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by Lal Gunesekera

Residence qualifications, transfer of players and player contracts and registration are some of the amendments to the Constitution that are to be implemented by the Council at a special general meeting to be held in June or July by the Sri Lanka Rugby Football Union (SLRFU).

The Executive Director of the SLRFU, Dilroy Fernando, said that these were some of the decisions that were reached at the Rugby Congress held and last year (2005) with Kumar Abeywardene heading the sub-committee regarding amendments to the Constitution.

Speaking at a pre-season media briefing, Dilroy Fernando, said that any player transferring his residence from one union to another shall not be eligible to play under the jurisdiction of the latter union until he has been a resident within its boundaries for a period of at least two weeks and produce a clearance from the club for which last played. Such clearance shall not be arbitrarily withheld. Any player who has played for a club in a calendar year shall not be permitted to change clubs within that year.

Clubs through their provincial unions must register all players with the SLRFU by January 1 of each year and players who join a club after that date will be permitted to play for that particular club two weeks after registration with SLRFU, if he has not played for any other club in that calendar year. Also, all players contracted by any club shall be separately registered with the SLRFU together with a copy of the contract, and the player so contracted will not be allowed to play for another club within the period of his contract.

Also, any club willing to purchase the contracted player registered with the SLRFU will pay the original club a transfer fee stipulated in the contract and the SLRFU to receive a fee of one per cent from the club purchasing the contract.

Any union/club or player violating this law will be suspended (after inquiry) for a period of one to two years. The contracts between the union/club and player will in no way bind the SLRFU to the contracts and the SLRFU will only register such players and the contracts.

He further disclosed that 20 games (10 clubs and 10 schools) will be telecast live this year including certain 7's matches and that Singer (Sri Lanka) Limited has come forward as the main sponsor the Asiad to be staged in Colombo in November.

The President of the SLRFU, Priyantha Ekanayake, said that he hoped that the Sri Lanka team can sustain themselves upto the Asiad and that the sponsors have been generous "to the hilt" and specially mentioned Caltex and Singer. He also thanked the many co-sponsors.

Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Caltex Lubricants, Kishu Gomes, said that he was happy to be associated with the SLRFU for the last six years and the main reason for extending their sponsorship for the next five years was because he was satisfied with the personnel in the SLRFU and the way they are "running its affairs". Caltex will sponsor the live telecast of 10 club games.

Marketing Director of Singer, Asitha Abeysekera said that he too was happy with the SLRFU and that their interest in rugby started way back about 16 or 17 years ago being sponsors of the Bradby Shield.

SLRFU's official magazine titled "Lanka Rugby News" too was launched at the Galadari Hotel on Friday night. Among the others who were present were Michael Jayasekera (Deputy President, SLRFU), Fazal Mohamed (Secretary, SLRFU) and Jamie Scott (Secretary-General of the Asian Rugby Football Union).

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Copyright 2001 The Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Ltd.