CH & FC set to withdraw from League

By Harsha Amarasinghe

CH and FC are set to withdraw from the Dialog Inter-Club League Rugby Tournament in protest of the proposed foreign player system by SLR Tournament Director Rizly Illyas.

It was revealed last week that the four clubs that finished in the bottom-half were to field a foreign player each during the upcoming league competition while the top four: Kandy Sports Club, Havelock Sports Club, Navy Sports Club and CH & FC were to cope with the local players.

The Maitland Crescent Club however, have clearly mentioned that they will not support such 'unfair' system and threatened to withdraw from the tournament during a council meeting held yesterday.

"This is a ridiculous idea and a very unfair one. If you are going to allow clubs to have foreign players then it has to be all the clubs; not just four. We are hugely disappointed and shall not hesitate to withdraw from the tournament," a club spokesman told Daily Mirror.

Daily Mirror understands that Police Sports Club and Army Sports Club - two bottom-half teams have also been disagreed with the new method.

"If SLR really want to develop this country's rugby, they must work on the Division ‘B’ and Division ‘C’ rugby as well. I don't really know how this method is going to help Sri Lanka rugby. CH and FC have invested a lot on rugby but we need a system. Either make it possible (to have foreign players) for all clubs or none for any club," the spokesman concluded.