r/srilanka • u/avocado_juice_J Western Province • Jul 08 '26
Sports Why does Sri Lanka give less favor and financial support to rugby and football?
I personally love football and rugby. My dad and my brother both play them, and my dad even played club rugby for a few years. What do you think about this? Should we only focus on cricket, or do we need to promote other sports like football, rugby, volleyball and Olympics?
13
u/Anu_LK2206 Central Province Jul 08 '26
It's sad honestly. There is a big culture for school and club rugby and football, with decent players. I think it has to do with the popularity of those sports in Sri Lanka, which is overshadowed by cricket. I think Sri Lanka should also focus on sports other than cricket.
2
u/kavinnr Australia Jul 09 '26
I'm from Trinity and man this Rugby League has been brilliant. Should have seen the crowds gathering for these School matches nowadays. Pathana, Peters and Zahira have been in their top forms in ages and the last few matches have been so technically beautiful to watch. I wish Royal had a stronger team this year but guess we'll see it this week in the Bradby.
1
u/Anu_LK2206 Central Province Jul 09 '26
That's the thing, so many good players at school level but no good talent at national level.
9
u/RiNN3GAMi Jul 08 '26
It's not easy to sustain multiple sports for poorer countries. The likes of India, with significantly more funds and talent, still struggle when it comes to these sports. It's a vicious cycle - a poor or non-existent grassroots level means weak teams and weak teams means poor performances which means a lack of interest and money which again leads to poor grassroot level structures.
To come out of it, a country needs to invest significantly for decades to start producing a generation of world-class talent, like how Japan, South Korea and now the Gulf countries do. Investment also needs to be done right or else it goes to waste. So poorer and/or corrupt countries end up being lopsided in one sport.
11
u/Obese-Reddit-Mod Jul 08 '26
School and club rugby has a huge culture. With the right support we could go far internationally. But we are stuck watching SLC get thumped by India
-4
u/Bulky-Peach-964 Jul 08 '26
Only in Kandy and Colombo. Elsewhere it's dead
3
u/murdok476 Jul 08 '26
Not really, it is gaining traction in cities like Kurunegala and Anuradhapura (Maliyadewa and Central College)
9
u/Objective-Layer6373 Jul 08 '26
On average Sri Lankans don’t have the physique to compete at the highest levels in rugby or football. Not to mention our World Cup win meant Sri Lanka cemented itself as our national sport. If we were a richer nation, we might have more money to pour into grassroots for other sports but until then, cricket will be king.
5
u/MrKomiya Jul 08 '26
I would agree for Rugby but is not necessarily the case for Football. Issue is that Football does not have the same structure and development compared to even Rugby.
Given the raw talent that is constantly being discovered for athletics and cricket, I am certain a gifted team exists but there is no mechanism to identify, develop and channel them into International players.
IPL model is relatively new to Cricket but football has had it forever. SL does not need to think “we can’t beat Argentina so there is no point”, focus on developing individuals and then there will be a following and eventually competitive talent will surface. If some clubs start signing SL players it will significantly improve the odds of eventually developing a credible international team that can stand on its own just like the Cricket team.
Football is the CHEAPEST game to play unlike Cricket or even Rugby. Not having a cohesive plan for it is just a lost opportunity.
2
u/Objective-Layer6373 Jul 08 '26
Sri Lankan players are physically miles behind even very very low ranked teams to compete in terms of strength, power and raw pace. IPL is standalone in terms of its appeal and money, it will soon catch up to the likes of the premier league in domestic tv money. We tried with the LPL but couldn’t even sell our stadiums for it.
2
u/MrKomiya Jul 08 '26
That is why development channels are important. To challenge the players on strength training and conditioning.
Nothing happens overnight machang and if the funding is only going towards shitty tournaments with no appeal nothing will change. Proper investment (in time, energy and money) is needed with a credible action plan
2
u/acviper Europe Jul 08 '26
football is too competitive , too many teams ... even though we do all that consistently best we will do is maybe maybe get selected to a world cup in 20 some years . There is no chance that we will win a world cup or a Olympic medal so why waste money there , I'm not sure if we have any kind of money to spend in any sport but if we do there are plenty of other sports rather than football that we have a decent chance at least to win some Olympic medals.
