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| Sunday, 26 September 2004 |
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Straight talk Amith issue snowballs by Lal GUnesekera CR & FC are once again in the news. This time, they have made Tony Amith, coach of the Havelocks, persona-non-grata at Longden Place. This prevented the former national coach who is also the current President of the Sri Lanka Rugby Referees Association (SLRRA), watching his side play Navy in the quarter-final of the Caltex Clifford Cup Championship. Havelocks won the game comfortably and then went on to knock out CR & FC in the semi-finals to book a berth in today's final against Kandy Sports Club. Amith also coached the CR a few years back. Havelocks did not retaliate and CR members were permitted to enter Havelock Park for the semi-final game. CR allege that Amith "head butted" their coach Asanga Seneviratne at the Calex League second-round game at Havelock Park. This came about after CR's Fijian recruit Joshua Kala assaulted referee Aruna Jayasekera. The Fijian was whisked away from the country the same night when the Police were about to arrest him. The Secretary of the CR & FC, Jehan Canagaratne, says that even the club's Deputy President, Vipula Dharmadasa (himself a former top referee), was also a victim of Amith's verbal onslaught. CR had written to the Havelocks on August 2 (the match was on August 1) asking what action has been taken against coach Amith. However, Amith, has denied all allegations made against him. CR has also written to the SLRFU, but Canagaratne says that no action has been taken despite four letters being sent to them. Settlement Can some settlement be brought about because this type of behaviour spoils the relationship between clubs and does no good for the game. The SLRRA decided finally to "blow" in the Calex Clifford Cup Tournament after the SLRFU had assured the referees that tight security measures will be taken and that the referees have nothing to fear. The Secretary of the SLRFU, Iswan Omar, speaking on the "Kala affair" says that the SLRFU has banned the Fijian from playing in Sri Lanka and has even couriered the disciplinary committee inquiry report to both the International Rugby Board (IRB) and the Thailand RU. Omar further said that the Fijian authorities do not know the whereabouts of Kala. He is neither in Fiji nor Thailand. He was the assistant coach of the Thai national side who played in Colombo in a World Cup qualifier. It was then that the CR signed on Kala. The Fijian authorities have said that in future, if any Fijian national is involved in this type of thuggery and hooliganism, that they should be locked up and that they (the Fijian authorities) will "take over". The IRB too, has requested the Fijian authorities to ban Kala, but the question is, where is Joshua Kala, if he is not in Fiji or even Thailand ? Not a Phenomenon The 23-member handball team including its officials that were on tour in Germany from September 9 to 28 has "gone missing" and are supposed to end up in France via Italy. They have supposed to have left behind a letter stating that they have taken this decision for "economic reasons". This tour was arranged by Dietmar Doering of the Asian-German Sports Exchange Programme with even the visas being issued by the German Embassy in Sri Lanka. The visas are due to expire only on October 7. Each player had doled out quite a large sum of money to an official of the handball team to go on tour to Germany. Funny thing The funny thing about the whole affair is that no handball association is registered with the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports. The Ministry Secretary, S. Ranugge, says that this was not an official tour and that the Ministry did not know anything about it. He says that every national side that leaves the shores of Sri Lanka on any tour has to get the approval from the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports. Ranugge says that this is a good lesson, not only for the German Embassy, but to all other Embassies. Sri Lankans are famous for trying to illegally migrate to developed countries since 1983. This is not a new phenomenon. It has been happening with our sportsmen and sportswomen doing the "vanishing trick" in countries like Japan, South Korea, Chinese Taipei, England, USA and Canada. But how does one put an end to this ? It is a big headache for the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports to solve. Signing bonds donot seem to have any effect, and the authorities have not come up with a solution up-to-date. Registration restored Alls well, that ends well ! The Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports have decided to restore the registration of the Sri Lanka Athletic Association which was controversially cancelled just before the Olympic Games in Athens, Greece. The gazette notification about the restoration of its registration is, now being processed. The IAAF had requested the Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports to settle the issue amicably with the local athletic body as the IAAF does not recognise interim bodies. |
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