February 27, Colombo (LNW): In a conversation with the Sports Minister, he was able to clarify the confusion regarding the sources used in collecting data on the game of rugby. Some have convinced him that rugby in Sri Lanka is in the abyss. If the current system is successful, rugby should be at the top of Asia.
Sri Lanka Rugby is currently ranked 40th in the world and holds the fourth position in Asia, proving that the sport has not fallen into disrepair.
However, during the last Asian Games, legal issues stemming from the Asia’s actions and the Interim Committee appointed by Minister Roshan Ranasinghe hindered proper training and the strategic integration of local and foreign teams. As a result, rugby’s performance declined. Yet, prior to these setbacks, Sri Lanka was on the brink of securing a spot on the medal table in both Asian Games.
The last Commonwealth Games, which had left its mark on the prestigious games, and the training that was carried out using different training methods, were not the only Asia Rugby who wanted to prevent Sri Lanka Rugby, led by Rizly Illyas, from going to an Asian medal. Therefore, Sri Lanka’s collapse at the last Asian Games was a disruptive and opportunistic act. But even after that, Sri Lanka has shown Asian-level talent and has clearly marked its rightful place in Asia. The Asian Olympic Committee reversed the decision of the Asia Rugby to completely deprive Sri Lanka of playing rugby at the Asian Games, subjecting it to the influence of Asia, which failed. The World Rugby , as a member country of the International Olympic Committee, convinced the Asia Rugby that it should also work obediently to the Asian Olympic Committee.
Therefore, as the Director General of Sports of Sri Lanka thinks and as he also convinces the Minister, there should be no world-level federations and regional-level federations above the Sri Lankan judiciary. There are other ways to act without bowing to pressure.
The Minister’s Opinion
The Minister’s opinion is what he has gathered from the sources he uses to understand the subject at the moment. He shows how he believes them to be one hundred percent correct. The Director General of Sports is trying to take the responsibility of changing the constitution from the temporary opportunity he has received to govern rugby and its main objective is to give voting rights to the teams playing in that category. The Minister expressed it to the journalists by saying, ‘If you say CR, you know. If you say East, you know rugby?’
A province is not a sports team. But the CR mentioned by the Minister, as well as CH, Havelocks, and Sri Lions, who were included in that group this time amid protests from other sports teams in that group, also represent the Western Union. Among those elected from the West in this year’s election are people from sports clubs in that group.
After the constitution that determines power at the provincial level was prepared by New Zealander Jeff Matheson, there have been only one reported case of someone not from those sports clubs being appointed as the Sri Lanka Rugby President.
This body should focus on the entire rugby sector and create a competitive environment to raise the quality and competitive level of rugby, not by giving voting rights to clubs. An official body appointed by the existing constitution should be allowed to discuss with the World and Asia Rugby, argue with the facts on the ground, and create the necessary environment to make those amendments.
The sports clubs that play those games often have great facilities. There are ways to earn a lot of money for a low assessment tax. But not all the players who play at school level for a year and come out depend on these few sports clubs. Some are supported by a small sports club in these provincial unions. When the organism that is maintained through B or other competitions reaches a higher level, they receive calls from that sports club to play in that category. The sports clubs that play those games often have great facilities. There are ways to earn a lot of money for a low assessment tax. But not all the players who play at school level for a year and come out depend on these few sports clubs.
Some are supported by a small sports club in these provincial unions. When the organism that is maintained through B or other competitions reaches a higher level, they receive calls from that sports club to play in that category.
The Sports Minister’s full focus on ‘A’ sports clubs has completely ignored the fact that the plant nurseries that protect and grow plants for them are neglected. This writer personally feels that the tri-forces and the police bear the responsibility of providing voting rights in Sri Lanka after the provincial Unions, and that it is important to give them some power in elections. ‘A’ sports clubs are like the ones that pick the fragrant and fully bloomed flowers and place them in their shrines. However, they are now forgetting, or attempting to forget, the crucial role played by those who nurture these flowers to that state. If this continues, the sport will fall to the bottom. The system that brings players to the top and the structure that supports and retains talent will shrink and become inactive.
