Fly half Fazil Marija will lead Kandy SC next year

S. M. Jiffrey Abdeen Kandy Sports Correspondent

Dr. Sarath Kapuwatte was unanimously elected as the President of Kandy Sports Club for a record 15th time at the 135th Annual General Meeting of Rugby Champions Kandy Sports Club held at the Auditorium of the Club at Nittawela on Sunday.

Dr. Sarath Kapuwatte has been a live wire of the club and had seen the club undergo various changes during the last 19 years. An old boy of St. Thomas College, Mount Lavinia he represented the school in boxing, hockey and athletics and also represented the Medical College in these sports.

He was also one time President of Central Province Table Tennis Association.

Dr. Sarath Kapuwatte has been President for five years from 1990 to 1994 when the constitution of the Club did not permit him to be elected for the sixth year. He was again elected for two years in 1997 and 1998. He had another five year term from 2000 to 2004. Ill health precluded him being elected again but served one year terms in 2006, 2008 and 2009 responding to the call of the club.

Priyantha Ekanayake a former Sri Lanka Rugby captain and one time President of the Sri Lanka Rugby Football Union makes a welcome return to the rugby scene after a lapse of nearly five years and was elected Senior Vice President.

Emil Vanderpoorten, an old Trinitian who captained the club in 1965 and was one time Honorary Secretary made a surprise return to the fold of the club after a long lapse and was elected Vice President. Mahes Weerasinghe was re-elected as Honorary Secretary for the second year in succession.

Dr. Sarath Kapuwatte speaking on the occasion said that due to global recession, the Business Community have been badly hit and sponsors are hard to find.

He called upon the members to rally round to keep the game alive by finding the funds required to play the game. The club needs around 15 million for the season including the salary for the foreign coach. This money has to be found for Kandy Sports Club.

Sri Lanka’s number one fly half Fazil Marija was elected captain for 2010. Under his leadership the lads from Kandy hope to retain the ‘A’ division league title for the 10th successive year. He also wished the newly elected club captain Fazil Marija a very successful season.

Standard of refereeing has declined

The standard of refereeing at rugby matches hit a very low standard often leaving the players and spectators puzzled but our ruggerites accepted the decision of the referees without raising any protest in the best spirit of the game” said the Trustee of Kandy Sports Club and former President of the Sri Lanka Rugby Football Union Malik Samarawickrema.

He made these observations when he addressed the members of the Kandy Sports Club during the 135th Annual General Meeting of the club held at Nittawela Stadium in Kandy on Sunday.

He said that the mistakes made by the rugby referees were glaring and the players and the game suffered.

This must not be allowed to happen again as it will do more harm to the sport.

There is a lot of interference in sports and most of the Governing bodies are run by Interim Committees appointed by the Minister of Sports. For the first time an Interim Committee for Rugby had been appointed.

This has done harm for the development of this sport. The International Rugby Board (IRB) has not sent any funds to the Sri Lanka Rugby Football union as it does not recognise the Interim Committee.

It recognises only duly elected Unions. The result was there were no funds for the development of rugby and the Provincial Unions are dormant. Therefore in the best interest of rugby the Annual General Meeting of the SLRFU must be held soon and funds obtained from the IRB for the development of this sport.

He said overall Kandy Sports Club had an excellent season winning the Caltex League title. Caltex Clifford Cup and the Professional Rugby Sevens held in Kandy and Colombo - thus annexing the title of triple champions.

This club has remained unbeaten at Clifford Cup matches since 1994 - winning the title 15 times and they have also retained the League title for nine successive years.