Nearly four months after the tragedy at the Foxhill races that claimed the lives of eight spectators, the brakes have been applied on the parent body governing motor sports known as Sri Lanka Automobile Sports (SLAS) that no competitors or any of their relations will be allowed to hold any post in the many clubs and associations involved in the sport.
The order to clean up the rot taking place in motor sports associations, has been issued by the Sports Ministry’s Director General of Sports Rear Admiral Shemal Fernando in a letter to the racing bodies citing the rules that there can be no affiliation between competitors on the race track and officials running the sport of motor racing.
“For the purpose of automobile sports, any automobile sports competitor with national license issued for the current year and or have taken part in national events as defined by SLAS Constitution or National Championship events recognized by SLAS within the 12 months period from the date of the nomination or parent or sibling of the said competitors shall not be eligible to get elected or hold office at Sri Lanka Automobile Sports”, the order issued by Rear Admiral Fernando to member clubs of SLAS stated.
It was widely believed that the tragedy that occurred at Foxhill which marked the most serious of all sporting disasters in the country was due to conflicts of interests among competitors and administrators that led to irresponsible conduct at a racing event patronized by thousands of racing fans.
According to records, since the Foxhill deaths, four racing events have not been held over fears of another tragedy while fair-play and accountability have taken a back seat over the past 20 years.
