WARNING! MAFIA RUNNING SCHOOLS RUGBY

ONE MAN HAS FOUND THE GUTS TO SPEAK OUT AGAINST A MONOPOLY IN RUGBY AS SOME SCHOOLS ARE CAUSING HEARTBURN AND PROMOTING THE WIN-AT-ANY-COST SYNDROME

- By ALLAAM OUSMAN

Zahira College's Chairman of the Board of Governors, Fouzul Hameed, has issued a passionate warning against what he described as a growing "school rugby mafia", accusing a handful of elite schools of monopolising the sport, poaching players, showing no ethics, no values and focusing only on winning trophies - destroying the true purpose of school sports.

"We have been pushed to a corner for decades - in education, in politics, in opportunities. Only through sports can we build peace, harmony and friendship," said Hameed in a forthright interview with the Daily Mirror.

"Zahira has always opened its doors. We welcome every school that visits us. For us, it's not about winning or losing - it's about fellowship after the match, friendship beyond the field."

However, Hameed said that the spirit of brotherhood is being eroded and accused a small circle of top rugby-playing schools of preplanning outcomes and dominating the system unfairly.

"Certain officials are misusing their power. Unethical things are happening and there's very unfair treatment towards certain schools," he said. "Only four or five schools want to dominate. Sri Lanka has thousands of schools. To build a country, a handful cannot create a monopoly. Schools are not meant to act like politicians."