Sri
Lanka Rugby (SLR) chieftain Rizly Illyas merrily presented a comprehensive and
promising plan of restarting competitions from August with a two-legged
domestic 7s and three Asian tournaments soon after its annual general meeting
held on May 29. But by now it looks as if nothing is certain after all.
With SLR failing to implement its worksheet planned for 2020 and
in the early phase of this year, they have discussed the possibility of playing
at least two instalments of the Inter-Club Rugby 7s before hosting two legs of
the Asia Rugby Men’s and Women’s 7s Series during September and October,
followed by the Asian Rugby Under-19 Championship during November.
All these tournaments, conducted by Asian Rugby Football Union
(ARFU), were planned to be held at the Racecourse ground in Colombo under
strict health measures, with an overarching goal of winning a medal at the
Asian Games 2022. But according to Asia Rugby Executive Committee Member and
Competitions Committee Chairman, Asanga Seneviratne the regional competitions
have the least possibility of reaching the shores of Sri Lanka, as hosts.
“It’s not going to happen. First SLR must have the local
tournaments. There were discussions, but from ARFU’s point of view the two
legs, they will be played in Dubai in December soon after the Dubai
International 7s,” Seneviratne confirmed to the Sunday Times.
SLR missed out a golden opportunity to restart rugby after its
inept approach in forcing the cancellation of the Commander’s Cup 7s, an event
organised to coincide the 70th anniversary of Sri Lanka Air Force. The
tournament was to be held in two instalments, on March 20 and 21, followed by
March 26 and 27 at the Air Force ground in Ratmalana. The reason for the
cancellation was said as the then rising state of the COVID-19 pandemic, but it
was evident that SLR made certain blind-side moves in organising the
competition and sponsorships, which was solely managed by the Air Force.
Air Force had all players and officials in a bio bubble after
separate bubbles and individual quarantine phases of those who were to be part
of the competition, but eventually all were dismissed after entering its final
safe zone in Ratmalana, days prior to the competition.
“The Commander Cup 7s was the best platform, if SLR genuinely
wanted to restart rugby. Only the forces have the ability to conduct such an
event under the present surroundings. They have the logistics, manpower and
infrastructure to run such a competition. For unknown reasons SLR made a wrong
move, it was a golden opportunity wasted. Now it’s hard to make a comeback,” an
expert of the sport, who wished to remain unnamed, said.
Last week, adding salt to the already battered wound, Sri Lanka
7s skipper Danush Dayan and several other players, mostly of national status,
made humble pleas through social media of the lack of competitions locally and
most importantly about most players losing the livelihoods.
“It’s pointless doing individual training, whereas rugby is team
sport. As players we wonder why authorities have not made, even the slightest
attempts, to start training of the national squad, because players need to
connect as a unit. We really don’t know what to anticipate,” Dayan pleaded in a
video that went viral over the past week on social media platforms.
“Hopefully with the blessings of the Minister of Sports, Namal
Rajapaksa and the Chairman of High Performance Committee Mahela Jayawardene, we
will be able to commence our high performance programme with our Men’s and
Women’s players contracted year round for residential training. Our goal is
winning medals at the Commonwealth Games and the Asian Games,” Illyas told the
Sunday Times, a fortnight ago following the AGM.
But his confidant and former SLR administrator, Seneviratne, who
is now one of the top decision makers at ARFU thinks otherwise.
“I think it’s critical that SLR should come with a proper plan
to a restart competitions, specially school’s rugby. You are penalizing the
children for no reason, club rugby can be always played. SLR should initiate a
plan consulting the medical experts and should work in cohesion with the
Schools Section,” Senevirante added.
“Immediately they should look at starting rugby locally, before
thinking of hosting regional or international competitions. Besides that the
rugby skipper and other players have made a genuine plea and SLR should
seriously look into it. It all connects end of the day”.
Meanwhile ARFU has made plans to introduce ‘Sub Regional’
competitions as a lead up to international competitions for nations and players
from the Asia region. Under that ARFU released an adjusted competitions
calendar for 2021 to introduce five Sub Regions 7s competitions providing
meaningful opportunities for participation to all its 34-member unions each in
its respective sub-regional competition.
“Taking into consideration the travel restrictions and after
taking advice from the Asia Rugby Players Welfare and Medical Committee, the
Asia Rugby Competitions Committee felt that Sub-Regional cross border 7s
competitions are the best option for ‘Return to Play’ and for starting the
international calendar,” Seneviratne, as ARFU’s Executive Committee Member and
Competitions Committee Chairman, stated.
Locally, rugby remains as one of the few sports, if not perhaps
the only, to refrain from getting back to the field, while almost all other
famous sports, such as cricket, football, boxing, badminton, tennis and
shooting, to name a few, have conducted tournaments during the past 12 months.
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