Sri Lanka who started playing rugby in the 1870’s has a rich history of having the longest organized club rugby in the whole of Asia starting back in 1879. Sri Lanka started the oval-shaped- ball- game just 8 years after the first ever rugby union game in England. Rugby was introduced to schools with Kingswood taking upon the game as early as 1870. Subsequently the clubs embraced the game with Colombo Football Club (currently known as the CR&FC) being the first to latch on inaugurating on the 28th of June 1879.
Sri Lanka played their first international game in 1907 against the New Zealand All Blacks in which the All Blacks won the game comprehensively by 33-6. Ironically the New Zealanders took to the run pass game in the year 1860 just 20 years before we started the game. The New Zealanders have been one of the top international teams in the world for over a decade playing their first ever rugby union game against Australia 4 years before Sri Lanka in 1903 in which they incidentally won 22-3. Similarly if we take a look at one of the Asian power houses, Japan which took to the game in 1899 is currently one of the only two federations from a "Tier 2" country with a seat on the International Rugby Board executive council, the sport's international governing body (the other is Rugby Canada).
Hong Kong who were numero uno at the recently concluded Borneo 7’s tournament organized the 1st ever Hong Kong 7’s tournament back in 1976. On 28th, March, 1976, clubs from Indonesia, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand, Tonga, Japan, Sri Lanka, Malaysia and Fiji participated in the first Hong Kong Sevens Tournament at the Hong Kong Football Club.
Sri Lanka who have played the game for more than a century started off with the big guns playing alongside the likes of Australia, New Zealand, Tonga, Japan etc. While these teams have progressed in leaps and bounds, rugby in Sri Lanka has been more than dormant. It has taken a backward progression with more recent teams like Malaysia (who started rugby in 1903) overtaking us in terms of development. Japan for example is currently the number one team in Asia having started rugby 20 years after Sri Lanka. Having said that, we cannot compare our country with what countries like Japan offer in terms of resources etc. The growth of Japanese rugby in the early 20th century was astronomical - by the 1920s, there were nearly 1,500 rugby clubs, and more than 60,000 registered players, which meant that its resources were larger than those of Scotland, Wales and Ireland combined.
Where has Sri Lanka gone wrong? Is it the infrastructure? Is it the resources? Or is it just the mind set of everyone involved with rugby in Sri Lanka? In the recently concluded Borneo 7’s tournament held in Malaysia, Sri Lanka put in a spirited effort ending their campaign being placed 6th which ultimately resulted them in qualifying for next year’s Hong Kong and Dubai 7’s tournaments. We achieved this feat after sending more or less third string side which included two school boy ruggerites and a bunch of armatures to the international arena. What would have been the outcome if we had fielded the likes of Fazil Marija, Saliya Kumara, Pradeep Liyanage, Gayan and Roshan Weeraratne etc? Would we have given Japan a fight with the inclusion of these national rugby giants is a question to raise? Also on the other hand talking about the positives, though we sent a rather inexperienced team into deep waters, they have yet again done the unthinkable and made mother Lanka proud by putting up a commendable performance ending 6th in the tournament which enabled us to qualify for two major international seven’s tournaments.
This is a clear indication in the depth of talent, skill and temperament in the country. More importantly it goes to show that we have more than just one team which can step up to the mark and represent the country. Then why are we back lagging when compared to the other Asian countries or countries as a whole? One thing the rugby body must keep in mind is that under the current local structure, Sri Lanka will not progress in the game. We have to modernize rugby in Sri Lanka if we are to compete in the big league and become a once known rugby giant in Asia. It won’t be too long before we see teams like India, Pakistan and Singapore beating us in the world and Asian stage.
Currently there is a lot of backing for rugby in the country with a lot of cooperates getting involved to improve the standards of the game. The schools are infusing top level of Rugby giving the national grid plenty of choice. We must utilize the resources we have in order to improve the level of rugby and bring back the glory years of yesteryear.
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