The defunct Society for Rugby Referees in Sri Lanka (SRFRSL) has voiced its disapproval against efforts taken by the Sri Lanka Rugby Football Union (SLRFU) to deny two referees the opportunity to officiate in two upcoming international tournaments.

The President of the defunct rugby referees society Dilroy Fernando told The Island that the Asian Rugby Football Union (ARFU) had personally invited two Sri Lankan referees to officiate at the upcoming Asian Five Nations Tournament in Dubai and the Rugby Test Event in New Delhi, which is a prelude to the next Commonwealth Games to be hosted by India.

According to Fernando, the Sri Lanka Rugby Football Union (SLRFU) has made attempts to foil the efforts of the two referees, who he claims have received the green light from ARFU to prepare for the tour.

"Aruna Rankothge has been picked for the Asian Five Nations and D. Nimal has been invited for the test rugby tournament in India. But the SLRFU is making attempts to stop them from officiating in these tournaments," said Fernando. He added that the SLRFU reasons that they are not in favour of these two referees officiating in the two international tournaments because they have refereed in just a few matches last season. Fernando rubbished these claims and added, "They had done enough matches to merit their selection for games".

The SLRFU has a different version to the story and states that it recommended five referees to the ARFU, for the two future international tournaments, and that invitations weren’t sent to referees individually, as claimed by Fernando.

"We recommended five referees for the tournaments some time back, but have decided not to send the two referees selected because they didn’t officiate in enough domestic matches after the SLRFU took over the administration of referees assignments," SLRFU CEO Lasitha Guneratne told The Island.

Guneratne said that the ARFU recognized the SLRFU and the referees’ society. He added and that the ARFU expected all referees to serve the SLRFU first which they should by giving priority to officiate in domestic tournaments. "We did our part by recommending them, but they let us down by not officiating in domestic tournaments. Somebody should control these referees," said Guneratne.