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| Sunday, 13 March 2005 |
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Straight talk by Lal Gunesekera Can't the SLRFU Council members talk? Are the previous set of Council members of the Sri Lanka Rugby Football Union (SLRFU) and the newly elected personnel deaf, dumb and blind? Can't they see what is happening in the governing body or are they too scared to speak out? Only they could answer these simple questions. Was the annual general meeting of this body valid? This is one question (of many) that I would like to pose to those in authority both in the SLRFU itself and the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports. One of the reasons why I am questioning the validity of the annual general meeting is whether the annual general meetings of the so-called clubs affiliated to the Provincial Unions held and accounts approved? Were these reports approved by the provincial unions first before sending them to the SLRFU for approval to have their (Provincial Unions) voting rights at the annual general meeting of the governing body? One example is that Petersons who are affiliates of the Western Province RFU who have not been active at all had one of their officials elected to the Council of the SLRFU. How come? Another point is that yet another Council member was proposed by the North Central Province RFU (four votes), who do not play any rugby, and even if they do, they should be an affiliate for a period of one year before they are eligible to vote at the annual general meeting of the SLRFU. Another point of interest is that most Council members were proposed by the Central Province RFU. This includes even the Secretary of the SLFRU who was at one stage Chairman of Rugby at a leading club in Colombo affiliated to the Western Province RFU at one stage. What are the clubs that constitutes Central Province RFU (eight votes), Western Province RFU (eight votes), Sabaragamuwa RFU (four votes), Southern Province RFU (four votes), Uva Province RFU (four votes) and North Western RFU (four votes)?. How many of these clubs are active and are they registered only to get the votes at the SLRFU annual general meeting? Another serious question is the sum of Rs. 7.5 million which is left unaccounted. What was very strange is that not a single person thought it fit to question the Treasurer regarding this matter at the annual general meeting of SLRFU. The entire Council of the previous administration of Mohan Balasuriya must be held responsible. What happened in the end? No person questioned anyone about this sum, but most of the previous Council members were re-elected, including Treasurer, Shantha Kurumbalapitiya. Wimal Perera who was to contest the post of Treasurer, withdrew his nomination at the last moment. Why? yet another question that I would like to pose is why a pro-tem Chairman was not elected for the entire elections for the new set of office-bearers. The outgoing President, Mohan Balasuriya, sat through the entire proceedings. Over to you, Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports. It is nothing but right for a full probe into the affairs /accounts of the SLRFU be immediately made and if there has been any sort of hanky-panky going on, please dissolve the SLRFU and appoint an interim committee and appoint people with honesty and integrity to run its affairs. The present constitution which was a "brain child" of former All-Black's player Jeff Matheson which came into being in the early 1990's must be scrapped. Get back to the earlier constitution! Bad memory Certain officials of the Sri Lanka Tennis Association (SLTA) seem to be having a poor memory when it comes to the 1990s. It was during these years that Sri Lanka were in Group II of the Davis Cup (1989 to 1992 and again in 1995) during which period we entered the semi-finals as well. Then in 1997-98 Sri Lanka, were relegated to Group III, but promoted to Group II again in 1999. But in 2000-01 they were relegated to Group III and further to Group IV (2002 to 2004), but gained promotion to Group III again this year (2005). Does this refresh your memory? Several youngsters came through the Junior Development Programme of the 1990s including Jayendra Wijesekera, Rohan de Silva, Sanjay Wijemanne, Neil Rajapakse and later Genuan Gunawardene, Isuru Gunasekera, Previn Vaas, Lasith Dissanayake, Renouk Wijemanne and Rajiv Rajapakse. They were all national title holders at both junior or senior level. Juniors were sent to ITF events in Asia. (Thailand, India, Pakistan, Indonesia, Philippines etc). Vaas and Dissanayake won in Bangladesh and Genuan in Madras in 1998, while Umesh Walloopillai won in Hong Kong. In the Federation Cup, players in the calibre of Lihini Weerasuriya, Saranga Sangakkara, Vajira Premaratne, Sobhini de Silva were among the best and in 1992 beat Chinese Taipei, Thailand and Hong Kong. Since 2001, Sri Lanka, have opted out of the Federation Cup. Why? Is it not due to the poor standard among our girls? Remember Walloopillai winning the Asian Junior title in 1990 beating India's Leander Paes? Then at the 1991 SAF Games in Colombo, Sri Lanka, won four gold medals, four silvers and one bronze out of seven events. Come on, please do not forget the past and its honoyrary administrators. Anyway, congratulations to you Suresh Subramaniam in having got the nod from the Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports to continue as President of SLTA for the fourth straight year. Continue with your good work, but do not allow others to spoil your efforts. |
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