Rugby Referees crisis takes a new turn

Bernard PERERA

The crisis between the Sri Lanka Rugby Football Union Interim Committee and the Rugby Football Referees Society has aggravated further with the recent threat posed to the referees who officiated in a tournament recently.

The threat has been from three senior referees according to an official of the Interim Committee.

The crisis began when the Interim Committee Delayed the payments for referees. According to Kiran Atapattu the payments were with held as there were many discrepancies noted.

The payments due to referees for their services have to be claimed individually by the referees concerned. But the voucher forwarded for payment was an enblock one which cannot be settled by the Governing body according o the Sports Law and the existing rules of the SLRFU, said Atapattu.

Further he noted that the Referees Society has not registered themselves with the Ministry of Sports which is a violation of the Sports Law.

In fact there were many discrepancies appearing in the payment voucher forwarded by the Society in dispute. Last year the SRLFU has spent a thumping sum of money for Referees Society (Rs.1.25m). This year the requested amount by the Society is Rs. 1.9m.

Though the money was paid last year the cheque was addressed to the same address of the SLRFU which brought in the suspicion of all concerned, said Atapattu.

Atapattu also noted that the Society has claimed the money for sixteen matches that were not played during the season and also claimed the same figures for the lower division school matches to make the total.

This he said is a total violation of the rules specified by the SLRFU and the Sports Law. Thes matter s has to be clarified before a settlement of the payments.

The referees Society is on the run to jeorpadise the sport which the Interim Committee cannot allow to happen.

We the Interim Committee was appointed by the Minister to clear the present situation and it has become our duty safe guard the sport by doing the correct thing put things in order.

If the Referees Society tries to be tough on this issue we as the Governing body too will have to take necessary steps to put a stop to unlawful act of the Referees Society, said Atapattu.