Supreme Court clears way for Rugby election
The Supreme Court of Sri Lanka, on Friday, dismissed the appeal filed by seven Provincial Unions, which challenged the earlier judgement delivered by Justice M. Laffer and Justice Priyantha Fernando, enabling the upcoming elections of Sri Lanka Rugby (SLR) scheduled for 8 October. Delivering the judgement, the Supreme Court bench comprising Justice Kumudini Wickramasinghe, Justice Janak de Silva and Justice Sopitha Rajakaruna, dismissed the appeal filed by Provincial Union representatives Roshan Deen, Kavinda Jayasena, Denzil Darling, Shamendran Devadasan, Velathage Jayanetti, Mrs Chandrakantha Mahendranathan and Lakmal Jayawardena.
SLR, currently administered by a Working Task Force, has been issued an ultimatum by World Rugby (WR) to hold an election under appropriate requirements and elect an Executive Board by 8 October, or face a global suspension within days if elections are not held by the given deadline. The appeal case filed by the seven Provincial Unions was seen as the final hurdle to conduct the SLR elections, and with the judgement delivered by the Supreme Court comes a potential step forward in appointing an elected body since it was last governed by an elected administration in May 2024.
As of the end of September, WR has granted SLR an extensive grace period of nearly 15 months at different phases to put their house in order, until the global body decided to issue a final warning letter through the National Olympic Committee of Sri Lanka. The SLR election was last scheduled for 9 September and was rescheduled for 8 October, the date WR identified as final. This was the third unsuccessful attempt to hold SLR elections since the body was placed under a Competent Authority on 29 May 2024. The last duly elected President of SLR, Rizly Illyas, was forced to step down by World Rugby following a disputed inquiry process conducted by Asia Rugby, which allegedly reprimanded him without proper reasoning.
The Supreme Court, dismissing the appeal under SC/438/2025, challenging the Court of Appeal judgement in CA/WRT/438/2024, observed that ‘the respondents were not informed of this new motion.’
“It is pertinent to observe that while Sri Lanka may not yet rival global rugby giants such as the All Blacks or Springboks, the nation’s rugby programme stands at a critical juncture of its growth and development. The court notes the fact that rugby is a sport gaining increasing momentum and public interest within the country, especially with particular interest in the schools’ rugby arena, and this period presents a significant opportunity for Sri Lanka to further integrate into the international rugby community,” Sri Lanka Rugby said in a statement.
Currently, two groups of candidates, one led by Pavitra Fernando and the other by former SLR President Lasitha Gunaratne, are in contention for the top positions. According to reports, Fernando’s team is said to have already secured three key positions – the Deputy President, Vice President and General Secretary.
For nearly two years SLR has been running without a duly elected administration since Illyas was asked to step down on 29 May 2024. It was placed under a Competent Authority before the authority was shifted to a Working Task Force to complete the election process and conduct its long-overdue AGM.
Meanwhile, a writ challenging the recently gazetted Sports regulations by the Minister of Sports has been concluded, and the judgement is expected on Tuesday.