Rugby tunes your minds on violence says Dr Maiya

By Ravi Nagahawatte

Rugby Interim Committee Chairman Dr Maiya Gunasekere says that rugby has the potential to make spectators violent after a game.

Gunasekere told The Island that rugby by nature was a violent sport and the action in a match tunes the spectators’ minds to make them behave aggressively after a game.

He said that spectators who watch rugby matches needed to be educated on sociology and psychology. "What’s important for the spectators is that they should know to turn their minds away from violence and behave normal when the match is over," Gunasekere said.

Gunasekere made these comments in the aftermath of the violent incidences which were reported at the conclusion of inter-school rugby match between Kingswood and Isipathana, played in Kandy, last week.

"These incidences don’t happen after a carrom or a chess game. When spectators watch a racing championship, they tend to drive faster than normal when getting back home. This is natural," explained Gunasekere.

He said that when he was coaching the Royal rugby team, he had the habit of showing movies from the Rocky series to the players a few hours prior to the match. "I could see the difference. The players got all pumped up and were raring to go when it was time for the match," he said.

Gunasekere said that Society of Rugby Referees in Sri Lanka (SRRSL) President Dilroy Fernando was in the process of making arrangements to obtain the services of police to strengthen the security at matches. "This is to strengthen the security of referees. When this happens, the security at venues automatically gets strengthened," he said.

Gunasekere said that Kingswood College couldn’t shun away from taking responsibility for the incidents which took place at the match in which the school hosted Isipathana.

Kingswood College Principal Ranjith Chandrasekere when contacted said that the reports on the incident had been exaggerated. "Bottles were thrown about by both parties during the incident and the Isipathana College bus was damaged. There was no fighting and no one was injured during the incident. Security at the match was handled by a private security firm and the police too were present. Kingswood will take steps to strengthen the security at matches which the school hosts in future," Chandrasekere said.

Isipathana College coach Shamly Nawaz when contacted said that two Isipathana College players were injured during the match due to rough play. Nawaz said that one player had suffered a broken nose and the other player’s ear had been bitten, all during the match. "None of the players was injured during the incident after the game. But the crowd turned hostile and started throwing stones at the dressing room where we went to change after the game. That was pretty scary," Nawaz said.

Isipathana College created a real upset in the ongoing inter-school rugby tournament by beating Kingswood College 25-19 in their tournament fixture played at Bogambara Stadium last Saturday.