Sports
CH & FC enjoys having rugby’s last ‘regal’ player
By A Special Sports Correspondent
One of the positives about the Sri Lanka Rugby (SLR) conducted inter-club Division 1 league rugby tournament is that there are eight teams in the fray and the side finishing last faces no risk of being relegated to a lower division. For the record, there was a B Division tournament conducted many years ago, but right now there is no talk of conducting that tournament this year.
But all that relegation talk goes into oblivion when one sees the progress Colombo Hockey & Football Club (CH & FC) has made this season despite the awful performance last season where they finished at the bottom of the points table (eighth place) at the conclusion of the league tournament for 2022/23. CH & FC is not a side that can be written off that easily. The club has attracted some of the best youth rugby players and signed up veteran coach Sanath Martis to put the players through their paces this season.
Rugby in Sri Lanka has remained an elite sport. Unlike cricket, where the best players are now coming from the outstations and making it to the national team, rugby is still heavily depended on the talent that Western and Central Province schools produce for its sustenance. There is another factor that makes rugby attract media attention and that is the participation of members of an elite family; like the Rajapaksas. The present CH & FC side has Rohitha Rajapaksa who plays as fly half. A few seasons ago there was Yoshitha and before that Member of Parliament and the eldest in the family Namal; all of them being involved in the game at club level at the time their dad-Mahinda- was the First Citizen of the Country. Just imagine the attention the sport of rugby union receive when Mahinda was president and the three sons were dabbling in the game. There were other notorious issues connected to rugby which made the sport get highlighted for all the wrong reasons during this time. Let’s not go to that part of history in this sports column.
Looking on the bright side rugby was the sport where the Royal family was involved in when all three Rajapaksa brothers were involved with some club contesting the domestic league rugby tournament. This factor just makes it so difficult for other sports to be in the limelight. All that glamour that the sport attracts for the reasons given above will be over the day Rohitha hangs up his boots. However, as for CH & FC, history has taught this institute lessons on maintaining prestige and glamour in the fields of entertainment and sport.
Just reverse the clock to 1863 we saw the emergence of a club for recreation and sport when this nation was known as Ceylon. It was established under the English and one had to be British to represent the club at sport. Starting its operations at Race Course the club then moved to Maitland Crescent in 1962; in which year they opened the doors for locals to obtain membership and represent the club in domestic sport; especially rugby. Bryan Baptist had the honour of becoming the first local to captain CH & FC at rugby. But still the influence of British nationals or expatriates continued to boost the image of the club. Individuals like this writer, who was born in the early 1970s and watched rugby in the 1980s, can remember The Gymkhana Club authorities flying down British national Simon Hunter for the Clifford Cup knockout tournament; a move that made members of the other experience goose bumps. When Hunter (who played as wing three quarter) kicked an up and under during a game one could go to the restaurant area of the club, have a quick tea and comeback to his or her seat and miss nothing because the ball would almost touch the clouds before it came down again; the description of his kicking prowess given here using a figurative expression common to spectators back then who witnessed the best of CH rugby. These foreigners who played in our domestic tournaments knew the makings of the rugby ball and possessed intricate knowledge of the seam of the oval shaped object which made it behave when a player kicked it. This was sheer magic to us!
Then the club had a phase of employing Fijians and was a force in rugby in the early 1990s. The Gymkhana Club then had the fortune of obtaining the services of Hisham Abdeen, who was already a legend at Havelock Sports Club having established himself as the best player Sri Lanka produced in rugby. There was a time when the best players leaving school preferred to join CH & FC because of the prestige the club had in the sport of rugby and the standards this institute forced players to maintain both on and off the field.
Now times have changed a bit and a player in the likes of Rohitha is capable of attracting players from any club to don CH & FC’s red and white jersey. The Rajapaksa brothers still have much clout in the societies they frequently step into and showing some of that influence in rugby is easy as taking a walk in the park.
