Sports followers have expressed outrage over the assault of a rugby player from St.Peter’s College at the hands of his coach Sanath Martis during a preseason friendly match against DS Senanayake College recently.
The incident went viral on social media and one of the followers of sport to move into the defence of the assaulted player was former Sri Lanka cricket captain Mahela Jayawardena who tweeted that the assault on the player was “abuse”.
“It’s not coaching, it’s abuse. I had teachers and coaches who taught me values but didn’t hit me”, Jayawardena tweeted.
Martis was pictured in the video slapping the unnamed player three times which many said amounted to a deliberate assault more than a “punishment”.
The incident nevertheless indicates to what extent some coaches would go to in an age when winning at amateur schoolboy level matters more than anything else and coaches paid heavily to produce results and thus come under intense pressure.
Martis himself is fighting a court case after a spectator at a Royal College versus St. Peter’s College match assaulted him after the game last year.
It has also being reported that Asian Rugby has expressed serious concern over the assault of the boy and would be requesting Sri Lanka Rugby to investigate the incident.