|
|
|
| Sunday, 16 April 2006 |
 |
|
 |
Sports |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
|
Rules bent to accommodate players at international tourneys by Lal Gunasekera Indisciplined players should not be tolerated at any cost by any controlling body. However, the Sri Lanka Rugby Football Union (SLRFU), seems to think otherwise as the suspensions for a period of one year on three top national players by the Disciplinary Committee were reduced to a suspended sentence by the Council. Furthermore, even the recommended suspension of one year on a coach was revoked by the Appeals Board of the SLRFU, who completely exonerated him as well as another person from all charges. The Disciplinary Committee headed by Neil Wijeratne comprising Metha Abeygunawardene and Saliya Udugama inquired into unsavoury incidents that took place during the final of the Singer Professional 7's between Kandy Sports Club and CH & FC at Longdon Place on January 29. They recommended a one-year suspension on three top players (Nalaka Weerakkody and Sanjeeva Jayasinghe of Kandy SC and Milinda Jayasinghe of CH & FC) and CH & FC coach Imthi Marikkar, while leaving the SLRFU Council to decide on the fate of CH's trainer Ravindu Athukorale. Thereafter, the Council decided to impose a one-year suspended sentence on the three players, while Marikkar and Athukorale made an appeal through the SLRFU to the Appeals Board comprising Gamini Fernando, Lionel Almeida, Anton Benedict and Dr. Maiya Gunasekera. They in turn in a three-paragraph letter to the SLRFU exonerating both Marikkar and Athukorale with retrospective effect and to re-instate the former as the assistant coach of the Sri Lanka 7's squad. It looks as if the SLRFU and its Council needed the services of the three players for the Commonwealth Games staged in Melbourne, Australia as well as the Hong Kong 7's also staged last month (March). They (the SLRFU) may well have been thinking of the Rugby World Cup (RWC) Asian qualifiers against China at Longden Place on April 29 and against Hong Kong in Hong Kong on May 14 when the Council took the decision of a suspended sentence on the three players. In these circumstances, the point chat arises is: why have a Disciplinary Committee if the Council decides not to accept their recommendations? Discipline must be upheld at any cost and not allow players (however good they are) to get away with indiscipline. The SLRFU seems to have got their priorities mixed up. SLRFU's CEO, Dilroy Fernando, says that the Council will meet with members of both the Disciplinary Committee and Appeals Board to inform them about the IRB guidelines on disciplinary action etc before the season starts next month (May), but certain members of these two committees wonder what the reasons are for instructing them of the IRB guidelines at this juncture, whereas they should have been informed much earlier. In yet another case of indiscipline, the manager of Sri Lanka's team for the Hong Kong 7's and certain players are reported not to have been present at the felicitation dinner held for all teams and officials at the conclusion of the tournament. Will the SLRFU conduct an inquiry into this case, although the manager too was guilty. He is certainly not going to mention this indiscipline in his report! Nalaka too exonerated Nalaka Weerakoddy who was accused of threatening national coach, George Simpkin, has been exonerated by an inquiry panel of the SLRFU comprising its CEO, Dilroy Fernando, Fazal Mohamed (Secretary) and two Council Members, Kumar Abeywardene and Daya Jayasundera. They had met on April 9 with Weerakoddy, Sanjeewa Jayasinghe, Dilanka Wijesuriya and Jude Pillai (7s manager) and reached the decision after Simpkin had said that he was "not threatened and not made any statement to the media" on this matter. SLRFU's CEO Dilroy Fernando had written to the Chairman of Rugby at Kandy Sports Club, Siva Subramaniam, that Simpkin had not lodged any complaint against Weerakoddy and that there has been no threats whatsoever. This was on April 10. Earlier, a majority of the national players had even written to President Mahinda Rajapaksa regarding the conduct of Weerakoddy and requesting his intervention and conduct an impartial inquiry, into the Simpkin affair. After receiving the SLRFU letter of April 9 which exonerated Weerakoddy, he in turn wrote to President Rajapaksa about his innocence. Simpkin has now been persuaded by the SLRFU to return to his post of
national coach, to which he has agreed. |
|
| News | Business | Features
| Editorial | Security
| Produced by Lake House |
