‘Warriors Sevens’ to end rugby drought

by a Special Sports Correspondent

Probably for the first time in the history of Sri Lanka rugby a-seven-a-side tournament-featuring division one clubs- will be played on October 30 and 31 in Colombo without the presence of spectators.

Rugby, like most other sports, has felt the blow from the Covid 19 pandemic and there hasn’t been any rugby activity for the past one and half years except for a friendly rugby encounter which featured players from Sri Lanka Air Force and CH & FC a few months ago.

The truth is that Sri Lanka Rugby (SLR) failed to start rugby in the island during the pandemic even though some other sports associations did. Track and Field, tennis, table tennis, cricket and badminton managed to have activities for the players and National Olympic Committee managed to send the island’s representatives to contest the Olympic Games which was held in Japan a few months ago. Even at the Olympics there was a rugby sevens event and Fiji won the title underscoring the fact that rugby can be held during difficult times like this if the necessary precautions and health guidelines are followed.

SSP Nizam Jamaldeen, one of the organisers of the upcoming club rugby sevens- titled ‘Warriors Rugby Sevens’-said that players taking part in the tournament would be going into a bio bubble and the tournament would be played under strict health guidelines and without spectators. “The players have suffered without rugby for almost two years now, so the Police and the security forces were asked to organise a seven-a-side tournament. We have the blessings of Sri Lanka Rugby and Sri Lanka Society of Rugby Football referees and sponsors. Dialog is one of the sponsors and the organisers are optimistic in finding more sponsors before the tournament kicks off,” said Jamaldeen who is also a former national rugby player and a present rugby administrator.

According to the organisers of the tournament the teams that have accepted invitations to contest the tournament are Police Sports Club A, Police Griffins, Sri Lanka Air Force A, Sri Lanka Air Force B, Navy Sports Club A, Navy Sports Club B, Army Sports Club A, Army Colts, CH & FC and Havelocks Sports Club.

Interestingly Kandy Sports Club and Ceylonese Rugby & Football Club have decided against taking part in the tournament due to lack of time to prepare for the event.

Sri Lanka was running the risk of losing a good number of players due to rugby inactivity before this tournament came along. And this tournament greatly serves the task of keeping the players in the game. Most players are in the game because it’s a lucrative occupation and the absence of rugby activities has made them shelve their boots and find other forms of employment that have no connection to rugby.

SLR, some time back, wanted to tie up with Sri Lanka Air Force and have a club rugby sevens tournament, but that never got off the ground with the authorities citing the pandemic as the key reason among other issues for the event being a non-starter.

In rugby all over the world the season starts with a seven-a-side tournament because that’s the method used to select promising players to form the pool for the upcoming gruelling 15-a-side rugby season. According to the organisers of the ‘Warriors Rugby Sevens’ the national rugby selectors would be present at the games to select the national pool for future overseas assignments.

Sri Lanka’s rugby sevens has a decorated history. From the day Policeman K.F Jenkins introduced the abbreviated form of rugby to Sri Lanka on February1, 1931 the islanders have picked up the game with the enthusiasm that a child has for a new toy and enjoyed a fair share of luck at the international scene too.

It must be mentioned here that the fifteen-a-side version of rugby was played in the island before that and its ‘little brother’ (Rugby sevens) though arriving later proved to be a better bet for the pint-sized islanders when locking horns with hefty players in the international scene.

Rugby sevens, unlike today, didn’t know what professionalism was and Asian teams made good progress and could be counted when contesting the much looked forward to Hong Kong ‘Sevens’ tournament. Sri Lanka had the honour of contesting the maiden event of this tournament in 1976 and was a regular till other Asian and African teams moved up in rankings and shoved Sri Lanka out of contention. Sri Lanka won the ‘Bowl’ Competition in 1984. Sri Lanka is not a regular at the professionally organised World Rugby Sevens Series where the stop at Hong Kong is just one of the legs in a series where there are nine other stops when the players starting travelling and playing.

It’s good that the forces and the Police are in the forefront and organising this sevens rugby tournament. But critics would sure have their reservations because without CR&FC and Kandy SC the event will definitely lack the sparks and glamour. For the record the players from Kandy had wanted to field a team at the upcoming tournament under the name Kandy ‘Lions’, but their request was turned down along with several other similar requests coming, of course from Division B sides, because the authorities were not going to take responsibility for the players’ welfare given the challenging health situation in the country.

Spectators will have to catch the action from Police Park on these two days from televisions at their living rooms at home. Rugby needs the spectators, cheering and that sense of camaraderie, but the times don’t permit any of that. Rugby has its way of connecting and given the ‘new normal’ spectators would soon find a way to relate to rugby on the tv screen and find contentment. Let the games begin!