Former Sri Lanka women’s rugby winger Charani Liyanage will storm into the history books today as the first female to referee a men’s match when she takes charge of the whistle at the inter club League game between Kandy SC and Navy SC at the Nittawela stadium.
The only sport that Charani knew was track and field as a sprinter for St. Anthony’s College at Dematagoda in Colombo and is now considered the pin-up girl for as many as 30 budding female referees in the fast developing Sri Lanka Society of Rugby Football Referees (SLSRFR) headed by Dinka Peiris.
Rugby fans in the country’s most famous region will likely savour the occasion witnessing Charani invading a man’s domain but only she will know the trauma she underwent to come out a finished product, just what Sri Lanka rugby needed in an otherwise lackluster set-up.
“If you take rugby in Asia we are far behind in female participation and Charani is not only going to be the first for Sri Lanka but also creating gender based equality that World Rugby is striving to promote.
“We at the referees society are well pleased with her that we fast tracked her realizing the potential and role she can play and become a role model for other girls in rugby”, said Peiris.
Peiris is also elated they have in their ranks four more female referees who could follow in the footsteps of Charani who had a first taste of rugby after she enrolled in the Army and played for its team from 2014 until last year when she retired to venture further where no woman has gone before.
She is also the custodian of the Sri Lanka jersey she wore at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham and last year became the first among equals to blow at three schools rugby matches.