The suspended office-bearers of Sri Lanka Rugby (SLR) have said that they are ready to comply with any inquiry or investigation, after the Ministry of Sports made a sudden decision to temporarily suspend SLR’s registration on April 1.

It was announced through a gazette on Saturday that the Sports Minister Namal Rajapaksa has ‘temporarily suspended the registration of National Sports Association for Sri Lanka Rugby Association and appoint Amal Edirisooriya, Director General of the Department of Sports Development, as the competent authority with effect from -1.04.2022 in respect of administrative and other required proceedings and to call for and hold the relevant elections as well as to perform the activities of the said national sports association until then as the temporary procedure.’

This has left the Sri Lanka rugby fraternity fuming as the incumbent SLR officials ensured that rugby returned after two dark years, and SLR President Rizly Illyas, who has conducted himself very professionally throughout these crises, told Daily Mirror that they are willing to support any inquiry.

“It hasn’t been easy for any of us. We have had great difficulty in getting rugby back. We have had problems initially to find sponsors. At one stage we had matches without sponsors because for us the development of rugby in this country matters the most. So, as I said it has been very challenging, and this is another issue that has come out of nowhere, but as professionals, we are going to handle this very professionally and we are willing to comply with any inquiry or investigation conducted by the ministry,” Illyaz said.

Before the AGM in 2020 an appeal had been made to disallow several associations including Western Province Rugby Football Union (WPRFU) and Uva Province Rugby Football Union (UPRFU) as well as University Sports Association from voting in the election after they had not been able to make membership payments to SLR in the previous year. Then Sports Minister Dullas Alahapperuma had approved it which meant the unions in question had no voting right. It has been reported that the said unions have attended the council meeting despite the suspension which has now been deemed illegal, disregarding an order from the Sports Ministry by the SLR.

However, SLR is in possession of documents which suggest that discussions over the matter had been held with representatives from the Ministry of Sports and the matter was cleared by September 2020.

With the AGM around the corner, the timing of the suspension of SLR over a matter that had been resolved two years ago, seems incredibly suspicious. 

The possibility of Sri Lanka not being able to field a team at the Commonwealth Games 2022 has also been discussed at length following the decision made by the Sports Ministry. However, Amal Edirisooriya, Director General of the Department of Sports Development, said that the Ministry of Sports would take full responsibility if Sri Lanka missed out on arguably the most important event of their calendar.

(Harsha Amarasinghe)