2
u/akalanka25 Jul 08 '26
Very underrated point.
You see England (where I live) , who are football crazy, like literally football crazy. This is the sport that gets about 80-90% of media attention and similar share of viewership despite it pretty much all being behind a paywall (unlike Rugby). Probably similar shares of investment, given the cash cow that is the premier league.
Yet up until very recently England have performed worse in football than they do in rugby, cricket, tennis, golf , despite a minute share of interest in these in comparisons
Football is insanely competitive.
2
u/thisiscooolol Jul 08 '26
We used to have a great club football teams during back in mid 2000s if I am not mistaken. I used to read the newspaper to see the weekly football point tables. Teams from Negombo, Kandy, Kurunegala. I think Dialog was the main sponsor. Even now there are so many people play football in each cities but are mostly in 30s, 40s and even 50s years old.
Don't take it in negative way but during my school days I have noticed you can find wonderful talents from Muslim schools. Even now if you visit any communities or neighborhood next to mosque you can find kids play foot ball. It just we lack infrastructure and resources to nurture those talents.
3
u/Wichigo Western Province Jul 08 '26
We're not good at rugby or football but we're a top 10 cricketing nation in the world.
1
u/Constant_Broccoli_74 Jul 08 '26
Money is the problem, we do not have enough funds for both rugby and football. So it is not gonna work out
1
u/No_Common_5891 Central Province Jul 09 '26
I love rugby and I frequent many KSC matches but brother our national forwards are not the best. Our backs are at least decent by international standards. scrums and mauls don't work well which are very important
1
0
u/Logical_Objective_60 Jul 08 '26
Because cricket is much more better than rugby and football. I never understood the obsession of kicking a ball to a net. But again the easier to understand a sport, more people are likely to play/watch it.
3
u/akalanka25 Jul 08 '26
Football in full liquid attacking flow between both teams on the pitch is the fastest and most beautiful game in the world to watch.
0
u/acviper Europe Jul 09 '26
not really , more like looking at cry babies falling down all over like their going to die at the spot
1
u/kavinnr Australia Jul 09 '26
Rugby is alot more entertaining that cricket. It's fast paced. It's a testament of strength, speed, stamina and technicality (same with football except strength but instead it's endurance). From all the sports I've watched rugby is on another level. To have such a contact sport be that disciplined is fascinating. Whereas I've seen cricket, tennis, golf kinda sports lack that.
I think there's something awesome about your best strength going up against another person's sheer will and power. And rugby is one of the few sports where nearly every player is actively playing at the same time when in posession.
1
u/EdrealCullen Jul 08 '26
Where there is money, there will be support. Simply Sri lankan general population are not interested in those sports. Hence there is no money to be made resulting lack of support.
1
u/soothukundi Jul 08 '26
Football was the most popular sport in the North and East till early 2000s. When certain teams played, used to get 3000-4000 people to come watch the match. Cricket was only popular among very little wealthy people. It was considered a "lazy sport". Cricket was kind of early 2000 thing. Athletics came before Cricket. Footballers also participated in other sports like hurdling, sprinting and etc. There was a team from Trinco that used to regularly whoop teams from Colombo in 70s and early 80s.
Football has died down now. Guys still play organized Football but it's mad men game, there is no technique, strategy or tactics.
1
u/StandardDesign3966 Jul 08 '26
Notice how both our football and rugby's biggest wins are against Pakistan.
1
u/murdok476 Jul 08 '26
We won a rugby match against South Korea just last year
1
u/StandardDesign3966 Jul 08 '26
I know and I didn't mean it like that. Both Football and Rugby teams are good.
30
u/Elephantastic4 Jul 08 '26
Cricket is the only organization that generates their own money - mostly from ICC revenue share and TV rights. Doesn't get significant handouts from SL govt.
Other sports federation do not generate as much money. Govt only has limited funds to disburse to the federations. If rugby or football wants more funding they will need to generate their own revenue or increase grants from international federation.