Kandy SC playing pandu with SLRFU?

Who governs rugby in Sri Lanka? What is the controlling body for rugby football in Sri Lanka? Obviously everyone would say it's the Sri Lanka Rugby Football Union (SLRFU).

True enough, it's the SLRFU that is recognised by the Ministry of Sports as the national controlling body for rugby football in Sri Lanka. Despite being well and truly aware of this fact, the latest developments in the local rugby arena prompted me to ask those two questions from myself.

That was after Kandy Sports Club decided to pull out their players from the national training squad over a dispute with selections for the Hong Kong International Sevens. Wasn't it a kind of threat to the national governing body? How could a member club 'threaten' or 'intimidate' a national sports association?

This is a serious situation and a bad example to all other clubs, not only in rugby but in all other sports. Minister of Sports Gamini Lokuge should hold an immediate investigation and punish those who are found guilty to maintain discipline in Sri Lanka sport.

It all began when the SLRFU named a provisional national pool for the forthcoming Hong Kong International Sevens. But the Kandy Sports Club authorities thought they have not got a fair deal for their players. They insisted that some of their players who were overlooked should be included in the national pool. Kandy SC's protest revolved around the exclusion of Gayan Weeraratne.

My question is what power has a sports club got to intimidate a national governing body and also to challenge decisions of selectors? As we all know selectors of any sport do a thankless job. It is hard to make selections to satisfy everybody but we assume all selectors do an impartial job and would make every effort to mete out justice to all players.

Perhaps at the first glance, one could find selections of a particular sport unreasonable. But when we analyze it and evaluate the performance of such teams at the end, we may find those selectors had taken the most appropriate decision in the best interest of their respective sport. Of course there could be an isolated bad decision as the selectors too are human. But overall, almost all selectors do an impartial job.

There again, even if there has been a selection blunder, it's the duty of the Sports Minister to intervene. That's not the business of a club team to take 'trade union' action by withdrawing their club players from the national team. What morale right has Kandy Sports Club got to ask some of the players to keep away from national pool duty?

Country should always come first. But the petty club politics has destroyed this long accepted fact and principle. It's some clubs that manage some players like puppets just because they pay a little extra money for their playing contracts. Should a player sell his soul and independence when he signs a contract? On the other hand, it is unethical for a club to expect such undue club loyalty.

Considering the standards witnessed during the domestic rugby sevens, there were around 20 players with almost equal standard. Even a single club could not boast of superiority as there were a few teams which played well. Hence, the selectors had better options; though some club officials apparently think they are the 'sole representatives of Sri Lanka rugby'.

On Tuesday, Kandy SC decided to step down from a protest and 'release' its players for the national pool. That too was after the SLRFU announced a new 32-member pool. Is it an indication that the SLRFU is dancing to the tune of the hill capital club, which is turning out to be the naughty boy of Sri Lanka rugby?

Why should the SLRFU and the selectors reverse their decision? Kandy SC Secretary Iswan Omar was quoted as saying that 'authorizing' their players to train with the Sri Lanka pool for the Hong Kong Sevens. What authority does a club official have to make such a statement?

In other words, when the SLRFU or any other national sports association names a national pool, they will have to wait until all member clubs, for which the selected players belong to, give the so-called authorization Kandy SC's Omar talks about.

Unfortunately, the SLRFU has failed to be firm on this matter and gone to the extent of naming a fresh pool. Perhaps, the SLRFU would have done so in order to obtain that 'authorization' Omar was talking about.

What a shame! But then came that surprise statement from the SLRFU: At the outset before threatening to pull out players and holding the Union to ransom, officials of Kandy should have checked with the Union and obtained the correct list of members of the pool nominated by the available selectors. The selectors have given a list of 23 names and in that Gayan Weeraratne was one of them.

However, the SLRFU at least had the courage to state that there was no guarantee Weeraratne would find a place in the final Sri Lanka squad to Hong Kong.

What if this player does not find a place in the final team? Perhaps, Kandy SC could start another protest at that stage and withdraw their players once more. What would the SLRFU authorities do then? Time is now opportune for the Sports Minister to take strict action against clubs or players who intimidate the national bodies.