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| Saturday, 6 March 2004 |
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The oval Ball: Unity is the key to success by Y.C. Chang The last week saw me experiencing two annual general meetings. One was the Sri Lanka Rugby Union and the other at the Havelocks Sports Club. Whilst the former was a quiet proceeding of matters relating to the agenda the latter was quite the opposite. At the Union's meeting Mohan Balasooriya was returned uncontested for the second year with Priyantha Ekanayake sweeping aside any who challenged him as the Vice President. Iswan Omar from Kandy too followed suit as its Honorary Secretary. Other than this the only other new comer is Ravi Balasooriya, who represented the CR & FC in the eighties and had done tremendous work with Trinity as the head of the old boy's rugby committee - 'Scrummage'. Now that there are two Balasooriyas one must not confuse them to be of the same family tree as was stressed by Mohan when the voting took place, so as to make sure that Ravi did not get any favoured votes. Mohan's speech on the status of rugby was quite candid. He felt that the game was still alive and not dead and those who prophesied that it was dead was 'brain dead'. In his estimates, our game had always been around the middle levels of the Asian ladder - sometimes a little above and sometimes a little below. With the popularity of the game, he believes that Sri Lanka will produce results in the near future with the appropriate nutrition, skills and commitment. The Union was very generous to award Life Membership of the Union to five who they felt had made notable contributions to the game. They are Summa Navaratnam, Malik Samarawickrema, Gamini Fernando, Y. C. Chang and Mahendra Amerasuriya of Singer Co. AGM of Havelocks At the Havelocks the next day the atmosphere was tense as there were two challenging each other for the post of president. One was Lal Silva the former treasurer of the Rugby Union and Yusuf Mukthar, a past president and a life member of the club. The large membership that gathered to vote only showed that divisions can be deep and harmful for the club that needs unity now. Individual chauvinism should have been cast aside and the club members made comfortable to unanimously elect only one candidate for the Presidency. However, the most pleasing gesture that I witnessed was when Lal Silva being a true ruggerite gave his hand of friendship to Yusuf after the election. Lucian Rajakarunanayake who took the chair pro tem was lucid in his handling of the meeting. His speech to the membership was to remember that members could differ in opinion but not in unity. The club was there to debate and to be indignant but not to be divided. He stressed that at the end of the day he hoped that all would unite to assist the elected president through his tenure of office. In lighter vein he was able to reflect on how old the Havelocks were - 89 years. A club that was steeped in tradition and it was from the Havelocks that Colonel E. H. Joseph broke away to form the CR & FC because of a difference of opinion in 1922. On this I was able to do some research and here is what I found. The origin of CR and FC The story goes that Col. E. H. Joseph who was a truly great ruggerite having played as a forward during his youth was selected to play for the Low Country for eight consecutive years against Up Country. The CR & FC is an institution brought into being mainly through the influence and energy of E. H. Joseph, who was extremely well-known in sporting circles. The truth is that the CR & FC was born at the dinner table of Col. Jospeh's. This being so, he pushed the little infant along with such galvanic enthusiasm that the christening ceremony was a meeting of the various clubs in Colombo that included rugby in their curriculum. This meeting was held on the Nondescript's cricket ground. After the aims and objectives having been carefully explained to the ruggerites collected and with the help of a few more enthusiasts he was able to have the inaugural meeting of the CR & FC at the GHA headquarters on the 25th of September 1922. Thus duly constituted the CR entered its first season in 1923. There was one match against the Havelocks Sports Club (practically a home and home match), one with the CH & FC, KV and Navy. The year 1924 was distinct in that the CR played eight matches in all. The only reverses they had were with the CH & FC and the school side called 'Trinity'. In a few years, the CR got their affiliation with Ceylon Rugby Football Union, which of course improved the status of the club. This affiliation allowed them to play in the Lady Clifford Cup and the chance of playing Madras, when they came to play in Colombo. With that much said of how a new club was born through a division of opinion - the moral of the story is that the Union or Clubs is all of one family. That being the motive it is incumbent of the leadership to ensure that Unity prevails at all costs and not get embroiled in pettiness that will endanger the very existence of rugby. I am entitled to this wise belief as am seeing the degeneration of much of our society due to the lack of tolerance. I wish my good friends at the helm fruitful years in administration. I enjoyed it at one time, why not you? Good luck.' |
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