Ministry will select rugby coaches for NZ training - Dayasiri
Minister of Sports Dayasiri Jayasekera yesterday confirmed that he will call for fresh applications and carry out his own interview process before deciding on which rugby coaches will attend a training programme in New Zealand, in effect overriding the recommendations made by the Sri Lanka Rugby (SLR).
The training programme, for a Level 2 New Zealand Rugby coaching certification, is to be held at the Hurricanes rugby academy and SLR had selected eight individuals – based on criteria of who could potentially contribute the most to Sri Lankan national rugby. Those selections were made by the High Performance Unit led by Inthisham Marikar.
However, the Minister yesterday said that following several complaints that he had received about the selections he had decided to re-evaluate the process before deciding which coaches will travel to New Zealand for the programme, which is funded by the Ministry through the National Institute of Sports Science. “I received several complaints about this issue. The selections made by Sri Lanka Rugby (SLR) are arbitrary and there may be several qualified and worthy coaches who may miss out on this opportunity, and everyone deserves an equal opportunity in the selection process,” the Minister said. “It needs to be open and transparent, so I have asked the Director of the National Institute of Sports Science Sajith Jayalal to conduct interviews with potential nominees,” Minister Jayasekera said.
The process it is understood would be either calling for applications through newspapers or recommendations by clubs.
The Daily Mirror on August 30 reported that Sri Lanka Rugby (SLR) had selected eight coaches for this programme
Sri Lanka Rugby had earlier nominated the names of the National Under-19 Coach Sudath Sampath, Rajeev Perera, Asanga Rodrigo, Amila Chathuranga, Nalaka Weerakkody, Shamly Nawaz, Lasintha de Costa and Thanuja Weerakkody to attend this two-week programme. Overlooked and/or not considered are top rung coaches of the calibre of Sanath Martis, Nilfer Ibrahim, Ronnie Ibrahim and Mothilal Jayatilleke. Speaking to ‘Daily Mirror’ last week, SLR’S High Performance Director said that SLR had forwarded their recommendations and that it was Sports Minister Dayasiri Jayasekera’s final decision on whom to send for the programme. “We have forwarded the names to the Minister and we are confident the coaches we have recommended are fit for the criteria for this programme,” he said. ‘Daily Mirror’ also learnt that a top official had raised his concerns about the selection process at a SLR Council meeting last week, calling for more transparency in the selections.