The Sri Lanka Schools Rugby Football Association (SLSRFA) is awaiting the greenlight from the stakeholders for the resumption of the remaining under-19 schools Rugby season is after the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, which halted the tournament in mid March this year.
The schools governing body SLSRFA is waiting to get the final outcome from their sponsors Dialog AXIATA and the Ministry of Education to restart the tournament. They are scheduled to meet the sponsors next week to rectify their position of funding the tournament this year as the major part of the tournament is lost owing to the Corona pandemic. The 65 million sponsorship deal per year, which was signed beginning of this year, after their long standing sponsors Singer Sri Lanka opted to pull out. As per the SLSRFA they are in a spot of bother whether the sponsors will give a positive reply to go ahead with the remaining season after this long break. If the response is positive then they will contact the Education Ministry to get their guide lines to resume the tournament including the date when the Advance Level examination will be held.
The SLSRFA had its first council meeting last Wednesday with the participation of their members at Royal College premises, after the lock down. In the event if everything falls in line the tournament committee is
likely to make some modification to the remaining fixtures depending on the time factor.
“We are ready to resume the tournament and get the tournament going ahead. But initially we want to make sure whether the sponsors are in a position to sponsor us this year. Since the new agreement was signed we haven’t got any upfront payment so far, with just two weeks of the tournament going through. We have to pay the schools their annual pay which we grant them through the sponsorship. Right now most schools are finding it difficult to play in the tournament due to the pull out of their personal sponsors due the current situation.
Therefore, they are requesting us whether we could increase the amount which we pay them. We will have to wait until we meet them to get their final decision after which the fate of the tournament will be decided” said Nirodha Wijerama, Secretary SLSRFA.
He further commented that “We are eagerly awaiting to start the tournament especially to be fair by the players who are playing their last season in their respective age category. If the tournament comes to a standstill these boys will lose their participation. Hence, we are making all endeavours to convince all stakeholders to get along with the League and the knock out tournament by overcoming all obstacles.
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