Sri Lanka Rugby (SLR), which was suspended twice within the past four-year period by World Rugby (WR), is facing the imminent threat of another ban from the game’s world controlling body, The Sunday Morning Sports has learnt via reliable sources.

This eventuality is on the rugby horizon for the game’s local keepers if they fail to press ahead with its long-delayed Annual General Meeting (AGM) before mid-July. 

It has been confirmed that the Dublin-based WR has issued an ultimatum to SLR that either it holds its election of office bearers before 20 July, while adhering to amendments to be incorporated into its Constitution, or face another long-lasting suspension.

Any suspension of SLR’s membership by WR will deal another knockout blow to not only the game but its players as well. This is especially at a time when the public is savouring a newfound enthusiasm for the sport on the back of the Tuskers’ morale-boosting wins at the Asia Rugby Championship early last month.

A rugby analyst-turned-whistleblower, who sought anonymity, told The Sunday Morning Sports that, according to WR, SLR had to amend its Constitution in a manner that grants ‘A’ Division clubs voting powers.

He said that WR had stressed that the undue clout granted to ghost provincial clubs, which have mushroomed in the recent past to serve the vested interests of disgruntled office bearers, should be dispensed with if it was to be duly accepted as an accredited member of WR.

According to him, the system of unqualified officials vying for the offices of SLR has not gone well with the Dublin-based governing body. Hence, it had issued its latest warning to either heed it for the sake of all the stakeholders of the game or run afoul and be banished to the dark alleys, he remarked.

He added that the administrative bungling of SLR officials in the recent past had dissuaded qualified individuals in the mould of Chula Dharmadasa, Ted Muttiah, Thusitha Peiris, Sriyan Cooray, and Pradeep Basnayake from coming forward to steer the domestic rugby ship towards calmer waters.

Therefore, the current predicament faced by rugby comes as no surprise as those who are out of touch with the modern game aspire to enter the fray via proxies supported by those who have been spurned by WR, while at the same time, the knowledgeable and capable hands avoid stepping into the ring for fear of getting their image, which they have worked hard to build, sullied.

For the record, the Sports Minister dissolved SLR on 29 May and brought it temporarily under the control of the Director General of the Department of Sports Development with the aim of amending the SLR Constitution and holding its AGM before the WR deadline.

But the unanswered question is whether WR could be appeased with an AGM conducted in haste to suit the agendas of the same set of office bearers who have for too long been in the bad books of the world body.