This is an era where clubs are struggling to exist because of the many economic hurdles they have to encounter. There was a time just about during the pandemic when clubs were struggling to pay its members for playing competitive rugby. Now there are influential members in rugby playing clubs who can get players to think of doing the unthinkable or saying yes to something which is not so close to their hearts. There have been occasions when players who wanted to quit the sports here in Sri Lanka and immigrate changed their minds and stayed back because an individual with clout offered a ‘lifeline’. Havelock’s Sanjeewa Jayasinghe was all ready and packed up to go settle down in Dubai when someone from Kandy SC made an offer he couldn’t refuse. Thanks to what happened Jayasinghe had a ‘new lease of life’ at rugby and was able to bring honours to both club and country.
Rohitha is perhaps the last ‘regal’ face in local rugby. He may have a few more seasons in rugby the least and then hang up his boots. He has had a few coaching stints with schools and may take up a more serious role in coaching or even take to rugby management in the club scene. CH & FC enjoys having him in the team’s line-up and the ideas he brings to the discussion table. The Maitland Crescent Club showed him how to handle matters related to elitism, difficult times and protect an institution’s identity at rugby. Rohitha is sure to cherish all his rugby memories at the Gymkhana Club.
91st Battle of the Saints
St. Joseph’s hold the edge when they meet arch rivals St. Peter’s in the 91st Battle of the Saints’ big match starting today. After having beaten Petes by nine wickets in the Under 19 Division I Tier ‘A’ quarter-final at Polonnaruwa the Joes arive at the SSC ground to prove that the victory registered two months ago was not a fluke.
St. Joseph’s captained by wicketkeeper batsman Kenath Liyanage are concluding a successful season after having remained unbeaten until they were eliminated in the semi-final by St. Sebastian’s .
A strong batting lineup and a dynamic spin department are making them a formidable outfit.
Experienced campaigner Yenula Dewthusa and Demion de Silva with their left-arm spin and Aveesha Samash and Nushan Perera with off spin provide the Joes variety in the spin department. Dewthusa, Demion de Silva and Nushan Perera are their leading wicket takers. Spinners doing well at schools matches have not been effective at the SSC during the last few big matches. It will be interesting to watch as to how the spinners in these two teams would fare during the three days.
For pace the Joes will look to Maanasa Madubashana and Dunick Perera who are expected to share the new ball.
Abishek Jayaweera and Aveesha Samash will open batting, while Senuja Wakunugoda, skipper Liyanage, Dewthusa and Rishma Amarasinghe form the rest of the top order batting lineup.
St. Joseph’s registered three outright victories this season (beat St. Servatius’, St. Benedict’s and St. Peter’s) and remained unbeaten.
St. Peter’s under Oween Salgado’s captaincy did well to reach the business end of the Tier ‘A’ tournament. But the Petes were uncertain of Salgado’s participation in the big match as they were yet to assess his fitness yesterday morning. He was wounded during a match and the stitched wound had not fully healed according to team sources.
Petes beat Gurukula, St. Aloysius’ and Holy Cross this season. Their only defeat was at the hands of their arch rivals. They will look forward to avenge the defeat at the big match.
The Petes will rely on the likes of Dilana Damsara, Thareen Sanketh, Nathan David and Jason Fernando to take a greater share of batting responsibilities. The middle order batsman Sanketh is their leading batsman and has maintained an average of over 50 runs.
Speedsters Ethan Ransilige and Joshua Sebastian will share new ball duties for the Petes.
Lashmika Perera and Sanketh will share most of the slow ball duties.
St Peter’s are in the possession of the coveted Rev. Fr. Maurice J. Le Goc Trophy having last won the big match under the captaincy of Vinu Mohotty in 2016.
St. Joseph’s lead the series tally 12-10. They last won under Ruwantha Fernandopulle’s captaincy in 2008.
St. Peter’s College Team
(Seated from left) Harsha Prabath Perera (Asst. Physio/Trainer & Massuer), Thushara Maduhanka (1st XI Asst. Coach),
Nalin Wijesinghe (Head Coach), Priyadarshana Cooray (MIC – Senior & Junior), Oween Salgado (Captain), Rev. Fr.
