The Sri Lankan Cricket Board (SLC) has offered new clothes and cash to the groundsmen who were employed for the 5th and the final ODI between Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe at the Hambantota Cricket Ground after they were forced to hand over their uniforms before leaving the ground. The trend of giving uniforms to the local workers who played the role of the groundsmen in case rain had started very recently.
But following the final encounter on Monday, they were asked by the authority to hand over their uniforms before leaving the venue forcing them to leave the stadium almost stripped. Many of them complained that they were paid only after they returned the trousers. One even claimed that the authority hadn’t asked them to bring a different set of clothes which forced them to leave the stadium in underwear.
“They only paid us for our three days worth of work after taking our clothes,” one of the groundsmen was quoted as saying by the Hiru News. “They hadn’t told us to come prepared with another set of clothes. They asked us to hand over the trousers, so we had no choice but to do that,” another groundsman said.
Following the incident, SLC formally apologised to “those subjected to this ignominy”. It was definitely an unforeseen situation and the board has said that it’s a huge low which has happened.
“That was a very low thing that happened,” Thilanga Sumathipala, SLC president, was quoted by Cricbuzz. “These people come to the ground because of their love of cricket, and to do a service while watching the match. They aren’t just there for the money. If rains come, they close up the whole ground within minutes and then take the covers off again.
“They are our colleagues, not our slaves. The board didn’t know anything about this. We had sent that clothing out to our provincial associations but hadn’t taken a decision to get that clothing back.The way they were treated is unacceptable and I have ordered that they be given a new set of clothes plus an extra day’s wages. It is inhuman and slavery,” the SLC President further added.
