Campese’s rugby diary in Sri Lanka filled with special moments

By A Special Sports Correspondent

Australian rugby legend David Campese was here to boost the launch of the ‘Zahira Centenary Rugby Sevens’ which was held recently in Colombo. The Aussie rugby union player is no stranger to players and fans who followed the game in the early 1980s to the mid 1990s. That was the time when Australia was a dominant force in rugby; especially in the seven-a-side version of the game. There is a saying in rugby that those who play this sport will find a way to communicate even if the spoken language sets up barriers. Campese arranged many coaching workshops for coaches and schools during his stay here in the island. And most likely even if there was a communication gap due to the language issue Campese probably got his message across to coaches and those who attended these workshops because of this great camaraderie feature in rugby union.

Zahira College is celebrating 100 years in rugby this year. Campese played over 100 tests for Australia and 85 of them were as a wing three quarter. We remember those breathtaking runs by Campese when he played for Australia in the ‘Hong Kong Sevens’; when this event served as the biggest and only rugby attraction in the abbreviated form of rugby and before the IRB Rugby Sevens Series began and grew to have eight stops in selected cities in the world. In the 2023/24 rugby sevens series Hong Kong is the sixth stop with Dubai, Cape Town, Perth, Vancouver, Los Angeles, Singapore and Madrid being named as the other cities in the world with hosting rights for the ‘IRB rugby sevens’.

Campese spoke at the launch and remembered playing against the ‘Lilliputians’ from this sun kissed island in the Hong Kong Sevens. He recalled, during this speech, playing for Australia in the Hong Kong sevens in the years 1993, 1994 and 1995 and meeting Sri Lanka in the ‘pool stages’ of the tournament. Australia won the tournament in 1993. This writer remembers veteran sports writer T.M.K. Samat telling him about his work experience in newspapers in Hong Kong, where, once he had to work under an Australian editor-in-chief. According to Samat this editor had been a tough task master and on the day of the Hong Kong Sevens ‘finals’ he had reported on how Australia had done well to win the ‘Cup Championships’ and after that this editor had had a change of attitude towards him. There was a time when Australia and the Hong Kong Sevens were so interwoven as the ‘eventual champion and the trophy’. New Zealand and Australia were the driving forces in sevens rugby at that time and Fiji was a force just coming up.

We Sri Lankans loved his determined runs, the cunningness shown on the field and the quick thinking coupled with quick silver footwork that made him a sole match-winner despite rugby being a team sport. Campese was famous for that ‘goose step’-a hitch-kick motion-which often had defenders chasing him missing him and clinging on to thin air when tackles were attempted on him. So many others tried this goose step in rugby, but akin to McDonald’s pizza being ahead of the others in the same business, those who tried Campese’s footwork were found wanting because this move-copied by others- was either under or over cooked on the rugby field.

Campese has often got into trouble for speaking without rehearsing his words. Our own rugby legend and winger, the late Chandrishan Perera, once told this writer how Campese had run around him and beaten him for pace during the game of rugby. The Australian had even made a degrading remark targeting the Sri Lankan player. Perera had done the identical move in that game destroying Campese’s defence and then responded ‘now we are equal’. Perera said that players from other parts of the world show Asians respect when the latter are intelligent and skilled in the game of rugby union. For the record Perera and the present President of Sri Lanka Rugby Nalin de Silva were members of the ‘Bowl Championship’ winning team in the 1984 edition of the Hong Kong Sevens. The Sri Lankan rugby authorities managed to invite the Australian rugby legend last week as a special guest for the second leg of the annual rugby encounter between CR&FC and Havelock Sports Club-played for the Matthysz Trophy- at Longden Place.

Back to the launch of the Zahira Centenary Rugby Sevens and the coaching sessions that were held alongside these events we saw how respectful Campese was when he removed his hat when giving away certificates to successful participants. Did some of our ‘hat wearing’ coaches who participated in the rugby workshops show the same respect to this special guest when they came up to receive their certificates? This is a point to ponder at a time when the whole of Sri Lanka is demanding a system change; which many believe must start from the citizens themselves.

Campese speaking at the launch said that his achievement of playing 100 plus Tests in rugby can help him relate to the Zahira Centenary Rugby Sevens. He also emphasized on the importance of indentifying culture and history associated with a sport. He underscored that it would be hard to establish oneself in a sport if culture and history are absent. He said, “Rugby is a unique sport and everywhere you go in the world you will find a rugby club”. Here in Sri Lanka, however, he found a school that has a history in rugby spanning 100 years. Campese is sure to talk about his rugby experience in Sri Lanka all the way back to Australia!