“If some one punches you in a game you smile at him, remember his face and calmly walk away….and you wait for your opportunity to strike.” the words of a veteran rugby coach.
The fiasco that took place on the 18th of May when Royal took on Isipathana at their fortress, the Royal College sports complex was a sad day for the sport many of us love and cherish. Both teams having not had the best of runs in the season came in under a lot of pressure to perform.
Around 60 minutes in to the game Royal walked out of the game claiming that Isipathana were throwing punches too many and some eye-gouging etc. In Royal absence Isipathana even went on to score a try that was allowed by the referee.
This incident has erupted full scale with Royal distributing to the media an edited version of the match which show clear punches under the unseen eyes of the referees. Of course Isipathana is portrayed as the clear villain with all schools and past grouses being piled up as evidence against them.
It seems to have lapsed most memories that this is a regular occurance at a rugby match be it schools, national or international, intentional punches will be thrown and untold damage will be done to an opponent as many times as it is allowed. This is part and parcel of Rugby and Royal would be deemed ‘cowardly’ for walking out.
Unfortunately, some of the blatant punching, kicking and especially the eye-gouging is sickening to see from young rugby players and is a black star in the chart of a well respected school of the rugby fraternity. It is hoped that the Isipathana governing body takes action against its players rather than waiting for the inefficient SLSRFA to do so.
Going back to Royal and their decision to walk off…..As a rugby player you have a sense of pride and you most certainly do not back down. It can be considered gentlemanly to walk away from a fight any where else but on the rugby field you are trained to take any punishment for 80 minute no matter what form it comes in.
Having been at the receiving end of a few punches, kicks and gouges in my life time I can say that it is not a pleasant feeling but the pride of wearing your college colours makes up for the agony. The response to these dirty tactics as I remember was always to bide your time and retaliate not with a punch or a kick but with a thundering tackle or even better, a try. Bruises, black eyes and broken bones will heal but the pain a loss will give your opponents can never be lifted. Unfortunately, the pain and embarrassment of having walked away from an uphill battle is something the Royalists will have to live with.
If bad officiating was sighted as a reason for Royal to walk out, it holds water. The Royal College I remember fielded rugby players who could go toe to toe with any team and would not be caught dead trying to milk a penalty by rolling on the ground in agony. To be quite honest the site of the royalists falling like nine pins reminds one of football matches where players dive and scream on the floor in agony trying to convince the referee they were fouled (with no offense to footballers)
This begs the question as to where the referees had their eyes? Not only did they miss all the punching, but two Royal tries which were clearly made under the nose of the referees, were disallowed. The referee has two assistant whose job it is to pick up what the man in the middle misses. The assistant referees job description entails a lot more than running up and down the touch line waving a flag which is about the only thing these Sri Lankan referees seem to do. There are three pairs of eyes adjudicating the action and it is their job to cover every angle and reprimand wrong doings. When the referees eyes are following the ball it’s his assistants job to keep an eye out for what happens off the ball.
Of course at the end of the match all eyes were turned on the Sri Lanka Schools Rugby Football Association who it turns out has not issued a rule book for this season as yet and perhaps constitutionally unable to take any action. According to media reports the rule book is still at the printers!!
ThePapare has highlighted time and again the inefficiency of the SLSRFA and the sensibility of continuing to allow these ‘teachers’ to run schools rugby which has today escalated to way beyond ‘school’ It is the national nursery with the rugby on the up and up and it seems ridiculous to leave it in proven incompetent hands forever.
The referees whom the Rugby fraternity has been barraging about for yonks have plenty to answer for in this instance and should take full responsibility for the fiasco. Schools rugby may get heated beyond the fields but Sri Lanka’s inability to produce competent rugby referees is an area that certainly needs refurbishing.
