SLSRFR responds
In response to an article titled ‘Shocking TMO decision sparks controversy’ published on April 23 the secretary of Sri Lanka Society of Rugby Football Referees (SLSRFR) Dinka Peiris has sent the following letter in which he states as follows:
“We wish to bring to your kind notice of (to) the statement made by Mr. Dilroy Fernando is In-correct (incorrect) where he has stated that our CMO’S or our officials (are) not qualified to be TMO’S and (SLSRFR should take the responsibility for) the blunders they do (they have made). Based on that paper article on the same day on the instructions of President Nizam Jamaldeen we wrote to Mr. Gene Tong Regional Training Consultant Asia, asking for TMO’S required qualification as we have TMO facilities in Sri Lanka and currently we use CMO’S accredited by World Rugby. Mr. Gene Tong referred it to Mr. Jock Peggie (World Rugby Training Manager) on the very next day & (and) we are in receipt of his reply as below.
“There are currently no World Rugby online or face-to-face course to train TMOS. I would recommend however that a TMO be qualified Match Official to at least World Rugby Level 2 as a minimum and ideally to a Level 3 standard. Also I would recommend that their online laws be up to date.”
For the comment we made in our e-mail that right now we use CMO’S and his response to that is “That is good as CMOS should be appropriately qualified as above”.
Respectively to the decision made by TMO of the said match or in other matches where TMO facilities are made available, we wish to inform the decision of the TMO is given based on the clips he received from the service provider and the angles to the incident he required. Therefore his decision are (is) based on those and not what people see or what others (may) have video (sic) it or recorded and taken clips afterwards to showcase. Writer’s note:
The article ‘Shocking TMO decision sparks controversy’ was written due to the fact that many spectators including Royalists, and journalists felt that it was indeed a forward pass. The outcome of the game would not have changed whether it was allowed or disallowed, but the question arises on what the point of technology is if the right decisions are not made. Dinka Peiris says that TMO made the decision based on the clips that he received, but footage is going viral on social media suggest there was a forward pass. Dilory Fernando also questioned why the TMO is only used for a selected amount of games and SLSRFR must answer this.
When contacted by Daily Mirror Dilroy Fernando stated what he mentioned in the previous article was indeed correct.
“It clearly says that the TMO to be a qualified Match Official to at least World Rugby Level 2 as a minimum and Tony Amit is not level 2 qualified, so I don’t understand the point SLSRFR is trying to make,” Fernando said.
Dinka Peiris meanwhile stated that “Tony Amit is a level 2 CMO and he completed that along with Dilroy Fernando in 2016 in Singapore.”