Martis to quit from national head coach position

By Shamseer Jaleel

Sri Lanka Junior rugby head Coach, Sanath Martis will quit from the national Under 20 head coach position for the Singapore tour for the Junior World Rugby Tournament (JWRT) which is scheduled to take place from December 13 to 19. The main reason for his resignation being that the one of the leading club based in Colombo pulling out its players for this week-ends match. Martis feels it’s very unfair to take these players at this moment of time since the tour is just around the corner.

Martis speaking to Daily FT, said it’s unfair to get their players at this moment of time and we are just 2 weeks away from the kick-off of the top event at Junior level in Asia. This is a national event these lads will be our future. Administrators behaving in this manner, leading by wrong example is a pathetic situation. Always country should be the first and then comes the club. The boys are innocent and they are caught in between the club duty and national representation. This is a dream for any young boy to represent Sri Lanka and wear the nation jersey. Further we are in with a very good chance to qualifying for the Junior Rugby World Cup. Our main opponent is Hong Kong. 

Martis continued “ Diyatalawa camp too same thing occurred when the same club wanted their players for club duty. Due to this we ended the training camp two days earlier than the schedule. Director General of Sports, in the Ministry of Sports said to me “even if they played for clubs or for national under 20 they are playing rugby. Therefore he advised me to release those players who has contracted for their respective clubs for today’s game. If these lads get injured we will not have time to find replacement for the JWRT.