Forces Rugby: The More Things Change, The More They Remain The Same
By Emil van der Poorten -
August 16, 2012
Emil van der Poorten
(In case anyone looking at what transpired at the August 12th, 2012 rugby match between the Kandy Sports Club and the Sri Lanka Navy Team, here’s what I contributed to a Sunday newspaper on the 10th of July 2011, more than a year ago)
Less than a year ago, on the 1st of August 2010, the Sunday Leader published a column of mine that was titled, “A Damned Disgrace.” It dealt with the travesty of a rugby match that was the Kandy Sports Club vs Sri Lanka Air Force semi-final held at Bogambara in Kandy. More disgraceful even than what transpired on the rugby pitch was the response of Roshan Goonetilleke and the Sri Lanka Rugby Foothall Union’s Interim Committee of the time when it chose to totally ignore the facts and do nothing about it.
On the afternoon of Sunday the 3rd of July, 2011, several busloads of Sri Lanka Air Force supporters, all of them Airmen, arrived at the Kandy Sports Club grounds in Nittawela, in two contingents, some in “civvies” and others in what I’d term “off-duty uniforms,” consisting of blue trousers, blue shirts of a different hue, and Air Force caps.
Most of those in “civvies” forced themselves into the grounds without buying tickets, intimidating those manning the gates. They then proceeded to mix in with theKandysupporters who, waving flags and cheering in orthodox fashion, were only too evident.
Emil van der Poorten
(In case anyone looking at what transpired at the August 12th, 2012 rugby match between the Kandy Sports Club and the Sri Lanka Navy Team, here’s what I contributed to a Sunday newspaper on the 10th of July 2011, more than a year ago)Rugby Under Revised (Rajapaksa) Rules
By Emil van der Poorten -August 16, 2012
Mahinda and sons/ File photo
Let me add a few more relevant facts to the disgraceful scenario depicted by reports appearing in the media since the violence perpetrated by navy personnel on Sunday August 12th in Kandy when the Kandy Sports Club played the Navy Sports Club in what was supposed to be a rugby match.
1. The Sri Lanka Rugby Football Union has, at last, displayed something resembling a backbone and banned, for two years, the referee who deliberately cheated for the Upcountry (aka Nawalapitiya) Lions in their first round game against the Army, thereby eliminating the latter team from the second round of the national rugby competition and elevating the former to that virtual “play-off.” However, the totally skewed result of that match stands because according to International Rugby Board rules, the result of a game cannot be reversed!
2. Now that the Navy has lost to Kandyin the first honestly- and fairly- refereed game of this season, the rumours swirling around the hill country are that the Upcountry (aka Nawalapitiya) Lions have been instructed to “throw” this coming weekend’s game against the Navy, enabling the Navy to keep their chances alive. It is one of the more poorly-kept secrets in this country as to who completely controls the Upcountry (aka Nawalapitiya) Lions. Therefore, there is little doubt as to what the outcome of this week-end’s game is going to be!
3. A host of spectators who were trying to escape the post-game violence last Sunday have been arrested by the police and are being charged despite the fact that there is irrefutable (video) evidence that this entire criminal activity was begun and perpetrated by the 1200 navy supporters, brought in 60 buses, garbed in civilian clothes for reasons best known to the Navy and whose tickets were purchased from the Kandy Sports Club by the Sri Lanka Navy out of public funds. At time of writing, there are several newspaper reports of Kandy residents still warded in area hospitals due to the injuries inflicted upon them by navy personnel. Yet, not one member of the Navy has been detained, leave alone charged, for their criminal behaviour!
4. Last year, in response to what was happening every time the Air Force or Navy teams played in Kandy- irrespective of whether it was at Nittawela or Bogambara – the Kandy Municipal Council passed an UNANIMOUS vote of condemnation of the behavior of the service teams and those in charge of them, asking that this be stopped by those in authority. Obviously, the head of the Navy has not thought fit to take the action required in this connection. Instead, all the evidence points in the opposite direction!
This is no longer a matter concerning rugby players and their supporters. It has become a national travesty of justice and the general public needs to raise its voice in protest against yet another instance of rampant
