Anthony’s and Kingswood miss the bus after clash
The 19th annual Milo Schools Under-20 Knockout Rugby Championship will kick off on Tuesday at the Royal College Sports Complex in Colombo sans St. Anthony’s or Kingswood colleges who were engaged in a brawl last week. The Sri Lanka Schools Rugby Football Association (SLSRFA) officials will meet tomorrow to make further inquiries on the incident.
The match officials abandoned the game in the 44th minute, soon after the halftime, when Kingswood held on to a slender 6-5 lead. Eight players in total, five from Kingswood and three from St. Anthony’s were hospitalized with injuries at the Kandy Hospital and they were discharged on the same day after receiving treatment.
Touch judge Thomas moves to his position while police and officials are trying to gain control of the situation at Royal Complex on Friday. Royal, pictuered in the background, became the sixth side to enter the Knockouts. - Pic by Amila Gamage
“We (SLSRFA) met on Friday to discuss on other issues but this subject was also brought up because it affected the Milo Schools Knockout Championship which was scheduled to begin on Monday. We then decided to exclude St. Anthony’s and Kingswood from the Knockout tournament with an inquiry on to the incident of their League encounter still in pending. As a result we decided to push forward the Knockout tournament by a day,” revealed Susantha Mendis, the secretary of SLSRFA.
The Milo Schools Knockout Championship will include three segments, the President’s, Premier and Chairman’s trophies with eight teams each vying for glory. The President’s Trophy will include top six teams from Division I ‘A’ and the top two teams of Division I ‘B’. The Premier Trophy will see six teams from Division I ‘B’ and two top teams from Division I ‘C’ while the Chairman’s Trophy will include six teams from Division I ‘C’ and two teams from Division II ‘A’.
With St. Anthony’s and Kingswood not being considered to the President’s Trophy segment of the Knockout tournament, Royal College will be the sixth team to enter the segment from the Division I ‘A’ besides League champions Dharmaraja, Trinity, St. Peter’s, Wesley and Science. Division I ‘B’ champions S. Thomas’ has not confirmed their participation and as a result the organisers have included D.S. Senanayake and C.W.W. Kannangara colleges to the top segment.
Ananda will receive a bye in the Premier segment where only seven teams have confirmed participation. Others who will compete in this segment are Nalanda, Mahanama, St. Benedict’s, Prince of Wales’, St. Sylvester’s and Division I ‘C’ champions Piliyandala Central. The Chairman’s Trophy segment will include St. John’s Nugegoda, Dharmapala Pannipitiya, Royal Panadura, Carey, Maliyadeva and three teams from Division II ‘A’, namely Vidyartha, St. Aloysius and Zahira Colombo.
Mendis confirmed that the SLSRFA would continue to record all matches on video, a policy they adopted after the incident occurred during the League match between St. Joseph’s and Dharmaraja, after the match officials alleged of verbal abuse from a section of the crowd as well as from certain team officials. The SLSRFA also have obtained video tapes of all eight League rugby matches played after a stoppage of two weeks caused due a referees’ pullout.
“We will review the video footages of the match St. Anthony’s vs Kingswood match before making a final verdict on the outcome of that League match. As at now the result of this match has been held up. We will make use of the video facility in order to make swift decisions if any dispute crops up in the Knockout tournament too. We are looking forward for an incident-free competition,” he added. – NA
Tournament Schedule – All matches at Royal Complex
President’s Trophy
July 2: St. Peter’s vs Royal at 4.15pm
July 3: Wesley vs Science at 4.15pm
July 4: Dharmaraja vs CWW Kannangara at 4.15pm
July 5: DS Senanayake vs Trinity at 4.15pm
Semi-finals: July 8 and 9 at 4.15pm
Final: July 14 at 4.15pm
Premier Trophy
July 2: Ananda receive a bye
July 3: Nalanda vs St. Sylvester’s at 2.00pm
July 4: Mahanama vs Piliyandala Central at 2.00pm
July 5: St. Benedict’s vs Prince of Wales’ at 2.00pm
Semi-finals: July 8 and 9 at 2.00pm
Final: July 15 at 4.30pm
Chairman’s Trophy
July 2: St. John’s vs St. Aloysius at 8.30am
July 3: Dharmapala vs Carey at 8.30am
July 4: Royal Panadura vs Vidyartha at 8.30am
July 5: Zahira vs Maliyadeva at 8.30am
Semi-finals: July 8 and 9 at 8.30am
Final: July 15 at 2.00pm
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