By a Special Sports Correspondent

Kandy Sports Club is riding on a high wave this season too and their presence in the domestic rugby scene has given the sport at home the much needed lift to attract attention of fans and sponsors.

Imagine being the only division 1 rugby playing club in the Central Province and having to compete against seven other teams which are scattered all over in another province which is 72 km away from Kandy! Till very recently Kandy didn’t see that easily their opposition at rugby and perhaps what happens in terms of preparations in Colombo. But now, thanks to a leading sports website, boasting of massive live coverage given to rugby matches, Kandy can follow move for move when the other top teams in the tournament clash in matches organized in venues in the Western Province. The same is true for other teams; you don’t a need video spy recording matches which feature other teams. This sports website is doing it for all the teams and you only need internet connection to keep yourself in the loop.

But still, Kandy SC is alone; and the players surely must be getting that feeling of being isolated in the central hills of this country. The players have ‘demi god’ status and probably their private lives also must be coming under the scrutiny of the public when they step into town. This is not an exaggeration when you consider that rugby in Kandy SC has the potential to close down the town and bring in the crowds to Nittawela in their numbers on match day.

Kandy as a town has got used to a few luxuries where sports are concerned. The list will be long if the number of sports practiced in Kandy is jotted down. But what is the supreme reality of sport one must understand when the individual continues practicing the discipline he or she chooses after leaving school? The answer is ‘can the individual engage in the sport for a living, pay his bills and survive 30 days of the month with what he makes as earnings’. I know this might be confusing because there is a question and the answer is also coming in the form of a question. If the answer after analyzing this question is ‘yes’ then it’s worthwhile doing sport at a competitive level or a semi professional level because then the sport seems to be looking after you. But here in the Central Hills or Nittawela to be precise the club takes good care of its players.

Kandy SC can be a too larger institute to enter into at first. Remember that Kandy SC is not restricting membership to players born in the Central Hills. So many players have left Colombo and moved to Kandy and furthered their careers. A few players who broke off from their Colombo roots and ended up in Kandy are the late Sajith Mallikarachchi, Sanjeewa Jayasinghe, Dhanushka Ranjan and Srinath Sooriyaarachchi. There may be more like them, but these four players did not only Kandy SC proud, but made their contributions to the country’s national team in both sevens and fifteen-a-side rugby. There were players who originally schooled in academic institutes in Central Province and moved to Western Province in search of greener pastures; choosing to go with Colombo based clubs. But the really good players virtually came back to the place of their birth and found Kandy SC to be like ‘Hotel California’; we remind readers of the line in that song which goes-you can check out any time you like, but you can never leave’. Kandy SC shares similar sentiments!

In Colombo, players come and go and they are soon forgotten. But at the Nittawela club players in the likes of Denzil Kobbekaduwa, Lasantha Wijesuriya, Priyantha Ekanayake, Indrajith Bandaranayake, Sean Wijesinghe, Nalaka Weerakkody and Fazil Marija were honoured by the club by naming stands inside Kandy Sport Club in their names. This goes on to prove how big the rugby culture is in Kandy and underscores the fact that the club throws its weight behind players in making them brands or icons in the sport.

Marija is in charge of coaching the side he represented as a player for many seasons. This is the club at which he grew from a skinny lad playing the game to a beefy muscular thinking player. When he retired in 2018 he was given a majestic send off by rugby fans of Central Province at the Nittawela ground itself. That year Kandy SC managed to defuse a charge by Havelock Sports Club and eventually finished the season as triple champions. Havies finished as runners-up that season.

Marija has some seasoned campaigners in the likes of Jason Dissanayake, Tharinda Ratwatte, Nigel Ratwatte, Lavanga Perera, Srinath Sooriyabandara and Danushka Ranjan to carry their hopes this season. The club has added more strength to the coaching team by bringing in South African Johan Taylor; not a stranger to Kandy SC and also to the national rugby players. There is former Sri Lanka player Viraj Prashantha who has a slot in the coaching staff too.

Up in the cool climes of Kandy these players have the least distractions and can concentrate on their rugby. However the stakes are high when playing for Kandy SC because those in the starting line-up can see more hungry ‘foxes’ climbing up the hill to wear the white, red and blue jersey. This team just cannot lose at rugby; akin to the Indian national team making a cricket crazy nation weep every time they lose and bow out of a competition. Kandy SC can take a bow for establishing a loyal spectator base. We can see some of the most colourful faces at rugby matches cheering Kandy SC on; face paint and the waving of the ‘lion’ flag are now built in features of spectator behavior.

This season too Kandy SC has created that vibe that their prestige in rugby cannot be dented that easily. Four week into the inter-club league rugby tournament the side from Nittawela is heading the points table with four wins out of four outings. The ‘Lion’ in their flag reminds the Kandy SC players that the king of the jungle must stay alert; even if it calls for practicing eternal vigilance both on and off the field!