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| Saturday, 20 March 2004 |
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Sports | |
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Golden era of police sports By S. Sivendran Retd. Snr, Supdt. of Police During the good old days the Police had a galaxy of sports stars who hailed from the best of schools and from good family background which made them officers and gentlemen. I was fortunate to have joined the Police during this period which was the golden era of Police sports. The Inspector General of Police was a smart and elegant officer Osmund De Silva, an outstanding athlete from St. Thomas College, Mount Lavinia and married to the daughter of the first Ceylonese Inspector General of Police Sir Richard Aluwihare. His Deputy Inspectors General were C.C. Dissanayake, a giant of an athlete who was an old Royalist and the holder of the national Putt Shot record. The other was the legendary Sydney de Zoysa another Royalist who was a great ruggerite, cricketer, athlete and horseman. They were followed by outstanding sportsmen such as Wilhelm Lembrugen, a six foot majestic looking officer, Cecil Wambeeck the amiable baby faced chubby officer, S.A. Dissanayaka, the brother of C.C. Dissanayake, another athlete from Royal College, David Pate and L.L. De Silva also good sportsmen from Royal College. The Director of the Police Training School was Stanley Senanayake, a flamboyant officer who will put to shame even the Hollywood stars and who was an outstanding swimmer and tennis player. His deputy was Fred Brohier, a ruggerite from Royal College who also coached the Police rugger team. The other officers were Eric Van Den Driesen, Terry Wijesinghe and V. Murugesapillai who were all sportsmen in their own right. They were followed by Arthur Dep a Josephian, who was the national record holder in Pole Vault, Tommy Kelaart another Josephian and an all Ceylon cricketer, T.B. Werapitiya, a Trinity Lion who also played Cricket for Ceylon, Rudra Rajasingham another Trinity ruggerite and cricketer who played rugby for the Ceylon Barbarians and who contributed immensely to Police rugby and Ivor Van Twest, a soccer stalwart to name a few. All these officers laid a lot of emphasis on sports and recruited outstanding sportsmen from all leading schools. Neil Weerasinghe, a Josephian cricketer and tennis player of the highest calibre once told me that when he was a Head Quarter Inspector of a Police station a murder was reported and he promptly visited the scene and made inquiries. But the next three days he had to play a cricket match in Colombo. When the murder trial was taken up in the Supreme Court the Judge had asked him why he did not continue the murder inquiry to which he replied that he had to go to Colombo to play in a cricket match. The Judge reported this matter to the I.G.P. Sydney de Zoysa who was the DIG in charge of the Range replied 'He was acting on my orders. All Inspectors are trained to inquire into murder cases, but all policemen cannot play cricket' and the matter ended there. This is how the officers held the sportsmen in high esteem. Police dominated the athletic scene with some of the greatest athletes such as E.G. Labrooy, D.S. de Silva, W.T. Seibel, Osmund de Silva, C.C. Dissanayake, A.C. Dep, David Thambiyah, R.E. Kitto, R.A. Stork, R.R. Scott, W.T. Sanders, Thiru Kadirgamar, Chandra Mendis, Bertus Perera, P. 'Brute' Mahendran, K. Satkunarajah, Ivan Boteju, Leslie Jayabandu, C. Navaratnam, Oswald Rajapakse, O.K. Hemachandra, Damien Perera, V.T. Mahalingam, Lional Karunasena, R.A.F. Perera, Christie Dhareeju, Premila Divakara, Nimal Fernando and Trevor Barthelot. P.S. Kasthuriarachchi held the Police 100 metres record for several years and this could not be broken as he was the ground Sergeant for a long period and it was the belief that he when marking the grounds for the Police meet always lengthened the 100 metres track so that no one could break his record. His record was only broken after his sudden death by one Damith Silva. Police cricket was at its zenith during this period with some outstanding cricketers such as Capt. Brindley, Cecil Horan, V.T. Dickman, Sr., Tommy Kelart, T.B. Werapitiya, Vernon Prins, Malcolm Spittel, Niel Weerasinghe, SOL. Gunatilake, Puggy Schockman, R.W. Gibson, Eddie Bultjens, Beck Wright, Lyn Taylor, Alcon Powell, Hugh Bagot, L.M.P.D. Silva, Hilton Perera, S.L. Silva, Felix Perumal, Dhanasiri Weerasinghe, Franklyn Burke, Merril Gunaratne, T.B. Kehelgamuwa and Jayantha Paranathala many of whom represented the country. Rugby was another sport that was popular in the Police and which dominated the local rugby scene with some great rugby players such as K.F. Jenkins, R.E. Blaze, Sydney de Zoysa, Rudra Rajasingham, Winnie Weerasinghe, Lionel Jirasinha, Micheal Schockman, Letcho Ephraums, James Senaratne, S.S. Bambaradeniya, Quintus Jayasinghe, Terry Williams, Franklyn Jacob, Sumith Silva, Rodney Aluwihare, Rahula Silva, Tony Mahath, Muni Gomes, P. 'Brute' Mahendran, S. Sivendran, Raja Pothuhera, M.A. Majeed, Ananda Piyasena, T.M.I. Hameed, Anton Benedict, Bandula Wijesinghe, Daya Jayasundara, Nizam Hajireen, B.B. Sourjah, G. Thirumany and R.P. Linton to name a few. Soccer was very popular in the Police and had outstanding players such as R.R. Williams, R.D. Somapala, T.B. Bongso, Preena, Masilamany, K.B. Pussella, B.B. Sourjah, Pingho, T. Perinpanayagam, Ignatius, Nizam Hajireen, M. Seevaratnam, Harold Anthony, Judy Preena, Roy, T. Wanigaratnam, M. Hussain, C. Vandergert, Samaraweera, Samidon and Samath. Boxing was a must in the Police and several boxers excelled at national level such as Barney Henricus who won a gold medal at the Empire Games. Eddie Grey, H.P. Jayasuriya, C.P. Jayasuriya, Sumith Liyanage and Darmasiri Weerakoon represented the country at the Olympic Games. S. Selladorai, Percy Wijesuriya, Micheal Schockman, Ralph Jansz, Chandra Jayawardana, Rahula Silva, Muni Gomes, P. 'Brute' Mahendran, Mahagedara, Balasuriya and J. Thangawelu excelled at national level. Hockey too had some talented players such as W.T. Brindly, SOL Gunatilake, Brindly Stave, J.W. Jayasuriya, A.T. Fonseka, Danasiri Weerasinghe, Ranjith Liyanage, M. Sadiyan and Rajakaruna. |
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