It all began when one of the Peterites kicked the ball ‘almost’ inside the 22 and it was Maalik Jumad the Pathana full back who caught the ball and then took it back inside the 22 and then kicked it out on the full. As law states, if a ball is taken back inside the 22 and kicked out on the full the line out will be from the place where the kick was made. So the assistant referee brought his mark back inside the 22 and put his flag up. Maalik showed his frustration by yelling and saying that he did not take it back inside and that he it was a legitimate kick and the line out should have been given from the place where the ball went out. I think this provoked the crowd and the artillery began from one particular section of the crowd. It was unfortunate to see even school boys present in that particular section of the crowd and taking initiative to throw whatever they could find first at the referees and then at the Peterites.

Some spectators in the crowd might have not even known what was going on and they just use the referee’s call as an excuse and join in with the rock throwing. It looked like a comedy to see it happening over and over again and the people in charge ‘as they are called’ had no control at all. In fact the President of the schools rugby body is the principal of Isipathana together with the tournament secretary who is the master in charge of Pathana. So there you go, the top two men in charge straight from that school. They too tried to calm down the spectators but it failed and was of no avail. A hand full of Police men surrounded that particular point but they were also mere spectators of what was going on.

What has rugby come to in Sri Lanka, especially in the schools scene? The ‘B’ division game between St.Josephs and Mahanama saw the Joes players coming out with cracked skulls and bruised knees and elbows. You must be thinking, ‘this is quite natural in a rugby match, injuries are inevitable in a rugby match’. Well these injuries did not occur in the match as it was experienced after. The Mahanamians who were on the ground had literally hammered the Josephians and given them some very fond memories of that match. It is a disappointing sight to see these incidents happening, and it looks like the schools have found their 16th player that being the crowd. As soon as something goes wrong in the middle all they have to do is string in an attack at either the referee or the players and ‘wala’ the match is abandoned! Next time we might need the players to be armored like the American football players; this would not be for the impact on the grounds but for the predicted battering from the crowds either in the form of stones or god knows what.

This is a matter that should be seriously addressed by who ever in charge and in this case it would be the schools section. If there is a conflict of interest when the schools section is handling schools rugby in Sri Lanka they should be told to step aside. The SLRFU should take the lead here and show the schools section how it’s done. No mercy should be shown to anyone who disregards the law and wants to break it ignoring the authorities. They should be either suspended from matches, school...etc . All this happens with one or two bad eggs that are in the crowd who love to be the center of attraction and just go ahead shouting whatever possible at the opposition players and referees just to show the people around them that what he is doing is right. Fair enough, shouting, jeering is not a problem and what would sports be without them. There should be some sort of method to counter this sort of behavior especially from the crowd. We would not want to see hundreds of Police officers and black cats in rugby matches. Lot would then seem like we are a bunch of prisoners watching a rugby match during are free time. This should not be the case when schools play; it should be with the minimum guards. Schools prefects should be permitted inside to control the students section of the crowd and the Police men should be there to control the old boys. If we follow this method we can keep a close tag of the crowd and also let the game flow and take its natural course.