Sri Lanka’s rugby playing clubs have pledged their support to the Rugby Interim Committee, ensuring participation at the annual league rugby tournament despite there being a delay in confirming the fixtures calendar.

All top clubs contesting the ‘A’ Division tournament have voiced concern over the possibility of having to spend beyond their budgets, if the season continues beyond schedule.

Going by past seasons, the inter-club league rugby tournament commences in the first week of May. Club officials told ‘The Island’ that they were worried about the delay in the start to the tournament because they had binding contracts with both the players and coaches which covered a stipulated period of time.

Leading rugby clubs like Kandy Sports Club, Ceylonese Rugby & Football Club (CR&FC), Colombo Hockey & Football Club (CH&FC) and Havelocks Sports Club believe they have the resources to pull through even if there is a delayed start to the season.

Rugby Interim Committee CEO, Lasitha Gunaratne said that domestic rugby had the assurance of Caltex Lanka Lubricants to continue as its sponsor and the tournament would commence in the third week of May.

Lasantha Wijesuriya, Rugby Chairman Kandy Sports Club, said that the club could be greatly inconvenienced if the season didn’t commence on schedule. "At present, only Singer has confirmed its sponsorship with us as team sponsor. The players have been practicing but the SLRFU hasn’t spoken to us about the tournament, as yet. We would like to know the dates of the tournament in advance because we have financial commitments with the players and the coach," Wijesuriya said.

CH&FC rugby secretary Jude Dimithri said that the start of the tournament varying unlike in the past wouldn’t make much of a difference because the club was willing to support the rugby cause in Sri Lanka.

Jehan Cannagaratna, President CR&FC, said that it was essential to have an indication from the Rugby Interim Committee regarding the start to the tournament, because the players had been training for a long time. "It’s good to know early because we need to peak at the right time," Canngaratne said. He added that it was essential for the clubs and the SLRFU to work together because all parties depended on each other for survival.

Kolitha Gunathileke, Chairman Rugby, Havelocks Sports Club, said that the club was eagerly awaiting the Rugby Interim Committee to issue a notice regarding the tournament. "However, regardless of the present situation, Havelocks Sports Club looks forward to being part of the tournament," Gunathileke said.

Kishu Gomes, Managing Director, Caltex Lubricants Lanka Ltd., said that he had had healthy discussions with the Rugby Interim Committee and that Caltex was looking forward to sponsoring the league rugby tournament. "We will make a royalty payment to the SLRFU as the sponsor of the tournament and believe we’ll receive the right exposure for it. We hope the status quo remains as last year in terms of us being the sponsor. We need to get the same support we have received from the SLRFU, this year too," Gomes said.

Gomes said that Caltex was involved with domestic rugby with good intention and with the goal of making rugby the winner.

He further added that he was expecting to have television coverage for the matches, this year too.