No courts please - Singer Chairman

by Ranjan Anandappa

Singer Chairman Hemaka Amarasuriya appealed to the school principals not to take any controversies which take place in the field into courts, but to come to an amicable settlement as it could have an adverse effect on the children. Amarasuriya was the chief guest at the Singer Rugby Awards ceremony 2007 at the Waters Edge in Battaramulla yesterday.

"Last season school rugby was marred by some controversies, I would appeal to the principals, that if you have any problem,invite your fellow principal and solve the problem over a cup of tea, without taking them into a legal height where the schoolboys will have to sit and watch in the touch line while the season is in progress" he said. "I don't think that it is in the spirit of this great game of rugby.

We must not forget that these same schoolboys ,whom you want to represent your school at rugby are also students. In the previous year the season went on till September almost upto the day of the Advance Level exams. That is not the kind of example we should set to our schoolboys and we should fearlessly talk about it." said the Singer Chairman.

"These things become contagious and a disease and the best support that you can give Singer is to have the season sans any controversies and the boys to play clean rugby as they did last year."

"There was a very unfortunate incident up in Kandy , because of the intervention of old boys, as one team had to go before the High Court of the district of Kandy and pleaded innocent in front of a judge.Imagine the trauma that the boys had gone through.

I am a parent and my children too have represented their schools at sports and I can understand the feelings that young boys and girls had gone through whenever the time table has been disrupted by events beyond their control. Please let sports rule, because sports is the most important thing this season,and let the boys pack up at the end of July and get back to their books as that's the spirit that the sponsors want."

Lamenting on a leading Colombo school refusing to display the sponsors 'logo' in their playing attire Amarasuriya said that "Sponsorship is a commercial event and it needs a lot of planning and a lot of money, and as men of commerce we would appreciate some kind of return for our sponsorship and therefore I would like to thank all the schools agreed to wear the Singer 'logo', I believe there is one school which has still not agreed to wear the Singer 'logo' and I would like to ask them what is wrong with those words Singer." he concluded.

The Marketing Director Singer Asitha Abeysekera in his welcome address said that the company got involved in rugger by sponsoring the Bradby Shield encounter in 1987. They were the sponsors of the 1996 World Cup winning cricket team, but thereafter they had decided to focus on some other sport and rugby was their choice.

He congratulated the winners of 2007 and believed that the real winners were the participating schools. Because without participation there is no competition and without participation there will be no winners.

The 2007 schools rugby awards.

Division one. Group 'A' champions St. Peter's College. Runner up Isipathana. Group 'B' Champions Dharmaraja. Runner up Vidyartha.

Group 'C' Champions. Lumbini MV. Runner up. Nalanda College.

Division two.

Group'A' Champions St. John's Nugegoda. Runner up. St. Thomas', Matara.

Group'B' Champions. Piyarathana MV. Runner up Bandaranaike MV.

Group 'C' Champions Dharmapala MV. Runner up. Talduwa MV.

Group'D' Champion. Unawatuna MV. Runner up. Devapathiraja MV.