Sabaragamuwa Stallions conduct rugby workshop in Galle

Following the success of the awareness program conducted in Jaffna, the Sabaragamuwa Stallions took the initiative to organise a rugby workshop in Galle recently. The workshop was conducted at St. Aloysius Collage Galle, with over 80 students taking part across diverse age groups that included the first 15 side of the school.

A session was conducted for the parents and students followed by a field session for the students. It aimed to create awareness of the sport while encouraging take-up among the younger students of the school.

It also aimed to create awareness among parents, thereby encouraging them to support the sport and its take-up.  

The sessions conducted, comprised of a class room session that taught the students the importance of sports and its positive impact on a student in the long-term, while the field sessions focused on skills development.

The sessions were conducted under the guidance of Veteran Coach Tony Amit with the assistance of Shantha Dharmarathne the junior rugby coach of Zahira College.  

Beginning his career in Rugby at Zahira College Colombo, Tony Amit was the Captain of school team and CH & FC. Subsequently he played for the Sri Lanka National Rugby team and functioned as the National Coach for the Sri Lankan rugby team, that won numerous international titles, including four trophies namely in Taiwan, Fiji Sevens, Cargills Sevens in Sri Lanka and Alain in Dubai.

Further, he was an Assessor Evaluator for IRB and world cup qualifying rounds and functioned as a match commissioner for the World Cup qualifying round.

Tony is a qualified referee both locally and internationally and was the President of the Sri Lanka Referees Society and the Asian Referees Society.  

Speaking at the event, Sabaragamuwa Stallions Operations Director Waruna de Silva mentioned that workshop was conducted in line with the next Carlton Sevens that is scheduled to be held in Galle.

He stated that, “Together with the St. Aloysius Collage Galle Assistant Principal Sarath Ranaweera, the Sabaragamuwa Stallions felt that a program of this nature will give students an opportunity to understand the benefits of sports and how it adds value to enrich their lives, while encouraging more students to take up rugby in school.”

This is the third such event organised by the Sabaragamuwa Stallions. A similar event was held at St. Thomas’ Collage Mt. Lavinia in June 2012, where the junior rugby players of the school was able to meet the four All Blacks players who represented the Sabaragamuwa Stallions at the Carlton Rugby Seven’s 2012.

Subsequently, a workshop was organised together with the Security Forces Headquarters Jaffna, at the Duraiappa Stadium in Jaffna.

Over 80 students from seven schools of the area participated in this workshop. Additionally, a workshop was conducted for the coaches of the schools with the intention of raising the standard of rugby while improving their coaching skills.

As one of the founding franchises of the Carlton Super Seven’s, Sabaragamuwa Stallions embarked on this initiative that will foster Sri Lankan sports and enable School children to learn the spirit of fair-play, team work and togetherness.

The Sabaragamuwa Stallions directed by N-Sports, a national franchise of Sri Lanka’s elite rugby 7’s competition, Carlton Rugby 7’s.

The franchise is owned by Royal Ceramics Managing Director also the Pan Asia Bank Chairman and Vallibel One Deputy Chairman Nimal Perera.