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| Sunday, 19 June 2005 |
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Sports |
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News Business Features
Editorial
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22 Schools rugby teams sponsored by Singer by Lal Gunasekera Twenty two schools rugby sides will be sponsered by Singer (Sri Lanka) Limited this season and the packages start from Rs 100,000 onwards, depanding on the association of a particular school with the sponcers over the years. The Marketing Director of Singer, Asitha Abeysekera, said that Singer wants to give back something to society and decided on rugby with the youth of the country in mind. He said that they turned their sights on rugby as they felt that it was the most popular spectator sport and are working towards getting the crowds back to witness the games. He further said that Singer, as one of the oldest multi-national companies in the worlds, was the beneficiary of Sri Lanka's cricket since 1994 and were even the sponsers when Sri Lanka won the World Cup in 1996. They are also sponsering the Sri Lanka national rugby side, Kandy Sports Club (undisputed club rugby champiens) and also the Sri Lanka rugby Referees Society (SLRRS). Continuing further, Abeysekera said that development at grassroots level is very important and Singer got themselves involved in schools rugby with Royal, Trinity and St.Anthony's and then with Wesley and now sponsers 22 schools. This year, Singer together with Caltex, will sponsers live telecasts of 10 school games while the Bradby Shield encounter (Royal vs Trinity) has been sponsered by Singer for the last 15 years. They have also sponsered the International 7's organised by Kandy SC from its inception as well as Isipathana 7's. They have also moved into the local 7's scene with a Singer Cirsuit - one already held in Kandy, while the other two will be staged in Colombo and Galle later this year. The 22 schools benefitted by Singer sponsership this year are Royal, St.Thomas, Trinity, St.Anthony's, Ananda, St.Peter's, Thurstan, Vidyartha, Richmond, Moratu Vidyalaya, Zahira, Maliyadeva, Science College, St.Joseph's, St.Aloysius, Wesley, Dharmaraja, Nalanda, Prince of Wales, St.Sylvester's, Piliyandala MMV and Mahanama. The Chairman of Singer (Sri Lanka) Limited, Hemaka Amarasuriya, said that as sponsers, they look at the officials that are heading the bodies before they sign any sponsership deal, and they feel that the SLRFU can be relied upon to deliver the goods. He said: "We know that our money will not go down the drain. I hope that schoolboy players will increase in the national side and by the end of the season, rugby, will be the most popular game in the country," Amarasuriya further divulged that Singer is helping to develop the Pallakelle Stadium of Trinity as well as the Royal College Sports Complex. Singer are also involved with development of the FTZ grounds at Koggala. Among the others who were present were: Sanjay Karunaratne (Singer's
Promotions Manager), Ranjith Chandrasekera (President of SLSRFA), Dilroy
Fernando (Secretary of SLRFU) and Ana Wijeratne (Secretary of SLRRS) |
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