Nothing can take away the joy and pride of the team that won the coveted Sri Lanka Schools League rugby championship yesterday and in this instance St. Peter’s College lived up to all expectations along with second best Isipathana College while the rest of the schools contributed to keeping the flame of youth passions alive even at the cost of broken limbs.
But one thing is clear, unless drastic measures are taken, schools rugby is heading for disaster on a scale not witnessed before.
The writing was on the wall last season when anti-riot police squads, armed Para military officers and a water cannon, usually associated with settling political grouses, were on stand-by opposite the gates of St. Peter’s College that hosted Isipathana College in the title decider.
Passionate followers of schools rugby cannot be faulted for breaking down gates and crashing into the venue as they did on that occasion and even spilled onto the playing surface for want of space at a ground that was also exposed to disturbances.
But the problem is that schools rugby has burst its borders taking the so-called Sri Lanka Schools Rugby Football Association (SLSRFA), the referees and the newly set-up Advisory Committee on the blind side.
Nothing can be more important for College students outside of school in Colombo and Kandy than rugby that had its share of hooliganism this year when a referee was brutally assaulted by supporters of Science College on the very turf that is sacred to the players. While the offending school got away, 15 other schools that had nothing to do with the violence had their players sulking for two weeks.
It was revenge of the referees in typical Sri Lanka trade union style with apparently no solution found and now forgotten until the next bout occurs. Some pundits may argue that referees are human and are prone to error. If that be the case, life on the rugby field will continue to move on exposed to its pitfalls and vulnerability to violence while schools rugby keeps outgrowing its caretakers year after year with no measures taken for a madness-free set-up.
Many independent analysts who witnessed videos of the situation that sparked off the violence, claimed Science College were deprived of a try against S. Thomas’ College as the referee blundered sparking off the outrage which in no way can be justified with unruly elements settling scores with match officials when the matter could have been taken up at a civilized level.
Yet another disputed ruling made by the referee unfurled last week at an exposed venue at Havelock Park when Isipathana hosted Royal College in a high profile match and both sets of players had everything to play for. Videos of a Royal player pushing down an Isipathana opponent after the whistle was blown did the rounds on Social media with questions raised over the referee’s ability or unwanted play on the part of the Royal player that eventually conceded the host team a match-winning penalty.
Ironically there was pushing of players taking place at the same time on the same day at a match elsewhere between host team St. Peter’s College and Trinity College and no penalties awarded. Referees and experts can throw the rule book at lay spectators who may be ignorant to the rules, but the bottom line is, which authority will take responsibility when passions run high to hysterical levels with sport now not about who-won-the-match, but about life itself.
Five seasons ago former Sri Lanka Rugby president Rizly Illyas declared that schools rugby had an investment of Rs.200 million for a season for any corporate buyer and today the figure could be anything beyond Rs. 500 million taking into account the adjustments made to suit inflation.
With money playing a big part in the affairs of schools rugby, the SLSRFA got its wires crossed and instead of ensuring less or no disputes that lead to violence, their priority was a grand stage launch parading 16 team captains in the presence of the Ministers of Sports and Education with assurances of a violence-free season.
The Sunday Observer which prominently covered the launch has on several occasions highlighted the boiling pot that is schools rugby while also documenting several cases of matches disrupted by crowd violence while schoolboy players have become pawns, their highly-paid coaches tolerating nothing short of winning and their commercial partners indulging in a kind of sadism by pumping in the big bucks for mileage.
If the stakeholders of schools rugby cannot assure fair-play on the field in a safe environment, the sport will be better off going back to its past when commercial tournaments were unheard and schoolboys were no one’s slaves?
