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| Sunday, 11 April 2004 |
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Seventeen overseas players registered for Caltex 'A' Div. Rugby League by LAL GUNESEKERA Seventeen players from abroad have been registered with the Sri Lanka Rugby Football Union (SLRFU) so far by seven of the 10 clubs who figure in the Caltex 'A' Division League Rugby Championship which kicks off on April 23 with the Army vs Navy first-round tie at Galle Face. The Secretary of the SLRFU, Iswan Omar, told the Sunday Observer that Kandy Sports Club (defending champions) have contracted four players from Fiji, Police also four players from Fiji, CH & FC two, Havelocks two as well as a coach, Army two Kenyans plus a coach from New Zealand and the Air Force, too, have contracted two players this year. The other sides who are in the fray are Navy, Kandy Youth Sports Club and Old Zahirians, and the clubs will have to register their overseas professionals two weeks before the commencement of the tournament. Last year, Kandy Sports Club won the Caltex League Championship with CH & FC as the runners-up, followed by CR & FC, Army, Havelocks, Police, Navy and Air Force. Kandy Youth SC played only in the first-round where they lost all 10 games, while the Old Zahirians won only over Kandy Youth in the first-round and lost to Air Force in the Plate. This year, the first-round of the Caltex League will be from April 23 to July 4 with the second-round scheduled for July 9 to August 8. The Caltex Clifford Cup Knock-Out Championship will be staged at Longden Place from August 13 to 22. Last year, Kandy SC, won the Caltex Clifford Cup beating CH & FC 30-22 in the final, while Havelocks won the Premier Championship (which may not be staged this year) beating CR & FC 23-21 in the final. Iswan Omar further said that the referees problem with the Army and Navy has been solved after discussions with the parties concerned and that both Army and Navy have assured the SLRFU that they guarantee that they will not abuse referees in the future. Last year, two top referees (Dilroy Fernando and Nizam Jamaldeen) were verbally abused during the Premier Cup Championship. Omar said that clubs will be severely dealt with by the SLRFU if this happens and that the SLRFU will follow the procedure laid down by the International Rugby Board (IRB) regarding these matters. He also disclosed that "Match Commissioners" will be appointed by the SLRFU for every game for the first time this year. IRB-ARFU triangular Sri Lanka has been grouped together with Thailand and India for an IRB-ARFU triangular to be worked off between June 14 to 30 during the 'break' between the first and second-rounds of the Caltex League. Sri Lanka are scheduled to play India in Bombay on June 2 and against Thailand at Longden Place on June 30. The game with India will be refereed by an Thai official, while an Indian will "blow" the game with Thailand. The others who are playing in the IRB-ARFU triangular between April 9 and June 30 are: Arabian Gulf, Chinese Taipei and Malaysia in one group, South Korea, Hong Kong and China in another group, while the other group comprises Japan, Singapore and Kazakhastan. Sri Lanka fared poorly at last year's (2003) IRB-ARFU quadrangular, losing to Arabian Gulf 27-48, Japan 8-36 and Hong Kong as well, while in the previous year (2002), the Lankans beat China 9-7, but lost to Kazakhastan 14-20. However in 2001, Sri Lanka did well to beat Malaysia 18-7 and Thailand 46-3. |
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