Players innocent, but ‘Godfather’ to blame for all ills of Kandy - DIG Lewke

Jatila KARAWITA

RUGBY: Former President of Sri Lanka Rugby Football Union (SLRFU), and Senior DIG Nimal Lewke, in an interview concerning wide-ranging issues relating to rugby told the Sunday Observer that a certain `Godfather’ with ties to a prominent club in the hill-capital, was behind the ills currently affiliating the sport in this country.

He also vehemently denied that he had misused SLRFU funds during his two-year term of office (2007 and 2008). He blamed certain media personalities under the clout and influence of the hill-capital rugby `Godfather’ for spearheading a crusade and with hunt to slander his image in the public eye.

“Don’t blame the players from Kandy for this fiasco”, he said. “They are quite innocent and I feel very sorry for them. In fact the players have become a pawn in this game played by this `Godfather’ to achieve his own ends, or should I say, to accomplish his ulterior motives”.

Snr. DIG Lewke, stated that Sri Lanka could have won the Asian Five Nations Division One Tournament played in Chinese Taipei for certainties last November, but for the underhand work of the `Godfather’ with connections to the leading rugby club in the hill country.

He noted that a player-revolt triggered by former Sri Lanka captain Sanjeewa Jayasinghe over the appointment of his son Dushanth Lewke for the tournament in Chinese Taipei was done with the backing of the `Godfather’ in Kandy.

Lewke observed that during his two-year term of office at the SLRFU, he had only been overseas four times and said that annual grants handed by International Rugby Board (IRB) - the game’s world controlling body, was used purely for the development work and payment of development officers’ salaries etc.

He emphasised that a sum of 46 million rupees given by rugby-loving President Mahinda Rajapaksa through President’s Fund was in a fixed deposit till he resigned from his post early this year.

Explaining further, Snr. DIG Lewke said that during his stewardship steps were taken to hand over 500,000 rupees to the winners of the Clifford Cup knock-out tournament while 200,000 rupees was offered to the runners-up in 2008.

He revealed that during his tenure as President much of the expenses had been incurred to include the allowances of players, sending over four coaches abroad to widen their horizons and many other development related matters.

AG didn’t question

The former SLRFU President was also at a loss to understand why certain people with affiliations to the Kandy rugby `Godfather’ had begun to question his administration as to how his council spent its funds, when even the Auditor General’s Department had not done so?

“At no stage has the AG’s Department questioned my council regarding expenses of the SLRFU? No questions were asked because we’re always kept the AG’s department briefed about the accounts.

Snr. DIG Lewke specifically said that the AG’s Department had mentioned in a letter to him, that they never correspond with the Minister of Sports or the Ministry of Sports. The AG’s Department said that they correspond with sports associations, and this time it was with the SLRFU.

He said that therefore the Minister’s version of referring the SLRFU accounts to the AG’s Department was wrong, because they had clearly said that they only call for a clarification and nothing else.

He insisted hat the talk of referring the SLRFU expenses to the Bribery Commission was hence utterly baseless and without foundation.

The ex-SLRFU Chief was also of the opinion that even the IRB had been given a clear account of the expenses incurred during his tenure of office and maintained that all the four trips he made abroad were from invitations received through the Asian Rugby Football Union (ARFU) of which he was the President.

On the topic of expenses, Snr. DIG Nimal Lewke said that a lot of the money had also been spent on hiring two coaches from South Africa (Dawie Snyman and Norman Laker) for the national Fifteen-a-Side and Sevens teams, besides getting the services of T. Alailima, a famed physical fitness instructor and noted Shot Put champ to improve the weight training of the players.

Looking back at his two-year stint as President, the former chief, stressed that he had tried his utmost to change the many discrepancies in the SLRFU voting system at numerous council meetings, but most of its members with connections to the rugby ‘Godfather’ as he described him, had always put a ‘spoke in the wheel’, knowing well if the voting pattern was changed and overhauled, then he would find it tough to influence Sri Lanka Rugby as he has done for the past two decades.

Provincial voting - a mess

“The Provincial voting system is in a mess”, Lewke pointed out. “For example Sabaragamuwa even without an ‘A’ division club has four votes, and even the Southern Province has about eight votes without fielding a single team in the ‘A’ division tournaments. “Now this is what I tried my best to solve, but the clout wielded by this so-called rugby `Godfather’ is so much that I could not fight him alone.

“I need the support and backing of the whole rugby stakeholders, and I also would like to state that the Minister must not allow himself to be ‘taken for a ride’ by every Dick, Tom or Henry,” Lewke said and added that Minister of Sports Gamini Lokuge never had given him a hearing during his two-year term of office and charged that the two-member Interim Committee (Dr. Maiya Gunasekera and Kiran Atapattu) appointed by Minister Lokuge to oversee the day-to-day affairs of the union were currently on a mission to sully the good name he had gained among the public as a senior Police Officer.

The former SLRFU boss in a bid to overcome the threat posed to the growth of Sri Lanka Rugby in general and to take the game to the next level, also proposed the idea of having representatives from all ‘A’ division clubs at all future annual general meetings (AGMS) so that the rugby ‘Godfather’ will not be able to influence any major club or provincial union.

Snr. DIG Lewke also questioned what right the current IC of the SLRFU had to question how his council spent the SLRFU funds when the duo were appointed by the Minister of Sports and not legally by the membership of the Sri Lanka Rugby Football Union?

He also disclosed that his ‘Council’ had comprised officials from prestigious schools like Royal, S. Thomas’ and Trinity and people with some standing in society - hence if there were “anything drastically wrong in how they had spent the SLRFU funds, then a lot of objections would have been raised,” Lewke said.

He maintained that hence any comment to the contrary would itself be an insult on the integrity of such above-board people.

Helped many clubs

He stated that many rugby clubs had been helped to overcome their plight during his term one of them was the upgrading of Havelocks SC and his administration also increased the allowances for players.

Lewke said that his recent meeting with two IRB officials who were in the country to inquire into the state of the country’s game, he had further noted the importance of ending the influence of this rugby ‘Godfather’ for the future sake of the game in Sri Lanka and insisted that he had even briefed Minister of Media and Information Anura Priyadarshana Yapa, and President Mahinda Rajapaksa regarding the damage done by the ‘Godfather’ and would shortly go public with more revelations to save the sport.

Lastly Lewke divulged that his son Dushanth Lewke will probably quite playing for the national team due to the fallout from the appointment which led to a revolt by a section of the Kandy SC players and hence will concentrate on giving his best to his local club (CR and FC) of which he is their first-choice `No. 8’.

Snr. DIG Lewke also brushed aside suggestions that he threatened any media person and explained that he had only told a certain reporter to verify facts with him Lewke before writing which subsequently has been misconstrued as a threat against that journalist of a private media institution.

“I have a fine rapport with most of the reporters, but for a handful bought over by the rugby ‘Godfather’ and a few who want to see me silenced. “I cannot be silenced that easily as I have nothing to hide, having always put country before self and I intend to expose the people behind this conspiracy before long,” Lewke said.