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| Saturday, 31 January 2004 |
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by Bharatha Malawaraarachchi A stamp to mark the 125th anniversary of the annual Royal-Thomian Cricket encounter, perhaps the oldest encounter in the world was launched yesterday. The cancelation of the stamp took place under the patronage of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe at Royal College yesterday morning. The Battle of the Blues holds the world record for an unbroken series in school cricket. The Royal-Thomian encounter in 1878 and 1879 had members of the staff included in the teams. Among them were Ashley Walker of Royal and Rev. T.F. Falkner of S. Thomas'. In 1889 was the first year in which only students took part and which is now officially accepted as the starting point of the Royal-Thomian encounters and as such the score books have been maintained from 1880. Elaborating on the importance of the event, Premier Wickremesinghe said the "Battle of the Blues" the annual cricket encounter between Royal and S. Thomas' marks a very significant event in the history of cricket. "This stamp not only marks the cricket encounter between Royal and S. Thomas', it also commemorates the oldest and continuous major annual cricket encounter in the world," he added. Recalling other cricket encounters in the world, Premier said most of these encounters had been disrupted one time or another due to the second world war and organisers also had gone for other matches. The Prime Minister explained that the Royal-Thomianhas taught the lesson of facing victory and defeat as the same. "All of us either have played or witnessed the match and learned the spirit of the game and to face the victory and defeat. "More than that, we learned to play by the rules and we carry this with us even after leaving school and in our public life," he told a gathering of present and past students from both schools. Ministers of Enterprise Development, Industrial Policy, Investment Promotion and Constitutional Affairs Prof. G.L. Peiris (an old Thomian) and Posts and Telecommunications Imithiaz Bakeer Markar and Ministry Secretary Thilak Ranaviraja were also present on the occasion. |
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