taken against the SLSRFA if they fail to heed to the requests of the governing body. Mr. Illyas further added that this issue regarding the schools league and its tournament has nothing to do with the funding. ‘This decision was taken due to the lack of proper governance within the SLSRFA to guide school’s rugby forward, there have been many issues last year as well and schools rugby in general has turned out to become a battlefield, and soon people will move away from the sport which will spell disaster to the future of Sri Lanka Rugby.’ he further added.
Mr. Illyas also mentioned that a special executive meeting will be held to further discuss the future of schools rugby, and also resolve the current uncertainties. He also strongly advised the SLSRFA to respect the governing body (SLRFU) or the SLRFU would not hesitate to suspend membership of the SLSRFA and thereby make the association redundant. Legal action would also be taken against the SLSRFA and officials who make baseless allegations against the SLRFU and its members including many prominent individuals who have been part and parcel of the sport, and has worked tirelessly towards development of it
When ThePapare.com contacted the SLSRFA once again regarding the possibility of being suspended as a full member of the SLRFU, a top official at the SLSRFA explained that since they have the backing of the Education Ministry, the membership of the SLRFU is irrelevant and that they will continue to function and organize the relevant tournaments.
ThePapare.com hopes that the issue at hand will be resolved at its earliest, as the entire rugby community eagerly await the schools season, which is arguably the ‘heartbeat’ of Sri Lanka Rugby.