Since nothing was done against the rulers who made a huge mistake over the years and decided to pay the fine with money coming from world rugby for the development of rugby, today they have indirectly controlled the Minister and highlighted one side to gain the power to control rugby in their own hands, completely closing down the methods that protect the ground for the existence of the game.
Some major schools are still recognizing the talents from provincial unions who play rugby with the two balls provided by them, and they observe the performances of players brought from the villages and outside their teams. It’s unclear how these players were developed without attention being given to them.
These players don’t abandon rugby and return to their villages; instead, they are supported by smaller sports clubs within the provincial unions until they reach a level where they can play for a major sports club. When the Minister asks, ‘Who knows?’, the East is pointed to as the mistake for not acknowledging this. The real issue lies in how the grassroots level has been neglected to the extent that such a situation has arisen, which is more the fault of the Sports Minister than ours.
These provincial unions and small clubs should also be given attention. This structure is the determining factor in the overall talent. Despite all this, the Asia Rugby president’s team is still ranked 48th in the world rankings. It is 5th in Asia. It is now easier for him and those who are trying to attack the rugby game of their country of origin to join him and put Sri Lankan rugby below it and regain the places they lost. Therefore, the Minister has also given his word to prepare the necessary ground for it and leave the group that will harvest the talents and uproot the system with trees that grow talents.
The root of this matter is Namal and his group. They will not allow other camps to unite except that camp. It is their plan to steal votes to say that the best time is ours. When they are taken in a class sense, people like Malik Samarawickrama are also making plans to win more privileges for those sports clubs in order to increase the power of the class.
In another way, looking beyond the irrational question asked by the minister about this matter, some say that it is useless to explain to the minister who does not know much about this except the friendship between President Anura and Malik. It is possible that they have fallen into the trap of preventing widespread victories in any other field, not the terrible political game that we do not believe in. Perhaps the minister is confusing the work of CR and East and presenting two activities that are not the same.
In this way, a government that has given the village a dream does not care if the idea of giving a railway station with more power to Thambuttegama is only for the transportation of goods. But the athletes who took the train to Colombo and brought medals were also there. In the future, when a rugby team comes from Thambuttegama to Colombo, it will be easier to enjoy the train facilities available to Thambuttegama and reserve seats than to come in the bus provided by Sajith.
But if the provincial Unions that confirm and broadcast that power are dismantled, the rugby bodies that could have been used in Thambuttegama will load vegetables at the railway station that is being built. If the political talk is true, perhaps if the vegetable transport is managed by Malik Samarawickrama’s company, then only the youth from Thambuttegama will be used to load goods, but rugby will not look at Thambuttegama.
For the development of the game of rugby, the A group should remain stable. It should always be limited to eight teams. Last time, the Sri Lanka Lions made it to the ‘A’ group with great effort, but this time no team from the A group made it to the B group. What should really happen is to take that group back to the ‘B’ group. The best thing to do to keep the game at a high quality level is not to increase the number of clubs. It is to keep that level at a limit and give it a lower target to be suitable for it. This current situation is not proposed by either side in the rugby battle.
Therefore, if a sports club is entitled to a vote, each provincial unions should have three or two votes. The vote that a sports club is entitled to should not be specific and permanent. If the sports club is a team in that group of the tournament at that moment, it may be entitled to that vote, and sometimes if a sports club in that group is also entitled to the power of a provincial union, then a vote may be entitled not in the name of the sports club itself, but in the name of the provincial unions or in the name of the sports club in that group.
Therefore, as the world or the regional power said, the Minister should not spread the disease of the Director General who runs around without clothes, disregarding the world or the Sri Lankan judiciary. If it were not for the ministers who fell victim to that disease, we would have had a history of Asian medal winners to talk about in Sri Lanka Rugby today.
That is true. If a sports club should have voting rights in an election without weakening the visiblestructure, it should be left uncertain without naming the sports clubs permanently, so that it suits a group in that category at that moment. It is important to keep the competition categories, ‘A’ and ‘B’, flexible so that they can change at any time. Only then can the game function effectively, remaining dynamic and competitive without becoming stagnant.
