Provide more entertainment at matches to get people interested in rugby - Kishu Gomes

By Ranjan ANANDAPPA

RUGBY: Kishu Gomes the MD/CEO Chevron Lubricants believed that the Caltex League Rugby Tournament has progressed well so far, but stressed on the importance of having more of a carnival atmosphere during matches for the benefit of the spectators who come to witness a match for a short period of time of eighty minutes.

"In Colombo, a large percentage understands the game. But if we look at the entire country, although I haven't surveyed statistics, only five or ten percent of the population or the families fully understand the game. If the awareness level is that people are not going to popularise the game to the extent that rugby promoters want it to be and it is a long journey. So how do we get the families involved, and how do we give more reasons than just a game for the families to just come and enjoy?. This will bring in bigger crowds and the families will learn the game and enjoy the game better. That is something that the clubs have to think of very seriously".

More matches under lights

Gomes further stressed on the point of playing more matches under lights." Playing a rugby match on a Friday at 4.30 pm is a bad decision in my view, because people who follow rugby are working at that time. They are not going to take leave for an hour or two to watch a rugby match in this very competitive business environment. People don't have the luxury for time anymore, unlike in the past. There is tremendous pressure for the people who are working for different companies. If any of the employees of Caltex come and ask me for permission to witness a rugby match during working hours, although we are the official sponsors my answer will be a firm 'no' , because one has a job to do, and once it's over and if you still have time you could proceed. That's my attitude, being the sponsor. If the matches are played on a Friday, it should start around 5.30 or 6.pm invariably under lights," said Gomes.

"While people talk of investments and etc, compared to some other investments that have been done to elevate the level of sports and entertainment in the country, I don't think installing lights is a very big investment as we are talking about a small playing area. It is not like cricket or any other game that you need a large area. If we could do that on Friday and Saturday, coupled with entertainment and food, we should get that carnival atmosphere at a rugby match as we see in other countries across the world. It is not only a sporting event, there is a package offered by the organisers to the spectators and that has to be there to create more interest," stressed Kishu Gomes.

"He said that this type of incentives are there in cricket and rugby elswhere and in Australian Footie and that's the kind of impact they are trying to create which we need to emulate as well. When once this is done, it will create a greater following towards the sport and popularise the game as well, Gomes said.

Awareness programs necessary

The authorities should create awarness programs among the Sinhala and Tamil speaking people about the game. "Even today with all the global exposure we have, what is the percentage of the people who speak English? I don't have exact data, but I think it is less than 15% out of the population. How do you educate the general public?. How many know the rules of rugby? If you do not know what the rules are, how can you understand the game and enjoy the game. For you to be able to enjoy, you should understand the game. How do you make them understand?

The answer is simple - through education. The best medium for that is Sinhala, Tamil and English.

There is adequate exposure in English, but Sinhalese and Tamil is totally ignored. So if we are thinking of making rugby a big game at the national level, educating the people is a must."

Gomes further reminded that introducing the game to more and more new schools is very crucial. According to the Secretary of the SLRFU Lasitha Gunaratne, the Ministry of Education is trying to change the syllabus to include sports in order to educate the children on the importance of various sports, and rugby should take top billing. This is a good move.

Strong second level tournament needed

He also believes that the necessity of having a strong second level tournament in order to retain the best school players. We have about ten excellent rugby playing schools in the country producing more than 150 top players on an annual basis. When they join a club, they play for a decade or half. How do we retain these school leaving players? If the schoolboys are immediately taken into the clubs they are unable to compete well with the club players who have been in the game for two or three years. So the school leavers' talent could be ruined, because it is a different level all together.

In between school and division one rugby, there has to be another stage in order to nurture their skills in order to magnify their talents, skills and technical competency. Thereafter when there are vacancies in the division one the clubs will absorb the player. That is the only way you could guide the youngster to big time rugby. Currently this is not happening and that is why we are having all these issues that we are currently confronted with. "Kishu Gomes said there was an Under 23 tournament sponsored by Caltex initially, but there was lack of focus and we were not too happy with it, so we opted out from that sponsorship."

Spread club rugby everywhere

Division one club rugby is today limited to Kandy and Colombo. But if one really looks at schools playing rugby, we have several schools in Kurnegala and then south we have a few schools. Ideally we should have a club each in every district. There was a club in Kurunegala, but due to lack of leadership by the stakeholders in that area, the club is no longer functioning.

Kandy should ideally have two clubs instead of one, considering the number of top rugby playing schools in the hill capital. They produce around 75 talented players annually with some players representing their home team and the rest finding it difficult to find a place in a Colombo Club, because Colombo too, has many good players. So some of the Kandy players will not go anywhere. These are some of the major issues that we got to sort out. No one should say that we are finding it difficult to run one tournament and how can we go beyond that. It all depends on one's approach to get the right support from all the stakeholders, from the Government to the Ministry to the businessmen, local sports bodies and one needs to have that collective effort to succeed.

Tussle sorted out

Gomes said that he was glad that the tussle between two fractions in the SLRFU was finally sorted out and has come into some consensus and are working together. We should see that everyone will work together towards a common goal. We should not consider the issues that the SLRFU had as a deterrent, although it is definitely an hindrance. But we mustn't focus too much on the problems, but on the solutions. The clubs should work with the SLRFU in harmony, but there again you can expect that upto a certain extent only.

Kandy will never want another club to win. Which is the right thing to do. "As I always feel, in our country, we have a belief that sports is all about participation. In my view, it is not. It is a wrong conception. Today we should train our school children and youngsters to think that playing is all about winning, but if you lose, you should be, able to take it up in the right spirit. That's how it should be, and not say that sports is all about participation," said Gomes.