Rugby World Cup sponsor Mastercard’s roadshow of flying in former Springbok star Bryan Habana to Sri Lanka in its quest to enhance the showcase of the “William Webb Ellis” trophy is bound to fuel the currently existing political storm taking place between the Ministry of Sports and Sri Lanka Rugby (SLR), after the sports parent body was shunned from the public viewing ceremony held to unveil the trophy at the Race Course Grounds in Colombo last Saturday (18).

Bryan Habana, a team member of the 2007 South African winning team and who also currently shares the record with the late All Black Jonah Lomu for scoring the most number of world cup tries (15), was flown to Sri Lanka by Mastercard yesterday (20).

Mastercard, who chose to involve the Ministry of Sports instead of Sri Lanka Rugby in its quest to showcase the World Cup trophy to the public, drew criticism for fuelling the ongoing political battle taking place between the Ministry of Sports run by its current Minister of Sports Roshan Ranasinghe and Sri Lanka Rugby.

Criticism was largely observed on several social media platforms as well as on national television, where the current Secretary to the National Sports Council Sujani Bogollagama claimed that SLR was not invited due to Asia Rugby’s suspension of the local parent body, which was later cleared by SLR’s President Rizly Illyas at a press briefing which was aired on national television.

It is widely known that incumbent Minister of Sports Roshan Ranasinghe has failed to bring closure to an ongoing case, where the Court of Appeal set aside the suspension handed by former Minister Namal Rajapaksa. 

Former Minister Rajapaksa’s gazette notification to suspend the elected SLR Executive Committee was made two days before he himself was ousted from his ministerial post and also two months after his younger brother Yoshitha Rajapaksa revealed to The Morning Sports in an interview that he “would like to be involved in the game’s administration and do my bit for the further upliftment of the game of rugby”.

The Ministry of Sports, despite not inviting SLR to the ceremony, did in fact invite Yoshitha Rajapaksa to the public ceremony held at the Racecourse Grounds last Saturday.

Meanwhile, SLR Rugby President Rizly Illyas, speaking earlier on national television, confirmed that whilst it was a “brilliant” idea to provide an opportunity for the youth, rugby players and the general public to see the glittering trophy, it was disappointing that Mastercard, despite being one of the sponsors of the Rugby World Cup 2023, chose to not provide a visa for SLR to attend any of its planned events.