Sri Lanka can hit the top in Sevens Rugby

By Hafiz Marikar

It was the Scots who take the credit for starting sevens rugby, but just when it began is unclear. As a game it was used for many pre-season tournaments but hardly figured in the fixture lists of most countries. Tokkie Smith, a South African residing in Hong Kong had the idea of the international tournament in what was then a British Colony. Hong Kong is renowned for entrepreneurs, people who like to take risks to make something grow. Hongkong Rugby at that time, had an abundance of them and the Hong Kong Sevens grew from a tiny tournament in 1976 to a giant Rugby Sevens that hosted the 1997 Rugby World Cup 7s and was worth millions in revenue to the Hong Kong Sevens. Born in 1883 in Scotland it was decided after the formation of the Scottish Union. Melrose, a little town in the south Scotland, better known as the Scottish border was the birthplace of Seven-a-Side rugby. It is said that Melrose Club, had a good rugby side in which the star players were local butchers, David Sanderson and his apprentice Ned Haig. It is said that the novelty, the skill and the flow of the game, inspired two eager Union officials of Hong Kong to replicate the event in their colony.

The committee felt that with the numbers involved, the proposal of a tournament was unworkable. The invitation that was received by the Local Union in late December 1975 was put to the monthly Union meeting and was decided to accept the same and authorized the selection committee to pick a pool of players and appointed Karvan Rambukwella, a national player of great repute and administrator to handle matters. Meanwhile Allen G. Roche, a rugby coach from England visited the country in early 1976 on a coaching assignment to brush up the finer points of the game of the national team. Preparations started in 1976 for the Hong Kong tournament scheduled for 28th March 1976. Right from the inception controversy aroused, disputes between Ministry of Sports and the governing body, resignations of selectors, withdrawal of selected players etc. were common features.

Acting on the Ministry directives SLRFU appointed Karvan Rambukwela as the manager of the team and the squad was from Indrajith Coomarasamy Captain - (CR & FC) Lanil Tennakoon (Havelocks S.C.), Mohan Balasuriya (Sri Lanka Air Force), Dr. Maiya Gunasekera (University of Colombo campus), G. Gunadasa (Sri Lanka Army), Jeffrey de Jong (Havelocks), Ronald Rodrigo (Sri Lanka Air Force) and Shaan Ching (CH & FC). The inaugural Hong Kong 7s tournament was a single day affair with 12 countries participating on 28th March 1976 at the Hong Kong football stadium.

Ching had a problem of getting his passport in time and failed to make it. At the last moment Sri Lanka Air Force stand off, M. Omerdeen was called to replace.

It was a moment of truth for Sri Lanka players against the mighty Japanese RFU who were making great strides in the international arena.

Placed in Pool C - and beaten by Singapore by 0 - 22 followed by Japan 0 - 32, Sri Lanka had to bow out of the main competition. Next, Sri Lanka confronted Indonesia and registered its first ever success in the tournament with a 14-0 victory and moving on to the semifinals they lost to Tonga by 0 - 16 in a match which could have gone either way.

Sri Lanka’s finest year in the Sevens was in 1984, when they won the Bowl Championship, in the Hong Kong Sevens, by being able to beat Brunei 26-0 in the Semis and 16-0 beat Thailand in the Finals. Then again in 1986 and 1987 we entered the Bowls Finals. In 1998 we became the Bowl champions in the Fiji Invitation Sevens played in Suva.

Historically, Seven-a-Side rugby has been played for over a century for fun and entertainment at the beginning and the end of a gruelling 15-a-side season.

In recent years, the launch of the RWC 7s in 1993 and the creation of the IRB Sevens Grand Prix series in 1999 saw the game of Sevens established as an elite level, independent sport. Since the inception of the IRB sevens five years ago, nearly 50 nations have played in the Grand Prix tournaments hosted so far by 16 countries in all five IRB regions, The 2003/2004 IRB Sevens has been the most competitive in the short history of the series. Sri Lanka RFU is proud to have hosted the 2004 RWC Qualifier for the Asian Region organized by the Kandy Sports Club on the 10th to 12th September 2004 at Nittawela Rugby Stadium, Kandy. The teams that participated in this tournament were all national teams from the following countries - Japan, Korea, Chinese Taipei, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, China, Arabian Gulf, Kazakhstan, Guam, India and Sri Lanka.

Mark Egan - Manager International Rugby Sevens IRB was the official representative of the IRB with several officials from the Asian Rugby Football Union, IRB Media, IRB Development Officials, International Panel Referees were hosted by the Organizers during the conduct of this tournament. Sri Lanka was successful in winning the Plate Championship against the national teams of the Asian region.

The Rugby Football in Sri Lanka has a unique attraction for players keen to share the magic atmosphere and to compete at the pinnacle of their sporting careers. This mirrors the very positive experience of rugby players at other high level multi-sport games such as the Asian Games and the Commonwealth Games. The high level of exposure for the sport globally and in the participating countries cannot be over-estimated. A direct link between inclusion in the Asian Region Rugby tournaments and significant increases in the development from grass roots level. Rugby now has a good profile in the Asian region assisted by the recommendation from the IRB and the support of members of the ARFU itself.

However, there is still much work to be done if rugby is to become a national sport and the SLRFU is working on a promotional strategy, which will eventually lead to the rugby’s full acceptance as a major sporting event in Sri Lanka next to cricket. Today the two most popular Sevens tournaments in the world are the Hong Kong and the Dubai Sevens, the two biggest tournaments which are held annually.

The game is cherished as a sport for people of all ages, gender, race and creed and develops team values, understanding, co-operation and respect for fellow rugby players. It has great educational values and is part of the schools curriculum in many countries, being played by boys and girls short and tall, large and small. Over here the much looked forward Sevens tournaments are the Club 7s and schools 7s, later in 1999 the “Singer SriLankan Airlines Sevens (International) organised by the Kandy Sports Club under the auspices of the governing body, SLRFU with both IRB and ARFU support. Unfortunately now this tournament has been shown the door. Now the “Carlton Sevens” has come to stay. The Isipathana Sevens at one time started off well but due to some unexpected problems, this tournament too went out of the window.