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| Thursday, 17 April 2003 |
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Thomian junior rugby carnival by Sharm de Alwis Thomian rugby is on course. Last week-end the young Thomian bucks were coralled and stimulated so that the passion would rage when they are old enough to wear the College rugger jersey. The Thomian Junior Rugby Carnival was organised by the Old Thomian Rugby Football Union and was held for the age groups of 9,11,13 and 15 years. Over 200 boys represented their respective Houses in all age groups. The Union Assurance Bank sponsored the event for the sixth consecutive year. Mr. and Mrs. Ramal Jaysinghe were the Chief Guests and Nihal 'Baila' Samarasinghe was the Guest of Honour. Baila was the first President of the OTRFU which in 1996 had the nucleus of Baila, the late Lal Kumarasinghe, Shanaka de Livera and Arjun Dharmadasa. This year's event was organised by Shanaka de Livera and Trinity's Rugby Lion of '56, Gamini Weerasinghe who harnessed the active participation of over fifty parents to make the proceedings a stirring success. The event was conducted in carnival atmosphere, with food stalls, music, decorated House tents. Milo was in (hic) at hand, sponsored by Nestles who always assist events of this nature. In addition to the trophies, all participants were given certificates and folders with photographs taken on the day. The Tournament was conducted to encourage and promote rugby at grass roots level to recapture the past glory of Thomian rugby. Thomian rugby commenced in the year 1955 during the tenure of Warden, Cannon R.S. de Saram and is two years shy of the 50th anniversary. Double International Royalist, Mahes Rodrigo was the first coach. Thereafter Percy Perera and Quentin Israel in long spells achieved the pinnacle of success. Quentin has had the distinction of winning 43 matches on the trot. Within five years into the game, under the captaincy of Baila Samarasinghe, they beat Trinity, the school that everyone wanted to get the better of. In the next year, under Tony Sirimanne, they beat Royal. Some of the illustrious fore-runners that the young bucks will eagerly want to emulate have been Rodney Ingleton, Ifthikar Cader, Frankie David, Bumpy Jayasekera, Wendel and Maxim Flamer-Caldera, Selva Kangasabai, Nihal Algama, Lal Kumarasinghe, Maurice Fairweather, Michale Jayasekera, P.L. Munasinghe, John Rudra, Chaminda Rupasinghe, Suren de Chickera, Kolitha Gunathileka, Dicky Jayathileka, Roger d'Silva, Sujeeva Saranapala, the Speldewinde brothers, Kelwayn and Jerome, Naren Perera and the de Saram brothers Charya, Savantha and Prabath, who with two captains come second only to the Samarasinghe brothers, Baila, Mohan and Rajpal. |
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