Sri Lanka’s rugby referees have been caught on the blind side by a trio of referees from New Zealand who arrived in the island on a fact finding and educational mission ahead of the new inter-club Premier rugby League which commences in the final week of November.
The trio is made up of Sam Fellows, Sam Thompson and Sean Curragh who met members of the Sri Lanka media at a Press conference at the Havelocks Sports Club under the auspecies of the Sri Lanka Rugby Referees Society headed by Dinka Peiris last evening.
The three men called on the Sri Lankan referees to push forward with a healthy dialogue with the clubs for a more sustainable relationalship for the development of the sport and its future welfare to overcome any misunderstanding or stand-offs.
It has been a well known syndrome in the country where referees and club officials don’t see eye-to-eye that has resulted in friction between both parties often leading to upheavals that in the past had broughgt the inter club season into disrepute.
The visiting trio also noted that Sri Lanka has less than 200 referees compared to New Zealand which has over 1300 referees in a population that is less than six million as against 22 million in Sri Lanka. Today the Kiwis will get down to their first session with local referees eudcating them on the latest demands on the field and will also take note of past videos of the Sri Lankan refereeing set up.
