The year 2011 seems to be a muddled year for the players, administrators and fans of rugby. The controversies have hit the ceiling and the season has not even commenced. At the beginning of the year the Sri Lanka Schools Rugby Association was at cross-roads with their format in the ‘A’ division.
Dharmaraja, Science College Saga
Dharmaraja and Science College who are now in the ‘B’ division were promoted to the ‘A‘division at the oneset. It is speculated that Dharmaraja College Kandy had threatened to take the SLSRFA to courts over the issue with Isipathana College. The issue arose during the 2010 season when Dharmaraja accused Isipathana of fielding a player who had failed his Ordinary Level examinations for the second time. According to the SLSRFA constitution, any player who has failed his exam twice is not eligible to play for his school. Why the outgoing SLSFRA committee headed by the Isipathana Principal Mr. Punyadasa, allowed one school to blackmail another and by virtue of which remain in the A division still remains a question? Dharmaraja College were beaten fair and square and emerged ninth place in 2010 league which meant they were to be demoted to the ‘B’ division.
At the end of the 2010, in the ‘B’ division schools rugby league Science College had an equal number of points as Thurstan College. Anybody who knows their rugby would know that it is not possible for two teams to have played seven or eight matches each and have the exact number points for and points against. This raises the question who was second in the league overall? The points difference should have decided who finished in second and who finished in third? If the points were recorded correctly and the system was followed to the letter no such problems should arise.
The Chaos Caused by the promotion
By allowing both Dharmaraja and Science College into the A division the SLSRFA realized they had a total of twelve teams in the A division. On top of this the SLRFU which is the governing body of the SLSRFA gave notice that the schools rugby season must be ended by the 10th of June at least. The first reason for this is because the SLRFU decided not to have the schools rugby and club rugby overlapping as it was splitting the crowds. Another reason was because the Junior Asiad has been brought forward by the ARFU to the month of June. This has been communicated to the SLSRFA in November 2010.
Change of Regime
After the SLSRFA held their AGM in February a new committee was elected, headed by the Kingswood principal Mr R Chandrasekara. Upon installment Chandrasekara immediately called a meeting and announced that both Dharmaraja and Science College would not be permitted in the ‘A’ division league and that they will have to play their way up from the B division. No response has been documented from either school so far. Even though Chandrasekara has stood up against these two schools he has not been able to finalize the fixtures even after one month in office.
Fixtures?
The Official fixtures for the 2011 Presidents Trophy Rugby league have still not been released by the Schools Union. The reason cited by the governing body is that they could not finalize the fixtures as they did not know how two finish a league tournament within such a short term. The schools union has had over six months since the last season finished, the question can be raised as to what the union was doing since August last year? Such a delay is absolutely ludicrous and should not be permitted by the SLRFU. Players, coaches and fans all eagerly await the announcements of fixtures.
It is rumored that the fixtures were finalized internally but were now objected by one of the top schools in the league. The reason for this objection was because of the Bradby. According last year’s standings the Bradby shield encounter would have fallen in the second week of the league. It is of course customary that Royal meets Trinity at the end of the season and therefore the SLSRFA had swapped the second weeks fixtures and the eight weeks fixture to accommodate the tradition that is the Bradby. This swap has not gone down well with the protesting school. So once again everything is held up.
ThePapare as usual has been hot on the heels of various officials, cajoling and pushing for solutions and answers to the public’s questions. Most times they encounter tip lips or still pending answers. The schools ‘A’ division league is fought with gusto and players make preparations a year ahead. It is the most popular event on the school sports calendar and it’s not called the President Trophy for nothing. That so much incompetence can be displayed in face of such an important tournament is indeed a sad state of affairs.