Rohitha Rodrigo (Rector), Rev. Fr. Praveen Wijesekara (Priest in Charge – Cricket), Lashmika Perera
(Vice Captain), Dilana Damsara, Rohan Fernando (MIC – 2nd XI), Dinuka D. Godakanda (2nd XI Coach).
(Standing 1st row from left) Dinsara Rathnaweera, Dineth de Silva, Tharin Senvidu, Nathan David, Hiruka Silva, Thareen
Sanketh, Virul Amarapala, Yatheendra Jayaweera, Salith Gallage, Raphael Hettige. (Standing 2nd row from left) Jason Fernando,
Joshua Sebastian, Savi Fernnado, Ethan Ransilige, Asadisa De Silva, Sadeesha Kariyawasam, Enosh Peterson
by Reemus Fernando
120th Lovers’ Quarrel
The stakeholders of the Lovers’ Quarrel Big Match were still pursuing to make the historic 120th edition a reality on the eve of the match after Richmond authorities threatened to pull out citing that Mahinda had violated an accepted norm by included a newly recruited player in the big match team.
The historic edition was scheduled to commence as a three day encounter at the Galle International Stadium today. But the match remained doubtful at the time this edition went to press. The officials of both teams were unavailable for comments on the eve of the match. According to sources close to the two teams the joint big match committee was scheduled to meet in the evening yesterday to take a final decision regarding the match.
Richmond threatened to pull out after Mahinda included Charya Paranavithana in their big match team. Paranavithana captained St. Aloysius’ this season. He is not eligible to play matches that come under the purview of Sri Lanka Schools Cricket Association as he is yet to be registered as a Mahinda player. Big Matches are not played according to SLSCA rules but Richmond authorities had raised concerns over the player registration citing that the two schools had honoured the norm even at the big match.
According to sources Richmond were threatening to pull out if Paranavithana’s name was included in the playing XI on the match day morning.
Mahinda concluded a highly successful season as the team captained by Kaveen Rukshan earned the Under 19 Division I Tier ‘A’ promotion this year. They were also the joint champions of the Tier ‘B’ tournament with Thurstan. In contrast former Division I champions Richmond had to fight relegation scares. The team captained by Thamindu Pradeeptha later successfully retained their Tier A position by recording an outright victory.
Mahinda College Team
Seated left to right: T.D. Ajantha Kumara (Head Coach), Y. Nishantha Kumara (Master in Charge – Senior), L. P. Weeraman (Deputy Principal –
Sports), Kaveen Rukshan (Captain), Mr. Janaka Peduruheva (Principal), Arosha Udayanga (Vice Captain), Mr. M.W. Ajith (Prefect of Games), Mr.
Jagath Samarakoon (Master in charge – Junior), Mr. Sachith Lakmal (Asst. Coach)
Standing (Middle row) – left to right – Dineth Pahasara, Thiyon Helika, Vinupa Nethmira, Sahanjith Irugalbandara, Dulisth Darshana, Senuka
Dangamuwa, Sadew Nethmina, Manitha Rajapaksha, Vishmitha Sathsara, Charya Paranavithana, Randula Mabarana
Standing (Back row) – left to right – Sajeew Punsara, Sehas Ashinsa, Kaveesha Githmal, Thevindu Rashmika
by Reemus Fernando
CR & FC huffed and puffed before beating Havelocks Sports Club 25-24 in a keenly contested Clifford Cup semi final game worked off in Colombo yesterday before booking their berth in Sunday’s rugby final, scheduled to take place in Kandy.
In Sunday’s final, CR will meet Kandy SC, the winner of the first semi final.
CR dominated the first half, but Havies came from behind in the second half to be in contention of pulling the game off till the last minute. Havelocks’ chances were boosted with two powerful tries coming from Chathura Dilshan late in the second half. But unpardonable mistakes by the men in the pink and chocolate jerseys helped CR to slip away with the game. Havelocks gave away two yellow cards during extra time in the second half.
The winners collected their points through three tries, two conversions and two penalties while Havelocks responded with three converted tries and a penalty. The winners led 15-10 at half time. Referee Raveen Alexander controlled the game.
By A Special Sports Correspondent
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