A media briefing was held today at the CR&FC meeting room to announce the development programme which is to be re-launched by the Western Province Rugby Football union.
The Western province rugby football union has taken the initiative to re-launch the Rugby development programme which came to a halt in 2012 due to the lack of interest and the lack of funds. The union looks to target a few schools and aims to develop the sport among them. Some of these selected schools have never been involved in the sport but the WPRFU’s main ambition is to somehow make sure that players emerge from these “development schools” as they are tagged, to come up the ranks, make it to established schools and finally to represent the country.
Rugby which has now even been introduced as an Olympic sport to be played in 2016 in the 7’s format is a sport that has gained popularity in Sri Lanka in a small period of time. With the nation’s rugby coming up the ranks in Asia and making a name for itself in the world stage there are definite signs of this sport becoming another extremely popular sport.
The WRFU’s development programme sees 11 coaches taking on appointments to look over 28 schools. The main objective of these coaches who have been trained professionally is to develop an interest among the schools and to finally develop the schools rugby as a sport. The WRFU has also seen to the likes of providing balls and looks to organize a tournament to be played among these selected development schools to provide them with exposure. “They will not be put to play with established schools like Kingswood college or Wesley College straight up, but will gradually gain experience and end up playing these schools in leagues” said Mr. Dilroy Fernando.
After the WRFU elections and the officials being appointed the first project was the Western Province 7 a side rugby tournament which was a success with the sponsorship of Asian Finance PLC. This project is to be the second of many projects to come by the WRFU and they will definitely look to make this a success as well.
The Union has also launched a web site which is set to be highly educational for all players and followers alike. This site is to carry information about tournaments and schedules and upcoming events while there will also be a section for education purposes from the Rules of the game to Nutrition and supplements. “Players nowadays don’t know what they should eat and not, they don’t know that some supplements are illegal to use and players have been penalized several times on this matter and we look to minimize this issue by educating the players on what they can consume and what they should consume” added Mr Dilroy Fernando.
This site will also carry translations of the IRB rules and regulations and will also have most information in both Sinhala and English bridging the language gap which could also be a reason for some schools which don’t have adequate English proficiency to learn the game. This venture by the Western province rugby football union would undoubtedly go a long way in not only uplifting the selected development schools but will also spread to a vast array of schools which have not yet taken up the sport.
Under the Development programme they also look to support coaches and referees by providing training programmes with level 1 and level 2 referee programmes on offer to PT teachers, masters in charge and other interested parties.
The coaches who were given appointment letters today will be on contract by the WRFU and will be closely monitored by the Union through the 28 schools whilst the coaches are expected to spend at least 2 – 3 days of the week with one school. The initial programme will look into the under 12, 14 and 16 categorize and if interest is shown by the schools the WRFU went on to say that they will provide adequate infrastructure facilities like grounds for more senior development to commence, as of now these juniors will be clustered around play grounds and will be taught the basics of the game in the aim of developing interest.
Science College and Sri Lanka player Mr. Nazeem Mohammed also the President of the WRFU went on to say that over 17 lakhs per year have been estimated and allocated for this programme and he urged for the support of the principals and masters in charge for their support to make sure that their investment is not gone to waste. He also added that “Rugger is not only a sport; it can be treated as a profession in future, not only as players but also as referees, coaches and managers and so on. Rugger is sport that a lot of money is invested in the recent past. The Carlton 7s tournament is the best example with franchises bidding and investing millions in teams, so rugger can definitely looked upon as a profession in time to come”
The table went on to say that they are also looking to develop women’s rugby by introducing the sport to leading girls schools like Ladies College, Bishops College and other international schools hoping that other school will be soon to follow. As of now women’s rugby is limited to clubs and mainly the forces clubs such as the Air force and Navy sports clubs but, with the proposal of the union we should be able to see girls schools taking up the sport with sponsorships and tournament to catch the eyes of a followers in a new spectacle of the countries sport.
This Development programme does not have a specified sponsor but the sponsor of the Western province Asian Finance PLC has agreed to sponsor this programme for two years barring that this will be a success.
With programmes such as this, one thing is evident, it’ll be ideal breeding ground for Sri Lankan rugby with players being offered scholarships from leading schools to be developed and the competition among current players and schools too will step on the gas only to develop and take the country’s sport to unimaginable heights.
