A feast of rugby at Pallekelle (2004) STC - Trinity College match and dinner

The speakers at the Dinner hosted by the Old Trinitians rugby scrummage in conjunction with the Medarata branch of the STC OBA at the residence of the central province governors residence were in such fine fettle and in brilliant vocal shadow sparring that they would have scored a plethora of tries had they been let loose on the rugger field at Pallekelle where earlier in the day five games were worked off between trinity and ST Thomas .

STC U 11 Vs TCK U 10 - Trinity coached by Sam Samarasekara romped out winners in the grand manner having scored 43 points to STC's 8 . Spunky little Darshana Dambawinne scored 2 tries diving over in the fashions of a high class pro. His talent displayed with flair will certainly take him to greater levels of efficiency in the wake of time.

U 13 STC coached by Trinitian Rajiv Ganapathy thrashed TCK coached by Robert Navaratne 44- 7 in a lop sided game.

U15 Robert Navaratne seemed to have made amends by getting his charges to for ge ahead 15-0

U17 Anil Jayasinghe continues to turn out classic performances. TCK won handsomely 36-5 . The Trinitian referee should fine tune his whistle.

1st XV Orville Fernando kept a strict tempo with his whistle and would brook no nonsense even from spectators or boys on the bench as he instilled codes of discipline in a game that TCK came in to reckoning only after the turn round to win 21-15 when the Thomians had clearly run out of wind.

Trinity's defense has to be tightened. They allowed the opponents to gather momentum with ball in hand with inept tackling . They must learn to crash tackle immediately the opponent gets procession.

The pack is mobile but someone has to streamline the back division play. With so many sharp games ahead, I hark back to Several Samarasekara's dictum. Winning is not everything. Winning is the only thing.

The chalked message on the green. congratulating STC on the 50 years of rugby. the banner echoing the sentiments . The lusty singing of the National Anthem and the two college songs.

specially by Mohan Samarakoon high lighting his normally stentorian slightly British accented voice through a megaphone. All these gave a special luster to the proceedings.

The crowd control and the traffic arrangements for over a thousand vehicles initiated by Mohan proved to be an excellent fore runner for Pallekelle to be the venue of the Bradby in year 2005 with Singer muscling in a gain with financial assistance.

After the game we weaded our way to the residence of H. E. Monty Gopallawa, the governor of the central province where the fifty years of Thomian rugby was commemorated in grand style.

Lakshman Sirimanne was the ebullient master of ceremonies and was precise in manner and timing. Shanaka De Livera whose enthusiasm and dedication to the cause of Thomian rugby in so abiding that he may well be compared to the bladder which is the sustenance of the oval ball, was in his element and as a lawyer was never lost for the apt word.

Shanaka thanked all and sundry who made for this happy occasion. Particularly Nahil Wijesuriya who was the only guy cattily dressed in lounge suit and sporting the Trinity tie. He thanked the Old Trinitians Rugby Scrummage, the Old TYhomians Rugby Union and the medarata branch of the STC OBA.

He paid fine tribute to to the fine spirit of sportsmanship that went through the fabric of the five games played and felt it was due to the rapport that was always been predominant between the boys of the two schools whose motttos of Esto Perpetua and Respice Finem dove tail endlessly.

He thanked Mr Rod Gilbert , the principal of Trinity and Dr David Ponniah. the warden of S Thomas for their ready encouragement and cooperation.

This years event was hosted by Nahil Wijesuriyaband the Old Trinitians Rugby Scrummage following in the wake of last years reception hosted by the Old Thomians Rugby union. Jayantha Jayawardena the President of the OTRS and a man deeply in elephant lore knowing quite well the elephantile proportions of the venture offered Shanaka to pay up front for the next re union.

Mr Rod Gilbert the principal of Trinity said that the games played and the fine spectatorship hailed the quintessential ethos of the two schools and was confident that encounters between the boys of the two schools will always be in the high plateau.

Dr David Ponniah the warden of STC confessed that it was difficult to make a speech when his side had lost all games but one. Nevertheless he paid tribute to the fine manner in which the games were played and reminded us that players should be unbowed in defeat and magnanimous in victory. He felt that he would need to get usd to being unbowed considering the sterling performance of the Trinitians.

Dr Ponniah asked which is the better parippu .Which is the more watery? Is it the Trinity parippu? or the Thomian Parippu? He recalled his visit to Trinity with the cricket team in 1968 . The Trinity parippu was solid  It had sausage , bacon and potato that the Thomians found the Asgiriya game rather demanding.

His Excellency Monty Gopallawa confessed that it wa the very first time in his life that he had been Chief Guest in his own home. Having been at Trinity for 6 years before he wished for sea air at the school by the sea. he hoped fervently that Trinity would win back the Bradby shield this year.

The Hon Mahinda Rajapakse Prime Minister was also a distinguished guest and for once i saw him without  the signature Kurakkam Shawl of family tradition. He was in western garb and had been at the matches too because his son is a key player at number 8 in the Thomian pack.

Sharm De Alwis
82/1 Kandy Road
Kiribathgoda

Reference - Times of Ceylon - 10th July 2004