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by Sharm de Alwis

I shall make a proposal to the Colombo Branch of the Trinity College OBA that they seriously consider adopting a motto for the Association and my suggestions is 'Win or Lose, We Booze'.

The Association had organised a well spread Fellowship Function on the lush lawns of the CR & FC but at 9 in the evening with only a sprinkling of a gathering, I mused whether it is difficult to find Trinitians after a Bradby match like last Saturday's, repeating the rampant Royal Colombo Leg wins of '51, '71, '76, '88 and the record establishing 42-11 victory in '98 after having been beaten 18-20 by Prassanna Jayawardene's outfit in Kandy.

Within the hour of my random thoughts the grounds were ablaze with fellowship conversational wraps and one spark repeated itself: Royal couldn't get past the 42 mark.

The bon-homie continued with chaps talking the moon down the sky and consolation was sought in the grim thought that someone's got to win, someone's got to lose or why on earth are there scoreboards. The only draw was in '92.

That the Royalists played scintillating rugby with their tanking forwards winning ball to feed their try-hungry threes to score at will is never to be questioned. Trinity had their moments but faulty ball handling cost them dear to go down 0-39.

Two weeks of intensive training by the three-pronged high velocity motivators, Alex Lazarus, Anil Jayasinghe and S. W. Chang proved inadequate to get the better of a well-knit Royal unit which on the day could have taken on and beaten the lesser Clubs.

As painful as it is for the psyche to accept, I've got to be like the swarn and sip the water and leave the milk in the trough because I am thirsting for a Trinity win. Perchance, miracles will be woven within the fortnight that leads to the second leg and then will Bogambara, nay, all of Kandy reverberate to the pulsating rhythm of a Trinity win and the ominous-to-Royal chant of Respice Finem because Trinitians have never been interested in the possibilities of defeat.

Seevali 'Gal' Samarasekera of the victorious '70 team has gone one up on Charlie Brown's 'Winning is not everything, but losing isn't anything', with his rally call to the forces, "Winning is not everything. Winning is the only thing".

Make our dreams come true, you fifteen lads who wear the red, gold and blue jersey, recognised universally as the finest to frame the body of a ruggerite. 

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