Freddie White, Kingswood’s outstanding sportsman

It was indeed sad news to hear that Freddie White had passed away in Perth recently and his funeral had been held. Freddie White was the younger brother of Duncan White. Whilst Duncan attended Trinity College, Kandy, Freddie was a student at Kingswood College. Duncan became famous because for his Silver Medal at the Olympic Games held in London in 1948. Freddie made his mark as a goalie in hockey. He was one of the greatest, if not THE greatest hockey player produced by Kingswood.

While at Kingswood, Freddie participated in almost every sport and represented the College in hockey, cricket, football and athletics and if I remember right, won colours in all four.

Freddie White’s goalkeeping was outstanding. In fact, in a match against a very strong Indian team he made so many spectacular saves which would have been goals against any other goalkeeper. Sri Lanka (then Ceylon) lost the match by a solitary goal thanks to Freddie’s brilliant goalkeeping. Such was his talent that he was considered the best goalie in Asia at that time.

Freddie joined the Sri Lanka Army and rose to the rank of Captain. Thereafter he represented the Army in inter club tournaments and the Defence Services team in the Annual Hockey Nationals.

I had the privilege of playing alongside three outstanding hockey players from Kingswood College. Two of them were TS Adahan playing as a fullback for the Nationalised Services team and Dilsiri “Bullet” Peiris for the Government Services team in the Nationals. The icing on the cake was playing with Freddie, He had then discarded his goalkeeping pads and played fullback for Bloomfield in the Colombo Hockey Association’s inter-club tournament.

Thereafter I lost contact with Freddie as he had migrated to Australia and settled in Perth. He was here for a short visit, and I was only able talk to him over the phone.Sri Lanka and Kingswood College have lost an outstanding sportsman. May the turf lie gently on him.

HM Nissanka Warakaulle