Hell breaks loose at Plate Rugby decider

One blames the other for the escalation at Bogambara

The decider of the Singer Under-20 Schools Plate Championship between St. Joseph's College and Dharmaraja College ended five minutes from the scheduled time at Bogambara, when both teams engaged in a free-for-all, which lasted for the next half an hour.

At the time of incident Joes were leading by 27 points to 10.

According to Josephian sources, "At the 75th minute of the game a yellow card was given to a Dharmaraja player. With that the Dharmaraja players who were on the bench invaded the playing area. They started to assault the Josephian players. Then Dharmaraja players too got involved and attacked the Josephians. It became a free-for-all. I say the head coach of Dharmaraja instigated his reserve players to invade the field and to start a fight. Five of the Josephian players are in critical condition and were hospitalised at the Kandy Teaching Hospital."

Saliya Alexander, the Master-in-charge of Dharmaraja College Rugby stated. "The match was officiated by Ajith Kumara. A new referee appointed by the Referees Society. The referee messed up the much awaited decider. From the first minute itself we witnessed poor refereeing. This was the main reason for the incident to escalate. In the 75th minute of the game there was an incident between two players from opposing sides. A yellow card was given to a Dharmaraja player. During that time a parent of a player of St.Joseph's made unwanted remarks to the Dharmaraja players on the bench. Josephian supporters too invaded the playing area. Then there was a free-for-all. But we gave protection to the Josephian players and escorted them out.

The Referee and the touch judges were not manhandled as they were given Police protection. Our players too got injured from the melee and was hospitalised in Kandy Teaching Hospital. But though this unfortunate unexpected incident happened, I stress Dharmaraja and St. Joseph's have been having very good relationship for a long time. And there is mutual understanding between these two Catholic and Buddhist Institutions. The behaviour of the Police too was shocking. They took an old boy of Dharmaraja College, who left school recently, to custody. As he was pointed out as a troublemaker of the opposing side. When the parents went to Kandy Police Station to inquire on him, the Police had abused them. I say due to poor refereeing standards we could not witness a great game of rugby. This was the main reason for the totally unacceptable situation that marred the decider".