Match Commissioner who sees the blind side of rugby | Sunday Observer

Match Commissioner who sees the blind side of rugby

5 August, 2018
Kavinda Jayasena
Kavinda Jayasena

A man we all ought to know and meet is Kavinda Jayasena. This unassuming figure is one of the Match Commissioners appointed by the World Rugby Union.

He has managed many games for Sri Lanka Rugby with the overall task of ensuring the smooth running of a match on game day.

His role as the Match Commissioner is to ensure the smooth running of the game, to manage any changes and to ensure that the standards of rugby are maintained. One of the requirements of his role is to be at the ground well before time.

He said depending on the venue and anticipated crowd he would also visit the nearest Police station or Post to arrange additional security requirements of the venue and the game. In addition, he has a Match Run sheet detailing the items on a check list.

“I am responsible for ensuring that the officials and referees are on site and if there is no medical team present I can call off the game as I will be held responsible if we can’t manage injuries and emergencies on time”, Jayasena said.

“I check the security elements (as safety is paramount), the gates and the attendance and the keepers to ensure everyone operates in a way that we will see that the game is run smoothly. The responsibilities of the Match Commissioner, an official representative at a match and this role is of paramount importance”.

Jayasena is the son of one of the famous players George Jayasena who started his rugby at Vidyartha College and his first club was Kandy Lake Club. From there he crossed over to Uva and played for Kandy SC for many years and also for Up Country and Sri Lanka.

The junior Jayasena is a product of Trinity College, where he represented the team in all age Groups (13,15, 17 and 1st XV) and at club level. He represented Havelock Sports Club from 2001-2002 and from 2006 to 2015 while captaining the side in 2008 and 2011.

In 2003 he came back to his old home town where he learnt the game and played for Kandy SC in that same year. Then in the Mercantile tournament he played for Hatton National Bank from 2000 -2004.

At national level Jayasena represented the Sri Lanka Youth team in 1999 and then in 2001 played for the Sri Lanka team in the World Cup-qualifying matches held in Kazakaztan in 2001 and in 2002 played for the Sri Lanka team at the 18th Asiad held in Bangkok, Thailand.

He was also a winner of the the prestigious Trinity College rugby “Lion” for outstanding performance in the College team, exemplifying characteristics such as leadership, courage, devotion to duty and above all concern for the team ahead of himself.

Before the Lion he won colours for exceptional performance in the year 1999 and then won the best player award in 1999 and the Excellence Award offered by the Old Trinitians Sports Club in 2000.

His professional achievements are - IRB Level One Coaching Completed, IRB Level One (02) Coaching Completed, IRB Level One 7 A side Coaching Completed, IRB Qualified Match Commissioner and successfully completed the IRB Level One (01), Level Two (02) and Level 01 7 A side Coaching program which includes the IRB Rugby Ready Laws of the Game, IRB Strength and Conditioning Level 1, Concussion Management and Strength Conditioning Pre-Level 1 and 2 .

He was team manager of Havelocks in 2013 and 2015, coached Lanka Hospitals rugby team for the Mercantile Rugby Sevens in 2012 to 2014 and High Performance Team Manager Sri Lanka Rugby 2018 .

He was also Team Manager Sri Lanka Telecom Mobitel Eagles team for the Sri Lanka Super Sevens tournament that emerged the Cup Champions in 2016 and 2017 and Match Commissioner Sri Lanka Rugby from 2015 to date, including international matches and Asian Games (Sri Lanka vs Hong Kong).

He is married to Subashibni a product of Pushpadana Girls College where she excelled in sports and his son Ewion follows in his footsteps playing for the Trinity College under-12 team.

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