As it stands, the league will begin in the third week of April and end in the final week of June, while the President’s trophy will follow the same route as last year where it started in the final week of September. Speaking on the matter, SLSRFA secretary Susantha Mendis said; "there is a problem regarding the available time periods. If we are to shift the knockouts to before the A/Ls, the league has to finish at least by the beginning of June. After completing the league at the end of June, there’s not enough time to hold the knockouts as well, because a lot of the schools aren’t willing to compete due to students sitting for the exams." Last year’s President’s trophy reached its zenith of controversy as teams pulled out at the eleventh hour and league champions Royal confirmed their absence as early as August. The SLSRFA then stated that they’ll bring in new rules to punish teams who decide to bolt from the do-or-die tournament, but apparently leniency in the system has forced them to backtrack. "The main reason behind this is the coaches’ fear of losing. Due to the knockouts format, one off day means you are shown the door. Sadly, although we were itching to take action against this, that is not possible, simply because this is an invitational tournament," he explained. 
Sri Lanka Schools Rugby Football Association’s (SLSRFA) attempts to erase the gap that exists between the school rugby league and the knockouts tournament (President’s trophy) has hit a brick wall in the form of A/L Exams which falls either side of the competitions.
( By - C , Pinnawala ,The ISLAND )
Ramesh Rushantha Silva
( Palma )
