The 2016 Singer Schools’ Rugby League has come to a close with all eight teams in the 1A competition playing for position last weekend.
Those with a pure rugby heart, who have seen these teams go to battle week in and week out, would be heartened by the variety of skills shown on the rugby field. Those same pure rugby hearts must also be saddened by the continuing violence that occurs after the whistle has blown.
All interested parties who have a stake in the schoolboy game need to come together and ask what we are trying to achieve in the Singer Schools’ Rugby League. What values do we stand for and what behaviours reflect those values. I feel we have passed the time when we should ask who is to blame. After a number of unsavoury incidents, the situation now dictates that a clean, fresh start needs to be taken with a future vision of what we want our game to look like at schoolboy level. Lessons from the past should be taken into account but nothing short of a total overhaul will suffice so that all of the players, coaches, administrators and supporters feel safe on and off the field.
This process needs to be a positive step with the Rugby administration and all schools joining together in scripting a document that states the aims of the competition, it’s values and the standards that bring this document into reality. Next we get all involved to sign on to this document in a very public way and relaunch the Rugby League with much fanfare, new sponsors to join our present sponsors with new initiatives that actively promote the areas where we are currently falling behind.
As a rugby coach my fear has always been that a player might be seriously injured on the field so I tick all precautionary boxes during pre-season and training to mitigate against these dangers. Rugby administrators need to do the same so we can guarantee the safety of all of our rugby community off the field.
We can also look at ways to promote on-field improvements during the schoolboy off-season by continuing the education of our coaching staff. I once read an interview with the current All Blacks defence coach Wayne Smith where he spoke of a free flow of information at the end of a Super Rugby season back in 1989 that still inspires me to this day. He talked about how the coach of the winning franchise would do a presentation to all the other coaches outlining how his team had won the competition. Let us imagine a place where the free flow of rugby information meant that coaches learnt from other coaches and rugby improvement each year became the standard.
Take the driving maul from a line out that Royal College has perfected as an example. The coaching staff would be congratulated and that knowledge would be shared amongst all schools coaches.
Why would Royal College want to share their secret weapon with their opponents I hear you ask?
There are two main reasons, firstly for the glory of rugby. So schoolboy rugby will improve, which means rugby in Sri Lanka improves and if you do not want that to happen you can stop reading now. Secondly it forces Royal College to improve their driving line out to the next level to stay ahead of the chasing pack. All coaches know that if they do not move forward they will be over taken and left behind.
A counter attack module from Isipathana College and a forward attack session with S. Thomas’
College would help raise the standard of rugby in this country without a doubt. This type of thinking where coaches come together to share information only strengthens bonds in the Rugby community so we see our rugby opponents as fellow rugby brothers and referees and coaches as Rugby uncles. We are all part of a Rugby family and the sooner we start acting like a family the better our game is going to be.
