Violent rugby fans should be banned from school matches, says SLSRFR

The Sri Lanka Society of Rugby Football Referees (SLSRFR) have urged the authorities to provide more protection and security for their match-officials during the remaining games of the Inter-Schools Under-20 ‘A’ Division League Rugby Tournament.

The request comes in the wake of an unruly incident that took place shortly after the Group-2 fixture between Isipathana College and St. Peter’s College played at Havelock Park on Sunday.

The touch-judge of that high-profile match was allegedly abused severely by the spectators of St. Peter’s after a 14-man Isipathana outfit ran out easy winners 29-17 to remain unbeaten in the tournament.

The Peterite supporters became furious after the referee awarded a five-metre scrum for an infringement following a consultation with the touch-judge during the latter stages of the game.

That decision proved to be crucial as Isipathana went on to score another try from that ensuing move and added more misery on their opponents.

Immediately after the match, supporters of St. Peter’s turned towards the touch-judge in anger while creating a bit of a chaos among the rugby fans of both schools. A high-ranking official of the SLSRFR said that they have informed the Sri Lanka Schools Rugby Football Association (SLSRFA) about the incident and hoped that necessary measures would be taken to eradicate this crowd menace.

“The host team is responsible for the security but that does not mean the supporters of the visiting team have the liberty to act violently,” he stressed.

“We have identified the guilty person and handed over the photos to the relevant authorities and if the situation continues, we will have to ban the unruly spectators under World Rugby rules,” he added.