No visas, Rugby players damned

Parliament questions lethargy of Sri Lanka Rugby and Sports Minister as team is held back from Korean contest

June.13 (Mirror Sports) - By. Callistus Davy

In a never-before scenario to hit the Sri Lanka rugby team, its players who have been the country’s ambassadors for a hundred years or more have been deprived of visas for their Asia championship match in South Korea causing severe heartburn for the players several of whom were to make their first international appearance overseas.

Sri Lanka Rugby (SLR), the caretaker of the team, and Sports Minister Sunil Gamage who in recent times have been working hand in hand for reasons best known to both parties have been cited as being responsible for the failure of the players to procure visas on time for the match which was scheduled for kick-off today.

The priorities on the part of both SLR, headed by Pavithra Fernando who is yet to prove his administrative ability and Minister Gamage whose political, social and sporting background is unknown to many, were questioned in Parliament on Thursday by Opposition leader Sajith Premadasa whose late father President R Premadasa took domestic rugby to a higher level dating back more than 40 years ago.

“The players are now stranded in the country without visas to travel to South Korea”, Premadasa told Parliament.

“Even if the players were to receive visas at a late hour they would need eight hours to travel to Korea and would not have time to rest and prepare. It was known well in advance that the match was on the cards and the players had to leave in time. If a simple thing like this cannot be addressed, then it only shows the government had done nothing”. The Daily Mirror learns that applications for visas had been lodged at the last minute which was incompatible with laid down procedure of the South Korean embassy in Colombo. 

Former rugby players, who wore the Sri Lanka jersey with pride and honour over the past three decades without a cent in their pockets unlike pampered cricketers, lamented that the current crop of players were treated like outcasts when it came to flying the country’s flag at an international event.

“The players are the victims and there must be a thorough investigation”, one of them told the Daily Mirror. Sri Lanka Rugby made a pompous show of the visit of a fourth or fifth tier New Zealand rugby team last month to feature in two matches and on both occasions officials and Minister Gamage were over the moon shaking hands with the players in Colombo and Kandy and the failure of the country’s players to obtain visas have been put down to downright hypocrisy.

According to estimates as much as Rs.80 million was acquired and spent on hosting the New Zealanders and questions are now being raised on the mix-up of priorities of SLR that has become the pet of Minister Gamage. It also marked the first time rugby was taken to Parliament that only showed the depths to which its administration had fallen.

The unprofessional set-up at SLC to save face put out a lengthy statement claiming that “operational and administrative factors in the final stages of squad preparation” compelled them to wait to finalise visas for players.