April 11, Colombo (LNW): The Sports Minister is spreading rumors about the punishment of misconduct and corruption charges. It is said that during the time
of Namal Rajapaksa, a member of parliament, he used foreigners to play for rugby and fined the country 50,000 pounds. The rugby administration, which lost that money to Sri Lanka, instead of paying that money, is telling them to deduct the debt from the aid received by Sri Lankan rugby.

As the ministers and government failed to take any disciplinary action against those responsible, these same individuals continue to hold positions within Sri Lankan rugby at the Asian level.

When Namal Rajapaksa left, Roshan Ranasinghe, who was appointed as the Sports Minister, and Shemal Fernando, who also served as the Sports Director General during Harin Fernando’s time, avoided punishing the previous offenders by saying, ‘Those mistakes did not happen during his time.’ That same agenda is still being brought forward. Just as they took it upon themselves to do with those ministers, they are bringing together those who were complicit in the mistake with this minister and appearing in public, even better than those ministers. They are interpreting the needs of those responsible for that mistake as the needs of Asia and are working to change the constitution.

Despite the fact that the constitutional power that has been created for the expansion of the local rugby game has been delegated to several sports clubs and a framework that works accordingly will reduce the spread of the game throughout the country, the Minister is putting administrators on platforms to show Namal and to show the country that they made wrong decisions that even Namal could not make, holding media conferences with them and giving speeches. Although the allegations against the election committee to postpone the election have been resolved and an agreement has been reached, the case against the Director General of Sports, who postponed the election based on a letter from the Asia President, as agreed in court, is not being implemented.

At the press conference held for the match between Malaysia and Sri Lanka, the Director General said that the Minister of Sports, the Ministry and the Attorney General’s Department had the blessing for it. The fact that the Minister was seated between the Chairman and Secretary of the Administration, who are responsible for the £50,000 fine imposed on Namal Rajapaksa in Parliament, is a sign of the current government’s interference in rugby in Sri Lanka.

These questions are not heard in the national media. Nor are they heard in Parliament. The only sport that Parliament questions is cricket. That is a question that is asked because of the financial wealth that surrounds it. Otherwise, if Parliament and the national media understand that sport is something of national value and go on to question Minister Nalinda Jayatissa about the contradictions between the state of rugby and the public statements of the Sports Minister, Minister Nalinda Jayatissa will be influenced by the Sports Minister on the same level as Nalin Hewage, Sunil Watagala, Samantha Vidyaratne.

Those who try to establish their rugby interests in Sri Lanka as a result of the interests of Asia and the world can be banned from the game with a fine of £50,000, even according to the current sports law in Sri Lanka. After that, they cannot represent Asia or the world. However, the current Sports Minister is happy to work with the administrative body responsible for the mistake by blaming Namal in Parliament to show the country.

Meanwhile, the administration at fault continues to operate unchecked, with a key figure from that same group now appointed to lead the National Sports Council.

It is a serious mistake to use a group of foreigners to represent Sri Lanka as Sri Lankans. Also, that mistake has been proven before the world and a fine has been imposed. The officials who were responsible for that mistake have decided to pay the fine from the aid money received for the development of rugby in Sri Lanka,
thereby hindering the development process of rugby in Sri Lanka. What will a group responsible for such a situation get from a government that prioritizes the aspirations of the people?

The chairmanship of the National Sports Council appointed by the incoming minister. Since the current governments did not implement the law, the officials of the guilty administration have risen to Asian responsibilities and are trying to change the situation where they are not accepted within the existing rugby constitution.

In the future, only the Namal Rajapaksa and Malik Samarawickrama families will be able to play rugby, and when the Thambuttegama Economic Development Center is built, the members of the families living near the single signal post will
have the opportunity to work in a factory where Malik or Namal’s friends will be working, but their dreams of representing the country in a game like rugby will have to be completely buried.

Because the Director General of Sports and the Minister are working very quickly and sometimes with impatience to curtail and weaken provincial rugby activities and give most of the statutory power of rugby to the sports clubs in Sri Lanka.

This change is happening when a boy who came from Thambuttegama and sold goods on the train is the country’s president and a boy who came from Olcott College, which was not noticed as a prince type school in Galle, is the country’s sports minister. Perhaps they are thinking, why do they have a sport they don’t enjoy now? Even though it seems that they are getting that blessing from the top, the Director General of Sports is saying that the election will not be held based on the existing case that he insulted the court by not fulfilling the matters that he had agreed with the court.

It is clear that the intention of postponing the election by involving the Minister, the Ministry, and the Attorney General’s Department, while claiming that he, as the competent authority, should appear alone in the case in which he has been accused of contempt of court, is to forcefully bring the new constitution into force and bring the parties that hold power under the existing constitution into line.

Now, here is a better picture of this need and the false opposition of the minister than the new constitution. The noise of the parliament about the 50,000 pound fine and the picture of the Director General with the Secretary and Chairman of the Administration on both sides of that incident is the best example of that. Although neither the former ministers nor the current government were punished for this offense, none were as brave as this minister and the Director General to appear in public with them in this way. The Minister and the Director General are ready to completely suppress the opposition that they were unable to suppress on the path to Asian office, where they tried to go to the past without imposing fines for the offense, and to reduce the scope of its power in such a way that they can win a majority by the constitution itself. The only place left to challenge it is the
courts.

*Adapted from original article, “රෑ දනියෙල් දවල් මිගෙල්” by Nishman Ranasinghe published on 11/04/2025.