Spotlight

Expenditure Lewke did it for rugby

Srian OBEYESEKERE

In a rugby riddle where the interim committee claims that the coffers of the Sri Lanka Rugby Football Union have been virtually left empty by the Nimal Lewke administration, Lewke, the former chairman comes back strongly claiming that when he left there was over Rs. 40 million. And while saying so, Lewke, who vehemently disputes Dr. Maiya Gunasekera, the incumbent interim committee chairman, makes a strong point that he did spend money, but that it was rightfully for the development of rugby and nothing else.

Greater interest

"Every cent was for rugby. Rs. 1 million was for the Clifford Cup; the winners Kandy SC got Rs. 500,000 and the runners-up Rs. 200,000. We did not just sit there and talk. Of course, we spent and that was in the greater interest of rugby; for players, referees, coaches training abroad and officials.

We did not neglect the players. We spent with a view to giving the players the best in fine tuning them to reach a bigger curve. We spent lakhs and lakhs for nutritions; a further Rs. 20,000 for the gym. We increased allowances of players. We treated them as professionals. Otherwise, how could the sport move forward. We employed foreign expertise like two South African coaches.

Mind you the cricket board employs five foreign coaches. We employed 22 people for provincial development of rugby for which we paid them from IRB monies. There was 46 million that we got from the President's Fund for rugby development. All our expenses were in order with the constitution. And importantly, I was able to attract sponsors from Singer, Mobitel, Dialog and so on, which the current interim committee is not capable of.

Above board

In fact, I made only four overseas trips for official purposes to bring the Asiad to Sri Lanka during my tenure. I put muscle on every club which was given Rs. 400,000. Players were given top accommodation. Importantly, there were former Thomians, Royalists and Trinitians and the like in my committee - all honourable men. You think they would put their signatures for us to take money home. Dr. Maiya Gunasekera's accusations are baseless.

While chairing the ever important national sports council he has parachuted from there to the SLRFU and talking through his nose.

He can't find the type of money that my administration did. The interim committee doesn't have the authority to question accounts. Only the Auditor General can, and we will wait for his report."

Certainly, if expenditure was for the betterment of rugby, Lewke has a strong point where he backs this claim with some tall deeds that he has done to promote the game at international level.

In that perspective of furthering the sport, in fact, quite to the contrary Lewke should be complimented and given a bouquet for stepping into the SLRFU and running it in a manner that put steel on the sport; where local and foreign tournaments were staged and the lot and standard of players improved.

No sport can improve particularly at a juncture that Sri Lanka needs to put its best dress on development-wise to compete internationally.

And in rugby it is no exception. And Lewke claims that his work was being blocked by interested parties from the hill country who believe in having that region dictate terms.

Inquiry shelved

Still adversely for discipline in the sport, Lewke claims that the inquiry instituted by him regarding the urinating incident by a Kandy player into a sanitary bag aboard a plane while the team was returning from a tour abroad has been shelved by the interim committee on instigation. Notably, it was the Sunday Observer that exclusively reported this incident, and it is certainly a blow to discipline that the inquiry was shelved.