Sri Lanka’s national players haven’t had international exposure at any form of rugby for a long time due to the present pandemic

by a Special Sports Correspondent

Sri Lanka’s sports scene is similar to a hatchling stepping into the world. Like the newborn learning to cope with new territory, Sri Lanka’s sportsmen and women have to carefully tread wherever they go due to the pandemic that’s raging.

Compared to other sports our rugby players have done little to get their training off the ground during this challenging environment. For their ill luck the inter-club rugby sevens tournament became a nonstarter because Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF), a co host of the event, announced that it wasn’t in a position to go ahead with the tournament because of the pandemic. The tournament was to be organised by SLAF under the supervision of Sri Lanka Rugby (SLR) to celebrate the former’s 70th anniversary. Most club players who committed themselves even went into a bio bubble to prepare for the tournament. But all efforts channeled towards having a much needed rugby event proved futile in the end.

On the administration side of the equation there is SLR President Rizly Illyas who is struggling to kick start rugby events in the island. Just the other day he was quoted in the newspapers stating that Sri Lanka had received hosting rights for two Asian Rugby Sevens tournaments. However what catches the eye of this writer is a comment Illyas made regarding the announcement of the two tournaments. The SLR President says he is aware of the challenges posed by the pandemic to conduct a tournament of such magnitude. But most importantly he adds ‘We can’t sit back and wait’. That thought can create the platform to launch future rugby activities.

To conduct an international rugby tournament SLR needs the support of the Sports Ministry and Ministry of Health. According to informed sources Illyas is not enjoying the best of support from ‘other influential parties’ who can help the first rugby tournament to get off the ground after rugger activities came to a stop several months ago.

Rugby can take a cue from cricket, badminton, table tennis, chess and athletics. The national cricketers are making tours abroad and continue to be reimbursed despite the pandemic developing into a third wave and disrupting human life activities.

According to sources the majority of domestic rugby players are not getting remunerated hence the difficulty in getting them into a bio bubble and have an international tournament. Unlike the national cricketers the country’s best rugby players are owned by the clubs and not by the rugby controlling body. The SLR has to get its first rugby activity off the ground for the year 2021. Compared to rugby, which is starving, the international cricket calendar is chockablock. SLC CEO Ashley de Silva was quoted in newspapers saying that Sri Lanka hosting the Asia Cup would be put back, due to the pandemic, till late as after the 2023 cricket World Cup. This he says is because the national cricket teams of all countries have a packed schedule.

Even sports must be viewed from a human angle. As much as sports administrators use psychology to motivate players these players must be encouraged when sports activities have come to a standstill. They can take a cue from the Sunera Foundation, founded by Sunethra Bandaranaike. The foundation conducts workshops for differently abled persons. Workshops are conducted so that participants are able to feel, be seen and can express themselves in a creative manner. Rugby players must be made to feel that they are wanted and given opportunities to express themselves through sports.

From the perspective of player wellbeing Sri Lanka Badminton conducted an online fitness programme for the players titled ‘keep shuttle fit’. National coaches and players, members of the ‘challenge pool’ and junior players took part in the programme conducted in the mornings on weekdays. Even a sedentary sport like chess has got off the ground and the country’s national players are at present contesting the Asian Continental Chess Championship via online participation. Sri Lanka’s chances are carried at this chess tournament by Ranindu Liyanage, Minul Sanjula, L.M.S.T de Silva and Theekshan Dinuwan. The tournament is held from May 20-30.

All sports draw ‘oxygen’ form the National Olympic Committee (NOC). This is because the NOC facilitates travel of sportsmen and women to events like the Olympic Games, Asian Games and Commonwealth Games. A top NOC official has been quoted in the newspapers that plans are underway to field teams for the Commonwealth Games (UK) and Asian Games (China). The NOC is concerned about how the Sri Lankans will perform, hence the committee has said that it wishes to see two sets of players being sent for the two events to enhance medal prospects and limit injuries.

In any given situation what matters is not how challenging the situation is, but how big the person put in charge of the situation is. All national sports bodies must have an innovative and determined president to make sure their respective sports don’t lose players. Just the other day we read in newspapers that some of our national cricketers are contemplating premature retirement because of reduced payments to them. But the SLC has made alternate plans to reimburse players with the best available paying scheme. The idea is to keep the players in the game during difficult times. Given the present situation this writer hears of a sad story from the south. A known rugby coach is now undertaking home painting contracts in the absence of any money coming his way from rugby coaching. There is another rugby coach, possessing a bike license, who has taken up transporting food and has signed up with a food delivery company.

Going down memory lane to the late 1980s most defence establishments allowed their players to represent domestic clubs in SLR conducted tournaments at a time when the JVP insurgents threatened security forces personnel with death if they didn’t quit their places of employment. Careers of many rugby players were saved as a result of far thinking by the SLR (Sri Lanka Rugby Football Union back then).

The SLR has to come to the fore and sign contacts with players with the motive of putting them in a bio bubble when future international tournaments approach. This is the best time for the SLR to break the monopoly on players by clubs and look to the future and escape from the pandemic blues.