{"id":51322,"date":"2012-08-16T06:40:21","date_gmt":"2012-08-16T06:40:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=51322"},"modified":"2012-08-21T19:42:52","modified_gmt":"2012-08-21T19:42:52","slug":"rugby-under-revised-rajapaksa-rules","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/rugby-under-revised-rajapaksa-rules\/","title":{"rendered":"Rugby Under Revised (Rajapaksa) Rules"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Emil van der Poorten<\/a><\/span> –<\/strong><\/p>\n

Let me add a few more relevant facts to the disgraceful scenario depicted by reports appearing in the media since the violence perpetrated by navy personnel on Sunday August 12th<\/sup>\u00a0in Kandy when the Kandy Sports Club played the Navy Sports Club in what was supposed to be a rugby<\/a><\/span> match.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Mahinda and sons\/ File photo<\/p><\/div>\n

1.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The Sri Lanka Rugby Football Union has, at last, displayed something resembling a backbone and banned, for two years, the referee who deliberately cheated for the Upcountry (aka Nawalapitiya) Lions in their first round game against the Army, thereby eliminating the latter team from the second round of the national rugby competition and elevating the former to that virtual \u201cplay-off.\u201d\u00a0However, the\u00a0totally skewed result of that match stands because according to International Rugby Board rules, the result of a game cannot be reversed!<\/span><\/p>\n

2.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Now that the Navy has lost to Kandyin the first honestly- and fairly- refereed game of this season, the rumours swirling around the hill country are that the Upcountry (aka Nawalapitiya) Lions have been instructed to \u201cthrow\u201d this coming weekend\u2019s game against the Navy, enabling the Navy to keep their chances alive.\u00a0It is one of the more poorly-kept secrets in this country as to who\u00a0completely <\/strong>controls the Upcountry (aka Nawalapitiya) Lions.\u00a0\u00a0Therefore, there is little doubt as to what the outcome of this week-end\u2019s game is going to be!<\/p>\n

3.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A host of spectators who were trying to escape the post-game violence\u00a0 last Sunday have been arrested by the police and are being charged despite the fact that there is irrefutable (video) evidence that this entire criminal activity was begun and perpetrated by the 1200 navy supporters, brought in 60 buses, garbed in civilian clothes for reasons best known to the Navy and whose tickets were purchased from the Kandy Sports Club by the Sri Lanka Navy out of public funds.\u00a0\u00a0At time of writing, there are several newspaper reports of Kandy residents\u00a0still\u00a0<\/strong>warded in area hospitals due to the injuries inflicted upon them by navy personnel.\u00a0\u00a0Yet, not one member of the Navy has been detained, leave alone charged, for their criminal behaviour!<\/p>\n

4.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Last year, in response to what was happening every time the Air Force or Navy teams played in Kandy- irrespective of whether it was at Nittawela or Bogambara \u2013 the Kandy Municipal Council passed an UNANIMOUS vote of condemnation of the behavior of the service teams and those in charge of them, asking that this be stopped by those in authority.\u00a0\u00a0Obviously, the head of the Navy has not thought fit to take the action required in this connection.\u00a0\u00a0Instead, all the evidence points in the opposite direction!<\/p>\n

This is no longer a matter concerning rugby players and their supporters.\u00a0\u00a0It has become a national travesty of justice and the general public needs to raise its voice in protest against yet another instance of rampant lawlessness.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[…]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":43652,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,2187,2375],"tags":[3789,3792,3790,3791,3777],"class_list":["post-51322","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-colombotelegraph","category-most-popular","category-stories","tag-kandy-sports-club-played-the-navy-sports-club","tag-rugby-namal-yoshith-roshitha-rajapaks","tag-rugby-sri-lanka","tag-rugby-under-rajapaksas","tag-sri-lanka-rugby-foothall-unions-interim-committee"],"yoast_head":"\nRugby Under Revised (Rajapaksa) Rules - Colombo Telegraph<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/rugby-under-revised-rajapaksa-rules\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Rugby Under Revised (Rajapaksa) Rules - 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