Sri Lanka rugby poolists appeal to President to intervene

RUGBY: Twenty three Sri Lanka national rugby pool players have appealed to President Mahinda Rajapakse, seeking his intervention to put Sri Lanka rugby on the right track.

Deeply disturbed by the circumstances which forced Sri Lanka national coach George Simpkin to quit days before the Hong Kong Sevens following an alleged death threat by a senior Sri Lanka player, the 23 Sri Lanka poolists have requested President Rajapakse to intervene and direct Sports Minister to conduct an impartial inquiry as the SLRFU has not properly investigated a complaint made by the national coach.

The following is the text of their letter to the President:

The national rugby players write to you hoping to save the game we love from deteriorating the same way it did due to bad management in the 2000-2002 period.

We must remind you at the time Mr. George Simpkin took over the coaching of our national side Sri Lanka rugby was in the doldrums (9th in Asia). His hard work and great knowledge of the game helped us to come back into the fold and be in a position to beat China and Hong Kong in the next month's rugby world cup qualifiers.

Now that we are doing well and the rugby asiad is going to be held in Sri Lanka this year in November everybody wants to be a part of it and the man who brought us here is "chased" out by the "king of kandy".

When the incident which took place on the 23rd of March was taken up at an emergency meeting by the governing body they decided that there was no proof when everybody knew what really happened. The manager himself was right there and has no guts to stand up for our coach.

Mr. Simpkin is one of the most recognized figures in world rugby, having coached Fiji, Hong Kong and China and one of the biggest clubs in New Zealand (Waikato Chiefs), he is a true professional. A true professional will not stand around and wait while he is threatened by a player in the presence of an official and no action was taken in regard to that player.

Nalaka Weerakody who is responsible for this incident has not been available for Sri Lanka duty for the last 3 years and then makes him self available for the two best tours to Australia and Hong Kong for his personal gains.

He deprived the chances of some player who has worked hard in the last 3 years and went on these 2 tours, thus getting what he wants.

He does not care about Sri Lanka rugby and only care about playing for Kandy SC and therefore he has created a major rift in the Sri Lanka squad by verbally assaulting one of the top national players at practices (who has complained to the CEO of SLRFU).

Now Mr. Simpkin has an impossible task of coaching a side who wants to hurt each other while practicing. This is the second and main reason for Mr. Simpkin to quit as our national coach.

This incident was however brought about by not having a proper contract system in place by the governing body and players being bought over by rich clubs any time they want.

As it is we will lose the next two games badly as there is no unity in the side and there is no able coach in the country who knows the players as well as Mr. Simpkin. We feel the only way this can be corrected is if necessary action will be taken against the guilty player.

If this is done everything will return to normal as everyone will realize no player is above the law and will be dealt with as equals.

Also to avoid such incidents in the future we ask that the SLRFU recognize and approve one contract which all the clubs could use and which is registered with the governing body.

This will also ensure that Mr. Simpkin will stay and continue to coach Sri Lanka rugby. We will refrain from national practices until necessary action is taken as there will be no point in continuing without unity in the side.

Below are the signatures of all the players (current national squad) who have read and signed this letter.

Thank you,

Yours faithfully,

National squad players (Sgd).

Pavithra Fernando, Anuradha Dharmathilake, Viraj Prasantha, Saliya Kumara, Asanga Rodrigo, Dilanka Wijesekara, Zulki Hameed, Dilanjan Jayasekara, Anuranga Walpola,Achala Perera, Shamil Mohemed, M.R. Saldin, Anujaya Perera, Dinesh Sanjeewa, Suranga Swarnathilake, Jayantha Ranaweera, Ashen Kartheris, Dilan Ekanayake, Mohemed Sheriff, Lalinda Rodrigo, Omar Sheriffdeen, Kasun Yasaisuru, Sendil Kumar.