Royal Principal frowns on media over boys’ off -field tangle

While a former first XI cricket captain of Royal College Colombo got away without punishment for committing an offence last year, the school came down hard on their present skipper by suspending him and a few other seniors on disciplinary grounds.

It is learnt that Imal Liyanage, the skipper and six other coloursmen were caught by the school authorities for indiscipline at a public place - a restaurant.

The number of players penalized for the offence is however not clear as officials attached to the Royal College cricket team have been barred from speaking or commenting about it by higher authorities. Principal of Royal College, Mr. Upali Gunasekara commenting on the issue told the Sunday Times that media exposure is not needed on this issue.

“This is an internal matter of a school. Issues as such do not need exposure,” the principal of this leading public school said.

Several junior players made it to the first XI cricket due to the absence of key seniors during the past fortnight. The Royal first XI team under the captaincy of its Under-15 skipper played four matches and had to struggle due to lack of exposure. Royal lost their match against St. Sebastian’s College Moratuwa and fought their way to draw three other matches.

The Sunday Times understands that several players including skipper Liyanage were suspended and the players are likely to be pardoned at the end of this month. However last week six players who were under suspension were recalled for practices but the skipper was not amongst them.

The fate of the skipper is yet not clear but it is learnt that the authorities of

Royal have had lengthy discussions with the schools cricket committee comprising old boys during the past few days to sort the matter out in an appropriate manner.

Earlier when reporters inquired about the absence of senior players, team officials said that it was due to injuries.

But as the days passed and the matter was highlighted by the media who revealed the facts behind the absence of the regular players of the Royal cricket team.

Team officials neither denied nor were they willing to comment on the issue. Two senior officials of the team reluctant- ly told the Sunday Times that school officials have not granted them permission to speak or make comments to the media. When the Sunday Times contacted a member of the cricket committee of the school, former Sri Lanka cricketer Jehan Mubarak, he declined to make a comment unless it is approved by other members of the committee.

“We are trying to solve this issue within our walls. That’s all I can say right now,” he said.

Others in the schools cricket circuit commended the action taken by the Royal principal but even amongst them there are many who criticized his act for not treating all players equally. It was during the mid 2011, that the then Royal skipper was caught whilst committing a more serious offence for a schoolboy. However the player concerned was not found guilty as he is supposed to be ‘well connected’.

“As I mentioned earlier these are internal issues. Depending on these circumstances we have to take decisions. Maybe there are some things beyond our control as well,” Mr. Gunasekara commented when asked why this year’s captain was suspended for indiscipline andnot last year’s.