The Sri Lanka Schools’ Football Association (SLSFA) confirmed the three walkover results in the U19 Division I Championship.
The three matches were Kingswood College v Isipathana College, Hameed Al Husseinie College v Royal College and the much talked about Hameed Al Husseinie College v Zahira College. In those matches, walkover wins were awarded, as 3-0 results, to Kingswood College and Hameed Al Husseinie College in the other two matches.
This was confirmed exclusively to ThePapare.com by the secretary of the SLSFA Nalaka Dissanayake.
“The Isipathana v Kingswood match was confirmed and both teams had arrived at the venue at Cooray Park (Wellawatta). However few of the Isipathana College players did not have the proper identification cards so they did not have the minimum number of players to play the match. After considering the referees report we took a decision to award the match to Kingswood,” Dissanayake added.
Isipathana’s no IDs issue postpones match
A match that had the makings of an exciting encounter was not to be, as an administrative problem from the Isipathana side resulted in the postponement…
It is around the other two decisions that have garnered much controversy, especially in the arch rivals match between Zahira v Hameed Al Husseinie.
According to Hameed Al Hussenie College, their home match against Royal College was postponed a few times because Reid Avenue side was refusing to play stating exams and Big Match (against S.Thomas’ College). However after arranging the match and informing, Royal College hadn’t turned up for the match and the referees have stated the same in the referees report.
Holy Cross into semis, Zahira crash out
Holy Cross College came from a goal down in the 2nd half to win 2-1 in a do or die game against Hameed Al Husseinie College at Holy Cross College grounds…
Taking into consideration the referees report, Dissanayake stated according to the rules and regulations SLSFA had given a walkover win for Hameed Al Husseinie College. The same had happened in the match against Zahira College as well, where Zahira had failed to turn up at P.D.Sirisena Grounds on the 8th of December.
In the referees report which ThePapare.com has in our possession (copy) it says;
“I like to inform you in above match, home team of Hameed Al Husseinie College present on time but away team of Zahira College (Colombo) not present for above match-up 4.15pm. After we three (referees) went off.”
In both instances Zahira College and Royal College claim that they were not properly informed about the fixture.
“If any school has an issue they should contact me and there after necessary procedures can be taken. However none of the two schools’ (Zahira and Royal) officials had contacted me up until now. Without them properly forwarding a complaint, how can we investigate?” asked Dissanayake.
“If the visiting school has an issue with the ground conditions, first they have to come to the ground. It is the referees who has the authority to inspect and take a decision on whether the ground is in good condition or not,” he went on to say.
“Considering the two referees’ reports the SLSFA has taken the decision to award the two walkover wins to Hameed Al Husseinie College,” he concluded.
The semi-finals of the SLSFA U19 Division I Championship will happen on the 19th of December while the final will take place on the 21st of December at the Moragasmulla Grounds.
Maris Stella College v Holy Cross College – U19 Division 1 SF 2016
Live from Moragasmulla Grounds on 19th of December 2.00 pm onwards.
Hameed Al Husseinie College v St.Joseph’s College – U19 Division 1 Semi Finals 2016
Live from Moragasmulla Grounds on 19th of December 4.00 pm onwards.
 confirmed on the three walkover results in the U19 Division I Championship.){kind=link}