Sri Lanka - Asia's second biggest rugby playing nation

Hafiz Marikar

Sri Lanka has been playing rugby union since the British colonialists first introduced it in the late 1800s. It has now evolved into a full league structure rivaling the country's first love, cricket, Today there are 103,000 players in Sri Lanka, according to a recent survey, making it Asia's second biggest rugby-playing nation behind Japan - and ahead of giants such as Australia and New Zealand.

Support is fed by generous television exposure, with home internationals screened live and one club match shown prime-time every week during the rugby season. Sri Lanka has quietly nurtured a large playing population which makes rugby a daily feature on both the sport and society pages. And this year, Sri Lanka broke through into the elite Asian Five Nations tournament for the first time, raising hopes of further national success, which illustrates how rugby has gone from colonial recreation to mainstay of Sri Lankan high society.

Like most school fixtures, the event has attracted hundreds of spectators, turning the venue into a virtual family picnic. As women pass around boxes of sandwiches and hot dogs, men down fizzy drinks or cold beer and shout advice as the game progresses. Dozens of corporate executives loosen their ties, roll-up shirt sleeves, and sip cold drinks, while cheering their former school and clubs. On the sidelines, press photographers shoot smartly dressed young ladies.

"Rugby is hugely popular at school level, each game attracts thousands of spectators, much more than a top club cricket match,." Rugby remains the only sport that allows foreign players at club level, and is such a priority for Sri Lanka's rich, private schools that they regularly splash out on overseas coaches. But for all the players, enthusiasm and mass appeal, Sri Lanka are ranked a lowly 45 in the international listings, sandwiched between the Ivory Coast and Madagascar.

"Last season I saw a couple of games. There was more kicking than ball handling. Kicking has become a habit in Sri Lanka rugby, both at club and school level. Today every child initiated by their parents feels he could play rugby and no sooner he enters the field gets the ball and kicks. Today kicking has become a fashion in the game of rugby in Sri Lanka. Rugby is a game where winning possession by the forwards and scoring with the three-quarters.

They must be able to breach the defence and execute ploys such as the dummy pass, scissor pass, reveres pass. We haven't seen a NImal Maralande, Mohan Sahayam, Glen Vanlangemberg, Irwin Howie, Dedacus de Almeida, Omar Sheriff or Frank Hubert specials in the recent years. Good work done by forwards of winning possession is lost as kicking is adopted and valuable position lost. After a long spell Sri Lanka has got a good fly half, that is non other than Kandy's Fazil Marija.

In our rugby the slightest touch bring such pressure-laden crowd reaction that a referee calls for a penalty. Rugby is a game where there is a lot of body contact . I do not advocate fighting on the field, but there should be robust rugby without which the game is not complete.

Today we can see rugger players play a couple of matches and watching a few club games, where he learns to become a complete and competent rugby player. But it's not so now which is the downfall of their rugby careers. Even during pre-season training they are not prepared to tidy up the basics skills, instead of which they want to get into a game situation which is destructive. They forget the golden rules once they perfect the game.

The Sri Lanka Referees Society is over 50 years old. But only a handful of good referees are available today. We had some top referees during the early years like Col. Bertie Dias, Darlcy Ingelton., Ashley Cader, Miles Chritofelz, Malcom Wright, M. Azain, Mohan Sahayam, Gen. Denzil Kobbekaduwa, Harry Goonatilake, Gamini Fernando, Col C.S. Fernando, Anton Benedict, Y.C.Chang,. Percy Perera, C.H. Senavirthne, Ana Saranapala, Nimal Lewke , Tony Amith, Daya Jayasundara, Frank Hubert, S.W.Chang, A.R.M. Moosa, Orvil Fernando, Anil Jayaisinhe, Nizam Jamaldeen and Roshan Deen. Dilroy Fernando who is with the whistle for a long spell, is the best in the game today.

It's high time that the rugby parent body take a count of these lapses and rejuvenate rugby from grass root and provincial level where monitoring will be better exercised to ensure that development is at its best towards rugby and beyond.

Now there is good news, former St. Thomas", Combined Schools, Colombo Clubs, Sri Lanka player and former National coach is to be uncontested for the coming year's top position, that is Asanga Senavirathne who is sure to do a good job, He needs a good secretary experienced Rizly Illiyas should cover the position if permitted Kiran Attapattu uncontested as treasurer.

With President Mahinda Rajapaksa, who is backing the game of rugby, and also with Sports Minister Mahindananda Aluthgamage and MP Namal Rajapaksa the former Thomian and Sri Lanka Youth skipper to support the game is in for good times.