Milo Inter-School President’s trophy knockout tournament:

SLSRFA decides final on July 13 at Racecourse

By Indika Welagedara

Following the intervention of Education Minister Akila Viraj Kariyawasam the controversy surrounded Milo inter-schools President Trophy knockout rugby final between Isipathana College and Royal College is scheduled to take place at the Race Course on July 13 commencing 4.30 pm.

The issue of when and where to play the final has been in debate for almost a week with the Sri Lanka Schools Rugby Football Association (SLSRFA) unable to come to a strong and decisive decision after Isipathana had requested for a change of venue for the final.

The SLSRFA had fixed the final to be played at the Royal Sports Complex on July 9, but Isipathana had requested the final be played at a neutral venue as Royal had an advantage playing at their home ground.

This request went out of proportion when the SLSRFA whose president is the Royal College principal stuck to their earlier decision to play the match at the Royal Sports Complex.

Isipathana threatened to withdraw from the final if their request was not met.

The SLSRFA was caught in a situation where they had to appease the sponsors Milo who had pumped in a lot of money into the tournament and wanted a grand finale.

Several attempts were made in the past five days with both schools and the SLSRFA trying to resolve the issue.

The Education Minister finally stepped in and after spoken to both the schools and officials of SLSRFA gave a directive to play the final before July 13.

Denzil Darling the SLSRFA secretary told the ‘Sunday Observer’: “We have informed both schools via letter that the final will take place on Wednesday July 13 at Race course stadium. We have informed both the schools to participate for a meeting tomorrow (Monday) at 9am to discuss the arrangements for the final, and they have agreed.”

Isipathana College OBA vice-president (sports) Rajive Rodrigo said: “Yes we have received the letter from SLSRFA and we have no objection and have agreed to play the match on Wednesday July 13 at the Race course grounds as per SLSRFA advise. But anything beyond that we will definitely not participate and playing the final on July 16 is completely out.”

When the ‘Sunday Observer’ spoke to P.M.B. Abeyratne, president of the SLSRFA and the principal of Royal College he had a different opinion.

“We have called both Isipathana and Royal to participate for a meeting at 9am tomorrow and the final decision of when to stage the final and the ground will be notified after the outcome of the meeting with both parties,” Abeyratne said.