After the unruly incident that took place in the first match of the Singer Schools Rugby League between Wesley College and Trinity College, a player of the Wesley College team has been handed over a year’s ban while a few others have been handed over match bans.
This issue comes after a Wesley College player’s late shoulder charge against the Trinity College player after he scored the try. This later escalated to a brawl with the players on the bench along with the intervention of few spectators making their way to the grounds.
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The Sri Lanka Schools Rugby Football Association (SLSRFA) disciplinary committee that met yesterday has decided to penalize one player from Wesley for the entire schools season this year while six other players who invaded the grounds from the bench have been handed over two and three match bans respectively.
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Two players from Wesley College bench have been handed over three match bans due to their gesture towards the crowd and the other four players will receive two match bans respectively.
The panel that had forwarded the verdict consisted of tournament director Mr. A. P. Jayasooriya Principal of Science College, H. J. K. Wijerama; Master in Charge of Rugby at St. John’s College, Mr. M. B. Attenayaka; Principal Lalith Athulathmudali College and Sarathchandra Silva; Principal of Kalutara Vidyalaya.
ThePapare contacted the head of the Sri Lanka Rugby Referees Society (SLRRS), Nizam Jamaldeen on the matter and he added that the SLRRS had submitted their written report pertaining the matter to the inquiry.
Maximum Sanction used by SLSRFA
According to the regulation 17 Appendix 1 prescribed by World Rugby on Discipline and Foul Play, the article ‘G’ states the following:
“Dangerous charging or knocking down an opponent with the ball including shouldering will have three consequences with regard to the severity of the charge with the Lower End offense providing a 2 weeks ban while a maximum sanction will be a 52 weeks ban”
It is, however, unclear as to why the schools’ disciplinary committee opted to use the maximum sanction provided that it is a schools’ rugby encounter.
ThePapare’s continuous efforts to contact the organizing body, the SLSRFA has yet again failed as they seemed to have turned a deaf ear to the media and its stakeholders.
With this, Wesley College will be forced to play the next two games of the season sans their key players putting them in a disadvantageous position.
