13 Kandy players quit pool practices

RUGBY: The recent withdrawal of 13 Kandy SC rugby players from national pool practices ahead of the forthcoming Asian Five Nations Division 1 tournament in Chinese Taipei in November, has nothing to do with the Nittawela based club, its General Manager Iswan Omar told Sunday Observer.

"The players, I understand, have withdrawn due to personal reasons," he said.

"No one from the club forced them to take such drastic action. The players can make whatever decision they think is right, once they are selected to the national pool or squad. "This does not concern our club at all". Omar said, and added that it was an issue which needed to be resolved by the game's domestic ruling body Sri Lanka Rugby Football Union (SLRFU) and the Kandy SC players themselves.

The Kandy SC players have withdrawn enmasse in support of Ex-National skipper Sanjeewa Jayasinghe-their club colleauge who sensationally quit practices on September 11 (Thursday) in protest at the appointment of CR & FC 'number eight' Dushanth Lewke as captain of the Sri Lanka team to the four-nation tournament in Taiwan. Besides Sri Lanka, China, Singapore and hosts Chinese Taipei will contest the said tournament from Nov (12-17).

Iswan Omar added that despite being members of Kandy SC, his club had no authority to take any action against the players revolting over Dushanth Lewke's appointment and that it was solely up to the SLRFU to deal with it as they feel.

"The players are only contracted to Kandy SC as far as SLRFU organised tournaments are concerned".

"But, when they are selected for national duty, they come directly under the purview of the SLRFU, hence it is they who will have to tackle this thorny issue and not us". Omar said and added that his club would remain neither supportive nor be against the on-going rugby crisis which has seriously threatened to derail the country's chances in the upcoming inaugural tournament in Chinese Taipei.

Rugby analysts contend that with the withdrawal of such a formidable array of talent from Kandy SC, Sri Lanka could Jeopardise its chances of winning the tournament,while some point out that it was better to lose, evenly badly rather than giving into the wishes of players as it could lead to a precedent where players could become bigger than the game.

Explosive winger Sanjeewa Jayasinghe took Sri Lanka rugby by storm last week when he announced to the local media that he has decided to quit playing international rugby for the remainder of this year, following the selection of Lewke as captain of the 15-a-side team.

He pointed to a gross injustice meted out to him and several other players whom he reckoned had deserved the reins over the crack CR & FC loose forward.

He felt after years of hard work for the country he had not been duly rewarded and in such a scenerio he was quitting temporarily to highlight the alleged injustice done to him by the selectors and other parties with vested interests at the SLRFU

J.K.