Were they punished at all, asks the public
St. Joseph's College, the team that was in the receiving end with five of their players being admitted to the hospital and three of them suffering from severe injuries, after the brawl at the Bogambara ground in Kandy, during their match against hosts Dharmaraja College, has decided to let things go in the name of goodwill.
Reverend Father Travis Gabriel, the Rector of St. Joseph's College told the Sunday Times that they would not even think of seeking legal assistance or claiming any sort of damages from Dharmaraja College, after a special committee appointed by the Minister of Education issued a final verdict on June 30. Accordingly Dharmaraja, Trinity College and Carey College received bans of nine months and six months each respectively for misconducts on the field. But Dharmaraja will serve a two-year probation period, during which they could be banned completely from rugby if they violate the rulings or get into any sort of misconducts.
Among other decisions taken at the inquiry held on June 30, were the ban of three team officials of Dharmaraja team. Radhika Hettiarachchi, who headed the coaching unit has been banned for life from coaching Dharmaraja or any team at school level, while the assistant coach and physiotherapist were slapped with bans of six months and one year respectively. The team master-in-charge has got away with a verbal warning.
Special Consultant on Sports to the Ministry of Education, Sunil Jayaweera told the Sunday Times that any aggrieved party could seek justice or claim damages by other means, if they deem the verdicts issued were insufficient.
"The verdict was strictly based on disciplinary ground as the players who were involved in the game were still at school level. We intend to make it clear that such incidents in the future will not be tolerated at any cost. But if there are further decisions with regard to the tournament and other incidents, it's a matter that the Schools Rugby Association should act on. We, as the Ministry of Education, are concerned about the discipline of the players. The aggrieved could even lodge a complaint with the Police or seek legal assistance if there are further damages," Jayaweera said.
But Rev. Fr. Gabriel made it clear that it was never the objective of St. Joseph's at any point. He stressed this after two weeks from the incident which occurred on June 18 in Kandy. Five player from St. Joseph's were hospitalised and three were still in serious condition. One player out of the three is not in a position to consume solid intakes as he has been advised by the doctors to be fed only liquids for three months. Another player is suffered a hairline fracture below an eye.
"Our players are still disturbed and they are not in any condition to be engaged in any rugby activi- ties probably until the next season. Our only wish is that these kind of incidents should not take place in the future
"In fact the Dharmaraja College principal has sent us a letter stating their willingness to pay for whatever expenses that may be. It was an unfortunate incident that we would like to leave to the past." said Rev. Fr. Gabriel.
However many in the local rugby fraternity have begun to question the fairness of the verdict issued by a special committee appointed by the Minister of Education on Dharmaraja, Trinity and Carey for misconducts on the field. Some state that the verdicts will not serve any purpose.
But Jayaweera points the finger on the country's Rugby hierarchy, the Sri Lanka Rugby Football Union (SLRFU), stating it has a bigger role to play to avert such incidents in the future.
"We were keen to have the SLRFU on board on this issue and invited its President Mr. Asanga Seneviratne to join the committee. He promised to come along with Mr. Nizam Jamaldeen, who is the President of Sri Lanka Rugby Referees' Society. But both didn't turn up unfortunately. If they were present we could have their expertise as well," Jayaweera stated, indicating of a deliberate nonattendance.
But Seneviratne, speaks the contrary; "I was requested to come on a given date. But when I went there, they have postponed the meeting. I was told that they had gone out of Colombo and I will be notified of a date later on. They did inform me of the new date but due to an already fixed appointment, I could not make it on the second day." He also explained that the entire administrative system of the schools have come down because of mismanagement.
In the cases of Trinity and Carey, both schools have been banned for six months. Trinity has been penalised for their conduct at the post-match presentation ceremony at the second leg of the 72nd Bradby Shield encounter against Royal College at Pallekelle, while Carey has been found guilty of manhandling players of Siri Piyaratana Vidyalaya during a League match. Both teams will start their term from July 1, 2016, as Dharmaraja.
However, the three teams will serve their respective bans when the school rugby season is dormant. Many have started to question the validity of the verdicts based on this ground.
What is unclear at this point is the stand of Sri Lanka Schools Rugby Football Association (SLSRFA) on the three teams that were banned on the resumption of the next season. It is still too early to say if Dharmaraja and Trinity will start off from the point they left, from Division I or if they have been demoted after the suspensions, as the SLSRFA are also in a clueless position.
"The Ministry of Education will tell us (SLSRFA) how to act in the future at such incidents. We cannot challenge the verdict issued by them. We are waiting for their guidelines," Denzil Darling, the Secretary of SLSRFA stated.