It is all a state of confusion of rugby in Sri Lanka while we eagerly wait for the Annual General Meeting to be held. There seem to be a flicker of uncertainty prevailing with regard to schools rugby. There is opinion expressed that the planning of the season needs rethinking for the betterment of the game. I will talk more of this later in this column.

A new generation of rugby players are bedding into the game via the rugby academies that have been set up. Everything seems to be changing. There is an evolving trend with youngsters being encouraged by parents to join an academy and get involved. The advantage of an academy is that training can be more specialized and one may receive expert tutelage. At present the academy is active in areas from the age groups of less than eight years to less than sixteen years.

Academies are privately run and encouraged by the clubs. Ideally this should embrace the players at the higher level and should be a national effort. What I would like to see is these apprentices graduate to a Senior Academy. This is the foresight that may be needed to develop future international players. Thus the academy can supply talented groomed players to club and national level.

The Lankan kid ruggerites scrum down in Bangkok

The spirit of a academy was seen when HARFA (Hisham Abdeen Rugby Football Academy) celebrated one year in existence last week. They did it in style with a gala tournament played at Havelock Park. Meanwhile taking wing to Bangkok were around hundred students of CR A- goal rugby academy which is directed by Dilroy Fernando. They were to play in the junior Rugby games organized by the Bangkok RFC during the Bangkok Tens tournament.

The teams comprised an under eight team probably the first to play outside Sri Lanka. This was an experience for the young rugby players. Having participated in various age groups they have done well. The achievement include: Under 8 Bowl Winners, Under 10 Plate Runners up, Under 12 Plate Winners, Under 14 and under 16 Plate winners.

There being a keen interest for the game one sees hope. Yet the news this week was uncertainty for the schools league tournament. There was speculation of doubt on who is responsible to run the league games. The sponsor’s, it was reported, were unwilling to commit themselves with an uncertain background.

This was putting a question mark on the all Island schools sevens being held this week. The President of the schools section Punyadasa Kuruppu however informed that the issue has been sorted out and the Education Ministry has given the green light to The Schools Rugby Football Association. He confirmed that the schools league tournament will be for the President’s Trophy as it was last year. The CEO of the SLRFU was of the view that last year a court order was obtained by a school. It was not certain that this order has been vacated.

The SLRFU in the interest of the game was ready to face an eventuality. But they have no issue with the School section running the league tournament. Meanwhile I also understand that an earlier case has still not been concluded. The president of the schools section was of the view that that the Schools Sports Council had given the necessary clearance for rugby to be administered in schools by the Sri Lanka schools Rugby Football Association. If not they should disband the association. The dilemma then is what would happen to all other junior games as SLRFU conducted only the under twenty games last year.

Meanwhile Hassan Singhawansa the Chairman of the Isipathana Rugby Committee spoke to me about my reference in the column last week. “Isipathana who to my knowledge never misses a tournament surprisingly opted to keep away. As a spectator I felt their absence and the usual excitement they could have dished out.” He explained that they at Isipathana believe that there is little consideration to the physical demands of the sport when planning out the year’s programme. The game being played for 80 minutes is played longer than this on actual time. He says that February/ March is not the best time to play the sevens when a team is practicing to meet the rigorous requirement of the league season.

The number of matches played during the season for XV side rugby’ is nine if ten teams are playing. These are all top level matches that require power and endurance considering the present way the game is played. In the early stages of training the players are practicing for development of power play and endurance. Changing to the requirements of a flowing game as in the sevens will upset the schedule. The best time for a sevens game is after the league season. That is why Isipathana has opted to be out of the tournament, despite the president of the schools rugby section being the Principal of the school.
What the game needs is for the governing body is to get the opinion of experts and have brain storming session to plan the future season.

Vimal Perera is a former Rugby Referee, coach and Accredited Referees Evaluator IRB