Kandy Concerned Over Player Safety
Kandy Sports Club in response to the article published under ‘Kandy Players Thrown Under the Bus’ has stated that they are concerned about the player safety.
“We have always maintained that a minimum 3 months is required for training after a 19 month complete layoff. We don’t know about other clubs but we strictly adhered to the health guidelines issued by the government and closed the Gym and none of the players trained during these 19months. Anyone with common sense and has played even a bit of rugby will understand the risk of exposing the players without proper strengthening and training,” Kandy stated in a letter addressed to Daily Mirror.
“More than funds we were concerned about the safety of the players which is more important to us. The Union also said this was not their tournament. We have yet to receive the program for the recommencement of rugby. This is an ad-hoc invitational tournament and not a SL R tournament and the national team should not be selected based on this tournament. Our players naturally want to represent the country and that’s the reason they wanted to play even with about 18-20 days training and risking injury. This is because suddenly there was an announcement that the National team will be selected based on the performance at this tournament. Kandy SC cannot be blamed for this fiasco. We have looked after our players in a professional manner and that’s the main reason for our success over the past 28 years,” the letter reads.
Writer’s Note:
Kandy Sports Club has done wonders for Sri Lanka Rugby without a doubt, and they are well within their rights to stick to their policy of a three month training procedure before competitive rugby. All the other clubs except for CR and Kandy have opted to play in the upcoming sevens tournament and Kandy says “anyone with common sense and has played even a bit of rugby will understand the risk of exposing the players without proper strengthening and training.” Daily Mirror leaves it for the readers to decide what’s right and what’s wrong.