With the air of optimism and promised good governance brought in by the recent elections, we are left to wonder if it cannot spill over to the arena of sport in Sri Lanka which is constantly plagued with incidents, intimidation and assaulting of referees. Rugby in particular seems to be afflicted with this dastardly issue.
After a thrilling draw in the Kandy v CR match, the island nation’s most passionate rugby fanatics could not hold on to their emotions. Irshad Cader the blower on the day was assaulted by the Kandy fans when he was entering the referee’s room after the match. Former referee Dilroy Fernando, & Co managed to rescue Cader although the Police arrived on the scene late.
In another incident the very next day (Sunday) at Navy v Havelock’s game at Welisara, a scuffle broke out and the referees were thrashed in open view. Welisara the long considered Navy fortress prides itself in intimidating any opposition team and went further this time around. It is indeed shocking as the host team needs to provide for the security of the match officials, players and referees. The so called highly disciplined Navy unit went out of control with their behavior which is totally unacceptable.
What would be interesting to see is the stand taken by the governing body, Sri Lanka Rugby Football Union who needs to make it clear and take the correct decisions according to the rules of law on code of conduct of this beautiful game.
We all know referees make mistakes more unintentionally than intentionally as they have to make decisions in a blink of an eye; even international referees cannot be 100% accurate. South African Jonathan Kaplan, Welsh Nigel Owens, Irishman Alain Rolland, Steve Walsh these top class elite referees also make at least one or more errors when on duty which they will only understand after reviewing the video later. The most famous incident being the referee decision that cost All Blacks a win in the semi-final against France and England going on to win the 2007 World Cup final.
We witness 80,000 fans shouting for referee’s errors at Twickenham but that shouting remains just as a booing but not an assault. The losing team finally shakes hands with the referee despite the final results. That is integrity, discipline, solidarity and respect at its best. The players, coaches and administration need to respect the game most importantly we as spectators need to do so as well.
Even some of Sri Lanka’s best referees have made mistakes. Dilroy Fernando brought honour to country becoming a touch judge in the Commonwealth 7s finals in 1998 where the great Jonah Lomu was in action. At the end of the day players have to take it and the spectators have to learn to respect that decision.
Despite the number of wrong decisions by local referees exceeding acceptable numbers the system should be to lodge a complaint and solve in legitimately.
Perhaps SLRFU not doing its job caused Chula Dharmadasa the interim committee president of the referees union to resign early this year. He was reassigned to the post after some deliberations by the referees and agreeing to .
Now at Longdon Place on Saturday, Ross Mitchel, ARFU Rugby Referees GM and Asian Referees manager Alan Whitcombe etc were on duty with local referee’s coaches. It was embarrassing for Sri Lanka that they had to witness a referee manhandled in this fashion. Cader is currently an elite referee and also the only one currently representing Sri Lanka in Asian panel. He has also blown for the Dubai 7s six times. On that day World Rugby Officials were present to correct Cader’s officiating but the Kandy fans took matters to their own hands.
In cricket we have seen even with the modern technology things are not going right for some of the umpires.
While the other side of the coin is that the referees have to work harder at their game and minimize mistakes and build respect as fair and firm. The authorities also need to come transparent about the processes they have put in place to correct and minimize the mistakes of refereeing. The referees association is also in a dilemma as no players are taking to refereeing due to this kind of intimidation and Sri Lanka have a dearth in quality coming through the ranks. Talk about fans knowing the older rules and not the new ones.
The Sri Lankan public also need to educate themselves thoroughly on the laws of the game before they challenge the referees.
One referee did not give a penalty against CR for playing 16 on the field. In some matches referees go up to 20 – 25 penalties, that is the fault of the players. So the playing time will go down to 45-50 minutes only. If you take All Blacks v Springboks perhaps most of the time less than 15 penalties are applied during a game. Playing time will be 60 – 65 minutes.
Rahul De Silva scooped the ball from Roshan Weerarathna’s hand and scored the try, was it the referees fault? When Sri Lanka played against Hong Kong in the Asian 5 Nations last May, Hong Kong conceded only 4 penalties to Sri Lanka’s 17? Why ? our players infringed a lot. Was it intentional? Or unintentional? Are the players abreast with the rules? Are they giving enough importance at breakdowns and set pieces? etc…
Coming back to Welisara it was a situation even SLRFU officials could not control. The Sri Lanka Navy has to take responsibility, their civil behavior was indeed deplorable and not the discipline that the Sri Lankan Naval force should stand for. Incidents have taken place at Welisara previously as well. These things need to change when professionalism of the sports meet or grow. Also the clubs should accept the win or loss. Did we not learn this in school?
Henry Terrence had a word and a push on Havies and former Isipathana prop Ganuka Dissanayaka by the dressing room. Well this is not a big issue as far as rugby is concerned on the field but off the field ? It is not too much of an issue if after the game if there is a ‘players social’ a pint would solve it !!
Investing on foreign referees would not be a longer term solution. SLRFU needs to invest more time and energy to have scouting camps in order to develop the referees and increase the numbers of those joining. In Canada, USA, Australia and some part of the Europe the rugby referees have increased in numbers both part/full time. The reason is clear because they do not get assaulted and they do earn respect for the service that they provide.
