• Reigning champions yet undecided on team composition 

Defending champions St. Peter’s are set to compete in the forthcoming Dialog Inter-School Under-19 Rugby League Tournament, after having withdrawn from the preceding President’s Trophy Knockouts early this month citing disciplinary reasons, an official from the school Rugby Committee confirmed to The Daily Morning Sports.

The Colombo 4-based school made the headlines for the wrong reasons, as five of their players including its skipper, were alleged to have been behind the sexual abuse of a fellow underage team player last April.

The incident which went viral on social media made into the mainstream media as well, and the ramifications of it, forced the school Rector to controversially pull out the first XV rugby team from the Knockout tournament, which they had won in 2023 and finished as runners-up last season.

The official from the St. Peter’s Rugby Committee, said that they were committed to contesting the tournament due to kick off on 6 June and retain the title for the second consecutive year, notwithstanding the fallout from the aforementioned incident. 

The Sanath Martis-coached reigning champions who will be bidding for a three-peat this year, have been placed in Group 1 A alongside D.S. Senanayake, Wesley, Science, St. Anthony’s and newcomers Ananda, respectively.

Asked whether the players involved in the alleged incident would be a part of the squad for the forthcoming tournament, he added that it would be premature to comment on it at this stage, as they were yet to finalise the squad in lieu of the ongoing Court case.

“It's premature to comment on it officially as a few of our players have to face legal proceedings,” he pointed out.

“Only at the end of it we will be able to comment on the composition of the squad, but what I can confirm 100 percent is we (SPC) we are not going to forgo the upcoming League.’’

The case had arisen from an incident that had allegedly happened during a training camp that had taken place in the North from 12-24 April, where a group of senior players had attempted to sexually abuse their 15-year-old colleague.

According to informed sources, when the victim had resisted the unwanted advances from his senior teammates, they had allegedly physically assaulted him.

Afterwards the parents of the victim had sought redress from the National Child Protection Authority (NCPA), as the school concerned, according to them, had failed to probe the matter to their satisfaction. 

The NCPA’s Special Investigations Unit (SIU) had been compelled to seek Court intervention, after the players from St. Peter’s had failed to provide statements to its officer and make themselves available for questioning.  

Colombo Additional Magistrate Keminda Perera on 14 May, released on bail the five suspect rugby players from St. Peter’s including their captain, after they were produced in Court, on charges of sexually abusing a fellow junior player last month.

Further investigations into the case are conducted by the Special Investigation Unit (SIU) of the NCPA.

Under Sri Lankan law, sexual abuse is categorised as a serious offence under Section 345 of the Penal Code.

If convicted, the accused could face up to five years of incarceration, hefty fines, or both, depending on the severity of the offence.