Sanath Martis took over the coaching role of the Sri Lanka U20 rugby team last month. The initial squad of 60 been reduced to 30 last week.
However, most of the players in the squad have been contracted to clubs. 11 players are contracted to play with Navy SC, 7 players with Havelock SC, and a few other players with Police and CR&FC. Nevertheless, both Police and CR had no issues in releasing their players for national duty. According to the secretary of Sri Lanka Schools Rugby Association (SLSRFA) Susantha Mendis, Navy and Havelocks are not willing to release their players for training.
Although this issue has been taken in to the Director General (DG) of Sports by the SLSRFA, Director General KD Ruwanchandra according to Martis has said “release the junior players for the ongoing rugby league whether it is national or club, they are playing rugby after all,”
The U20 team is set to leave the country on the 11th of December for the Junior Asiad which will take place from the 13th – 19th of December. Martis further said that they could not finish the coaching camp as scheduled in Diyatalawa because the clubs were so fussy and they wanted their players at club practices. The clubs have threatened the players saying that they will cut their salary if they do not come in for practices. Now Martis has given in his resignation to the SLSRFA siting his displeasure over the clubs’ reaction, the SLRFU and the ministry of sports.
Moreover, Martis said “It is a pity that most of the club committee individuals have played rugby in the top level in the country, and they forget the value of playing for the nation and that country comes first,” he also added “look at the inability of clubs to find players, that itself indicates how far the Sri Lanka Rugby Football Union has been able to develop the game or the players in the country, they don’t have players in clubs to play at that level. I thought national duty is first, but according to the Director General Ruwanchandra it is the club that comes first before national duty.”
This issue has cropped up only because the Junior Asiad, which is meant to happen between June and October usually, was moved back because of the Rugby World Cup in England. However, Susantha Mendis is hoping that the ministry of sports will understand the scenario and speak to the clubs regarding the release of players by Monday. The worrying fact is that even Mendis doesn’t know whether Martis will be willing to take back the coaching role and help the team nor has he accepted the resignation. Even Collin Denish, the assistant coach, has refused to take over without Martis being in charge.
Sri Lanka finished 2nd in the Rugby Asiad last year, in Colombo, Martis believed that this team could win this year’s tournamnet and play alongside Japan in the Junior World trophy next year.
