CR 7s to kick off on 31 March

Centenary Committee Secretary Zulker Hamid, Centenary Committee Chairman Jehan Canaga Retna, CR & FC President Ted Muttiah, CR & FC General Secretary Jakque Diasz and Tournament Director Dilroy Fernando - Pic by Upul Abayasekara 

By Shamseer Jaleel

CR and FC Centenary Rugby Sevens will kick off on 31 March with the School Sevens at the “Home of Rugby” in Longdon Place with 12 leading Schools from Colombo and Kandy participating in this tournament. The eight Clubs (men’s), six women’s and schools knockout stages will take place on 1 and 2 April.

The kick-off is scheduled at 10.30 a.m. on the initial day and the other two days will see the kick-off at 9 a.m.

The Men’s and Women’s Clubs will start proceedings on the following day on 1 April with the organisers have got all the top A Division Men’s Clubs have confirmed their participation in support of CR & FC Centenary year along with four local Women’s Clubs and two Overseas Women’s Clubs from Australia and Qatar will compete for the Round - Robin pool matches.

On the final day on 2 April the games will enter into the knockout stages with the semi-finals and finals being work off and the winners of Men’s and Women’s Club Champions will receive Rs. 500,000 each as prize money apart from the trophy. Further Cup Runners up from both the segments will receive Rs. 250,000 each while the Schools Sevens Champions will receive Rs. 250,000 and the runners up walking away with Rs. 125,000.

There will be four foreign referees (2 male and 2 female) who will be joining the local counterparts. There will be a tournament after party on both 31 March and 1 April commencing from 6 p.m. soon after the final games of each day.

The CR & FC as a gesture for their Centenary year will not be charging a gate fee for any of the three days of the tournament. The tournament draw was held on 23 March at CR and FC attended Centenary year’s CR President Ted Muttiah, former national player and 1982 Royal Rugby skipper and Tournament Director Dilroy Fernando.

Schools

Group A - Royal, St. Peter’s, Wesley

Group B - Piliyandala Central, Trinity, St. Joseph’s

Group C - Zahira, Vidyartha, Isipathana

Group D - D.S. , Kingswood, 

S. Thomas’ Mount

Clubs

Group A - Kandy SC, Army SC, CR and FC, Police SC

Group B - Air Force SC, Havelock SC, Navy SC, CH and FC