The ministry should support the people who come to power by holding elections to carry out the constitution that has the power to change all this. There is nothing wrong with intervening to provide facilities. It is a big mistake for the World Federation or Asian regional powers to manipulate rugby in a country as they wish through the country’s ministers, and if there is any administrative crisis in that sport in a country, the responsibility should be assigned to the country’s National Olympic Committee. The international community cannot work without considering the sporting structure of that sport in a country through the intervention of a political power. It is a disregard for the policy issues of the International Olympic Committee.
The Sri Lankan government has faced this situation before. The National Olympic Committee did not accept the committee appointed by the country’s politicians and the Asian powerhouse. As a result, the Asian rugby authorities had to intervene, warning the Asia Rugby powerhouse, and adjust their schedule for the Asian Games to include Sri Lanka under the flag of the Asian Olympic Committee.
But from the moment Namal Rajapaksa took office as the Sports Minister, the politician has not allowed Sri Lankan rugby to continue under the existing constitution. He is interfering with it. He is doing things through those sports clubs and the Asian influence that is added to it, ignoring the wishes of the majority of the Sri Lankan rugby community. A provincial union is not a single sports club but a representation of a large number of teams, including those teams. When we understand that fact, we can understand that those sports clubs are places where the country’s talents are gathered, not the womb of the system that produces talents.
For more than a decade, efforts put into writing have been turned into a crime. No punishment has been handed down to those involved in the incident of fielding foreign players who brought disgrace to the country. Today, these individuals have gained enough power to align themselves with Asia and manipulate ministers. The current minister has yet to address the issue. The punishment for that mistake, the fine that should have been paid for it from the development aid received by Sri Lanka, has also been overlooked, further hindering the growth of rugby in the country.
Instead, no Sports Minister has ever met the former president, who fought for the independence of Sri Lanka Rugby when it was threatened. The injustice caused by several factors such as not filing a charge sheet against him or even taking a statement from him as the reason for the ban, despite his efforts to protect rugby’s independence in the country has gone unaddressed.
No Sports Minister has ever summoned him to ask what happened. Yet, ministers continue to engage with and take photos alongside those who have been fined for committing a crime in this country, without any hesitation.
A’ is a noble clan in rugby. Maintaining its position firmly and preventing new growth around it from surpassing its height is one of the strategies of that nobility. They aim to keep a distance between their sports clubs and others, much like people who step off the road and jump into the gutter when they encounter the old nobility. The minister, as a politician, should be more adept at understanding this political situation than we are. However, what happens is that they fail to grasp it.
Traditionally, there should not be a group of ‘A’ sports clubs. The competition structure itself should be structured as a B team qualifying for ‘A’ and a team from ‘B’ going to the ‘A’ division. These should be bold decisions and instead of creating a feudal idea for other sports clubs to always be accustomed to the sound of the sports clubs of the nobility, a strength to argue and compete should be more clearly demonstrated in the process of changing politics for 76 years.
We must accept that the constitution of the country has influenced the emergence of the country’s politicians. If there was a condition that only a certain class could protect itself and come to leadership, a leader would not come from Thambuttegama. Therefore, a government that has power under that leader should think politically to change the systems that have the power that are democratically acquired by a certain group and make them more open. If this political idea and the meaning of power can be understood, the Minister of Sports or this government will not work to create a constitution that will never allow a sports club that is not controlled by ‘Haamu’ and ‘baby’ to come to power.
It would be wonderful if the Sports Minister, free from the tradition of thinking like the old-timers, like ‘we can’t deal with those bosses’, understands the need to decentralize power in sports so that a rugby administrator from Thambuttegama in the future can emerge. Otherwise, he will not only cause trouble for rugby but also for the basic political interests of the National People’s Power Government.
*Adapted from original article, “තඹුත්තේගමින් රගර් පාළකයෙක් හැදෙන්න පුළුවන් සිහිනයට පවතින්න ඉඩ දෙන්න” by Nishman Ranasinghe published on 27/02/2025.
