Sri Lanka must slowly open up for sports - EDITORIAL

School sports have begun after a stoppage for Covid. This is a welcome move by the school authorities and more than anything else children have now got the opportunity again to express themselves in extracurricular activities. Sports are so important in character building and it’s essential that the youth turn out to be allround students. 

We saw the cricket big matches being played sans spectators. It must be hard for these children to get used to such an environment where things happen low key. But this is the new norm and Covid taught us how to ‘hang in there’ and that’s what the players and coaches did during the lockdown. 
Sports teach us discipline. But more discipline is needed to return to the sporting field during a pandemic like this. Players have to take that extra precaution and maintain the expectations of being in a bubble. You just cannot effort to step out of that circle. 

Rugby too is slowly coming out of the shackles placed on it. The initial phase started with the club rugby activities and the authorities went ahead without any hiccups. We saw inter-club rugby matches and latter an inter-club sevens event which was well received by the players. Still no spectators were allowed. Now the stage is set for schoolboys to step onto the field. This Saturday and Sunday we’ll see the Western Province Schools rugby sevens in Colombo. This will be followed by sevens tournaments in four other provinces. 

In some sporting events parents and teachers were allowed entry. But children would love to see those who are dear to them watch them and cheer them on. We cannot really detach ourselves from a sporting fraternity. It’s like one big family where there are so many stakeholders. They resemble bricks in a structure and you can’t remove even one without running the risk of the whole thing collapsing. 

Actually sports collapsed. The sport of rugby produced some interesting stories. We heard that some coaches and referees had taken to farming in agriculture lands. A few among them were from such backgrounds, but rugby had taught them to adapt. It was never considered a come down; to work on a field and get your feet muddied. There is a Sinhalese saying ‘when the farmer cleans the mud off his body he is fit to be a king’. But all who do sport are not fit to sit on the throne. 

There were coaches who tried their luck at making packets of rice and selling them for a living. There is a success story of a coach- a Muslim- who capitalised on his community’s cooking skills and traditional recipes. The biriani packs he prepared sold like hot pancakes. 
But there are also those who had to borrow money to eat. In the absence of coaching and income there were those who had to battle depression and hunger. The name one earns by devoting time for sports is not going to help you pay for your groceries. You need a job or a set of players to coach. Sports in Sri Lanka was in cold storage for close to two years. 

But despite Sri Lankans slowly opening up their gyms and sporting stadiums for sport we must tread cautiously. Remember that Covid spares nobody and one cannot put down one’s guard. As much as businesses and the economy having taken constant beatings due to lockdowns we must mention here that sports coaches and professional players also felt the pinch. In worst case scenarios players and coaches had to sell vegetables and face masks on the pavements in the absence of sport. We might think that Sri Lankans are less fortunate and they were most at the receiving end due to Covid outbreaks. That’s not true. A few days ago we got the news that the present US Open Tennis Champion Emma Raducanu had contracted Covid. She is a citizen of Great Britain and enjoys enough back-up support, but she still fell victim to Covid. 
Sri Lankans must take lessons from all these happenings and tread cautiously as they slowly open the doors for sports.