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| Sunday, 24 April 2005 |
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Observer-Caltex rugby contests on again by Lal Gunasekera The local rugby season kicked off on Friday (April 22) and the Observer-Caltex most popular player of the year and the Observer-Caltex most popular club of the year contests will begin shortly with the coupons appearing in the Sunday Observer and Daily News. There will be weekly cash awards for the readers too and details will be announced soon. In addition, the best player of the year, best captain, best forward, best three-quarter and best team too will be picked by a panel of judges at the end of the season. Forget past Last year (2004) was one of the most challenging years for rugby in Sri Lanka that should be forgotten. Last year saw the Sri Lanka Rugby Football Union (SLRFU) taken to courts by CR & FC, one of its constituent clubs. They (the SLRFU) went through a lot of trauma, but put 2004 behind you, look to the future, learn from last year's mistakes and shape the future of the sport in this country. So said Shibly Latiff (General Manager, Sales and Marketing of Caltex Lubricants Lanka Limited) on Thursday at Ceylon Continental to announce their partnership with the SLRFU now in its sixth consecutive year with this year's sponsorship package been increased to Rs. 6 million. He further said: "There is a lot of work to be done, but we at Caltex have confidence in the leadership of the SLRFU and will support your endeavors all the way. If we are to win this race, we must see the younger generation of this country take to rugby regardless of their socio-economic stature or which part of the country they come from. Every decision we take, every minute we invest and every rupee we spend must see Sri Lanka's rugby moving to the next level of excellence. Game to prosper President of SLRFU, Priyantha Ekanayake, thanked Caltex for their personal efforts for the success of the sponsorship and looked for their continued support in the future too. He went on to say that he hoped that rugby will prosper this year without any controversy and that they (the SLRFU) needs the support of the business community to take the sport forward. It was also disclosed that they (the SLRFU) with the help of Caltex are planning to telecast about 10 games this season, but it has not yet been finalised. The SLRFU want and try to reach the homes of areas where the game is not played, and from next year (2006), give financial assistance to clubs and contract national players. Ekanayake further said that the decision not to permit clubs to field foreigners this season was taken by the clubs and that the SLRFU accepted this position. The SLRFU are also having discussions with the clubs in attempts to "change the season". Among the others who were present on the occasion were Sumith Hewavitharne (National Sales Manager of Caltex), Thusitha de Silva (Sales Manager of Caltex) and Dilroy Fernando (Secretary of SLRFU). |
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