Violence has become the new trend in looking for short-cut remedies nowadays. For some time, it roamed in and out of the sports arena but lately it has begun to haunt intensively becoming a menace, especially at school level. In the past, influnce, rapot

"Today, if we watch television or read news papers, we come across many incidents of unsporty behaviour and discipline stooping to the lowest level. I can say, the events in the recent past can be mentioned as the most number of unsporty incidents we have witnessed so far. For this situation, I can say there are many parties involved in it. Firstly, the parents should be responsible. If they had punished their children in the first place for any wrong doing, then they will be fully aware of the wrong they have committed. Then the teachers. If they had punished the students for any wrong doing, they will remember it and will avoid future situations. By warning a student is not enough, and it is not effective method. Then the coaches and officials should take the responsibility. They too must take stern discipli-

Trixie Nanayakkara

"I am the only woman who had voted for Sri Lanka Cricket elections in 1999. I voted for Clifford Ratwatte. I voted on behalf of Colombo Municipal Council. The Politicians of then government during that time, threatened me later after they came to know that I have voted for Ratwatte. I openly mentioned my choice on that occasion. As a woman I faced the pressure without any difficulty. And later when I think about it, I feel due to the high discipline I maintained when playing Netball as a sport was the main reason. We were disciplined throughout from school level to national level. The officials must definitely win the respect and confidence of their children. The officials must be disciplined. Today we

Sunanda Kodagoda

" I say discipline in sports nowadays has dropped to the lowest level. For this situation, there are several reasons. Firstly there is no sportsmanship among the players. Secondly the power hungry officials aiming to win posts in a sports association. Thirdly, their craving for money. And they all expect one thing at the end: to win at any cost. Their main aim is to defeat the opponent by any means. Fortunately this situation has not nary action on players, it will not harm the basics of sport. We witness this kind of deteriorating situation of discipline in sports, mainly due to students are given light punishment in wrong doings. Due to this type of background, we witness athletes getting involved in performance enhancing drugs to outperform the other competitors. Finally they get themselves disgraced and banned for years or life time.The people who instruct them for their actions get disgraced as well." have witnessed officials behaving in a very bad manner in front of children. Then children will lose respect and confidence on the officials. Today there is no discipline among the Team managers and coaches. Also the players act in a very high handed manner stating his father is a big shot and don't respect Team managers and coaches. In turn we have witnessed situations where Team managers and coaches keep a blind eye on these players, allowing them to proceed as they wish. So we cannot expect good discipline from such players and Team managers." affected sports like Chess, Carrom, Table Tennis, Badminton etc. So far the Indoor games are not affected. But we have seen this situation in sports like Cricket, Rugby and Football. For this deteriorating situation, athlete is not responsible. There are many who are responsible for this situation. The parents, teachers, principals, coaches and heads of sports associations. If they can maintain discipline right throughout from home, school to national associations, then we will not be able to see the present plight in discipline. The way a small child is guided to sports, they should be trained to accept victory and defeat as well. That should be the responsibility of all parents and coaches. If this is practised, then the future of all sports can be protected."