April 03, Colombo LNW:
A media briefing was held at the Cinnamon Grand Hotel to
inform the media about the upcoming under-85kg rugby
tournament between New Zealand and Sri Lanka, which will
bring a lot of valuable experience to Sri Lankan rugby. The
announcement of the press conference was kept secret from the
media, as the officials involved in the case of Sri Lanka being
fined £50,000 were currently working together.The current ministry has also taken no steps to meet the needs of
those involved in this incident and has accepted a constitutional
amendment to make the case accordingly. Despite this, the Sports
Minister, in order to please his government’s voters, spoke loudly
in Parliament about the illegal transfer of foreigners to Sri Lanka,
who were fined £50,000 as a result of Baby’s rugby, and also
criticized Namal Rajapaksa.
However, the officials responsible for the incident have not taken
any action regarding the offense to date. The current government
has followed the same approach. A prime example of this is the
appointment of the Chief Executive Officer of the previous
wrongful administration as the Chairman of the committee tasked
with advising the Minister. Furthermore, the offense has not been
recognized as a violation of the Immigration and Emigration Act,
and the Secretary of the same administration has now been
assigned a key role in rugby governance.
The key priority is to gain the trust of the Asia Rugby President
while ensuring the involvement of the chairman of the offending
administration, who also serves as the President of Asia Rugby’s
High-Performance Training and Tournaments. Given that no
punishment or ban was imposed for the incident, it is widely
believed that the Minister will take no further action against
Babyla or the officials who played rugby for them, beyond the
statement made by Namal Babies.For the benefit of rugby fans who have some knowledge of the
rugby fraternity, it is worth noting that the Asian official, who has
faced no consequences for his wrongdoing and is instead enjoying
privileges, has also managed to secure a role in this event.
If the Minister places his trust in this individua someone who
merely claims to know rugby while being fully aware of the crisis
it will only highlight the extent to which certain individuals are
attempting to feign innocence.
Congratulations to the Sri Lankan Under-85kg team and the
tournament. If the Minister possesses the wisdom to acknowledge
that he is endorsing a betrayal of trust and conscience in the rugby
field, it will have significant implications for the future of the
sport in the country.
