Memorable moment for father and son

It was a memorable moment for a proud father and a victorious son as President Mahinda Rajapaksa handed the glittering President's Trophy to the captain of the Combined Defence Services team Yoshitha Rajapaksa at Sri Lanka Navy grounds at Welisara on Tuesday.

History was created at Welisara as the Defence Services team beat Sri Lanka Rugby Football Union President's XV by 15 points to six in their annual rugby encounter.

The traditional fixture has always been a much looked forward to event in the local rugby calendar and it's nice to see the sports-loving President taking time off his busy schedule to grace the occasion.

The game saw a keen tussle for supremacy but it was the place kicking abilities of the two teams which ultimately proved decisive as the winners collected their points from three penalties and two drop goals while SLRFU team put over just two penalties.

It was pity that some of the players who were picked to play for SLRFU President's team, all from Kandy Sports Club, made an eleventh hour pull out. Nevertheless, that did not take the glamour off and the match as some fast and open rugby was witnessed.

But the SLRFU must take stern action against the Kandy SC players who were down to play for them. Some of the key Kandy SC players are currently serving a ban for withdrawing from the national team over the appointment of CR & FC's Pavithra Fernando as captain of the national team earlier this year.

Once again, Kandy SC players have apparently got wrong signals from Nittawela officials. Kandy SC has been playing Champagne rugby for the last decade or so and it is rather unfortunate that some of their officials are apparently giving priority to petty club politics.

Minister of Sports and Public Recreation Gamini Lokuge should be commended for his courageous decision to ban controversial Kandy SC players for not respecting SLRFU's call for national duty.

But Sri Lanka rugby is not starved of talent. Especially, our youth rugby has shown a marked improvement and it was great to see Sri Lanka Under-20 team beating much fancied South Korea in the recent Youth Rugby Asiad.

As Chairman of the Interim Committee of the Sri Lanka Rugby Football Union Dr. Maiya Gunasekera has pointed out, the performance of the Sri Lanka Under 20 team at the Youth Rugby Asiad in Hong Kong last month was the most remarkable achievement by a Sri Lankan team during the last 15 years.

The Lankan youth produced some top class rugby to humble Asian rugby heavyweights South Korea by 31 points to 15 in the third place-play off. On their way to the third position, Sri Lanka Under-20 team had a convincing 55-0 win over Singapore in the curtain-raiser game. Prop forward Nikira Senanayake, flankers Hasthika Bandaranayake, Dushan Honnanthara, fly half Roshan Weeraratne, No. 8 Hamza Hassan and centre Darshana Etipola were the most outstanding. What is more significant in Lanka's historic win over Koreans was the fact that the team from Seoul had expatriates from Australia, New Zealand and England. Taiwan, the runners-up, too were beaten by Sri Lanka earlier.

Hence, Sri Lanka youth team could now be rated No. 2 in Asia behind Japan.

It points to a bright future for Sri Lanka rugby as youth players will form the nucleus from the senior national team. It was heartening to see the Air Force and Navy recruiting several players of the Youth Team which will result in them continuing to play rugby.

The Sri Lanka Air Force has recruited Nikira Senanayake, Niroshan Fernando, Janik Jayasuriya and Adeeb Hamid. Hasthika Bandaranayake, Hamza Hassen, Dushan Honnanthara and Vishwamithra Jayasinghe have joined Navy SC.

As Dr. Gunasekera has pointed out, the recruitment of youth players to the Air Force and Navy augurs well for the future of the game here. Sri Lanka Army too will be able to obtain the services of some Sri Lanka youth players so that the Services teams could make a greater contribution to the Sri Lanka National team.

Domestic rugby has been dominated by two clubs - Kandy SC and CR and FC during the last decade but the trend is fast changing with the emergence of Navy SC during the last season. From next year Navy, Air Force and Army Sports Clubs will be able to pose a severe threat to these two clubs.

In the good old days, it was the Defence Services which nourished the national team, Players from the Armed Forces of the calibre of Alphonso Rodrigo, M. F. Fernando, Nalin de Silva, Bin Galiph, S. P. De Silva, K. M. Navaratne, Rox Rahim and G. B. Gunadasa were some of the proud products during that era.

We now have fresh hopes of going back to that glamorous era as more and more players from the Armed Forces are set to play for the national team in the next few years. This will be a blessing for the game as the rugby administrators will not have to bow down to unreasonable demands made by club players.

In recent times, we have noticed that the so-called elite club players demanding accommodation in air conditioned hotel rooms during national practices and claiming exorbitant travelling allowances.

These club players will not be able to hold the SLRFU to ransom any more.

Wearing the Sri Lanka jersey alone should be a pride.

The players should not forget the pride of playing for the national team for the lucrative contracts thrown by clubs.

True that the players need money for their survival and existence but the clubs should not pressurerise the players to give preference to club practices and club politics over national duty.