The Director General of the Department of Sports Development (DSD) Amal Edirisooriya has assured Asia Rugby (AR) that one of their priorities is to conduct an election of office-bearers for Sri Lanka Rugby (SLR).
The elected rugby body headed by Rizly Illyas stands temporarily suspended following a gazette notification on April 1 issued by then Sports Minister Namal Rajapaksa appointing Edirisooriya as competent authority to oversee the administration of the sport.
Edirisooriya gave the assurance when he met a visiting delegation from AR which also temporarily suspended Sri Lanka’s membership from the regional body following the sports ministry decision.
According to the gazette notification, Edirisooriya has been tasked with “administrative and other required proceedings and to call for and hold the relevant elections as well as to perform the activities of the said national sports association until then as the temporary procedure.”
“This was the primary concern of Asia Rugby. They wanted to see an elected body running Sri Lanka Rugby,” Edirisooriya told the Sunday Observer.
AR’s Rugby Development Consultant Benjamin Van Rooyen and an official from the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) also met with other stakeholders in the sport including representatives of ‘A’ division rugby clubs and officials of the National Olympic Committee of Sri Lanka (NOCSL) who recognize SLR as the sole representative of rugby in the country. AR and OCA are expected to issue an official communiqué regarding this imbroglio later in the week.
Meanwhile, rugby action returns at the CR and FC today with selection trials being held for the Commonwealth Games and Asian Games sevens competitions. It is being organized by officials of the Sports Ministry’s DSD headed by Edirisooriya.
Sri Lanka Rugby had scheduled to conduct the inter-club rugby Sevens tournament this weekend but the last two weeks of the league tournament was also disrupted due to the sudden decision of the sports ministry. With the deadline to name the squad for the Commonwealth Games being April 30, a tournament between national pool players for both men and women will take place.
The men’s competition will see a combination of Police and Havelocks, CR&FC and CH&FC, the three Services combining while Kandy SC will field a single team. Sanath Martis, Nilfer Ibrahim, Shamly Nawaz and Fazil Marija will be coaching the teams.
But the method of combining players has come in for criticism by some observers as it may cause imbalance in teams as some potential players in a squad of 12 may not get a chance to showcase their skills while it also prevents new talent from emerging unlike in a regular inter-club tournament.