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| Sunday, 31 March 2002 |
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Rugby Football in North and East soon by LAL GUNESEKERA The Sri Lanka Rugby Football Union (SLRFU) will form two more provincial unions to be affiliated to the controlling body very soon. They are the Northern Province RFU and the Eastern Province RFU. The President of the SLRFU, Commodore Harsha Mayadunne, told the Sunday Observer that with the government of Ranil Wickremesinghe signing the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), the SLRFU has got a good opportunity of introducing rugby to the Northern and Eastern parts of the country. He said: "However, clubs have to be formed in these areas first before a provincial union is formed. We will send coaches to the North and East in April to conduct seminars. Together with some official from the Referees Society, I held a coaching camp in Trincomalee and the Inter-Command tournament of the Navy too was held at the Trinco Dockyard. This was a 15-a-side tourney and seven teams took part with even a civilian side from Vavuniya. A lot of soccer clubs in the Eastern Province will take up ruby too. Commodre Mayadunne further said that the initial response from the Northern and Eastern provinces was "very good," and that only service personnel play rugby in these areas at the moment, but the universities too have shown interest. There are six provincial unions affiliated to the SLRFU. They are - Western Province RFU, Central Province RFU, Ruhunu Province RFU, Wayamba Province RFU, Uva Province RFU and Sabaragamuwa Province RFU. Foreigners in club rugby? Meanwhile, the SLRFU Council will take a final decision within the next ten days (after the game with China) whether to permit clubs in the Caltex 'A' Division to field professionals from overseas, and if so, the number to play for a side. Most clubs are in favour of fielding foreigners. Only two foreign professionals (one forward and the other a three-quarter) were permitted to represent a club when they last figured in the 'A' Division in 1998. Sri Lanka's Rugby World Cup (Asia qualifying) game with China will be played at Longden Place on April 7 (Sunday) sponsored by BCC, while the game with Kazakhastan at Taraz is scheduled for April 21. If Sri Lanka does win both these games, they will be pitted against Hong Kong on May 18 in Hong Kong and if successful in this game, will meet Chinese Taipei on May 25 at Longden Place. If Sri Lanka does win again, they are to meet South Korea on June 6 at Longden Place, and if victory comes their way again, will match their wits with Japan and June 23 also at Longden Place. The Caltex 'A' Division League's first-round will be worked off from May 3 to June 30 and the second-round from July 5 to August 4. The Caltex Knock-Out tournament for the Clifford Cup is scheduled to be staged from August 14 to 24, while the President's Trophy Knock-Out Championship is scheduled to be played from October 18 to 27. Sri Lanka are to figure at the Asian Games in South Korea from September 28 to October 14 and the Asian Championship (Asiad) at Bangkok, Thailand from November 2 to 9. |
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