John Boyd-Moss_a legend of Uva rugby

Sporting personalities with Ken de Joodt

RUGBY: If there was a man who could mingle with prince and pauper, be humble and humourous, yet hold his dignity and stature high, this would simply be John Boyd-Moss.

He could titillate and tickle the memories of former tea planters and ruggerites of the 'fighting fifties', to reminisce about 'those good old days' on the 'thottams' (tea estates), in far away places, be it in the Namunukula Range, the Knuckles Range, or the Maskeliya mountains. Void of moss, John Boyd-Moss was no 'rolling stone that gathered moss' - he was as solid as a good rock!

John, was born in Colombo in 1935 and had two brothers Mike and Tony, who were also tea planters in the Scottish Tea and Lands Estate Companies. John's noble father, C. E. D. Boyd-Moss, was in charge of Poonagalla Estate, Bandarawela, one of the largest tea estates during that era. John was seen as an amiable Englishman, who left the shores of Sri Lanka in 1972, with his wife Anna (nee Ross) and their two children, daughter Sara and son Graeme.

Having given his best in knowledge and experience to the tea trade of Sri Lanka, he is presently handling his own tea packing company in Kenya, East Africa.

To welcome John on his visit to Sri Lanka, we gathered to celebrate at the CH & FC Club, with a sumptuous lunch hosted by Sarath de Zoysa. As it usually happens, old Yarns were swapped and some interesting, amusing anecdotes of the past rugby scenes and planting days were related.

Some agreed, those were overwhelming days with many blessings, (for some of us, it was truly God's divine protection and provision!), when there were no mobile phones, no television, no computers or securities for emergencies - or to travel in plush estate vehicles, nor modern facilities or luxury equipment to play hard rugby!... it was plain-tea and glucose-powder instead of 'energy-boosters' and rough mo-bikes to travel 30 to 40 miles from estate bungalows to the playing fields... an era 'when the going got tough, the tough got going'!

In my brief period of tea-planting in the sixties, I had the great pleasure of first playing rugger for Kandy and Sri Lanka (then Ceylon) in 1959, against John Boyd-Moss. Then playing with him in 1964 for Uva, along with many others, who banded together to call themselves 'The Merry Men of Uva'.

Be it an evening rugger match or a day's cricket game, the opportunity was taken to make it a joyful occasion for planters, their wives and children to 'go to town' when they come down to Badulla, from distant hills and to 'have a ball', both on the field and off in the club, with 'city-friends', families, amidst much mirth and merriment... just clean, good fund and leisure... (and some bachelors solemnly attended church on a Sunday to make their 'confessions' and ask more favour from God!).

To me, John Boyd-Moss is a legend, in terms of his prolific planting career from 1955 to 1972 and then his 'jolly' and persevering rugby years from 1956 to 1967, captaining Uva in 1965.

John considers 1964 as a memorable year of Uva Rugby, when a vibrant Vivian Blaze captained a smashing side that won the up-country championship and was unbeaten until they played against CR & FC, in the sweltering heat of Colombo, at Longden Place, in the semi-finals of the prestigious Clifford Cup tournament.

Sarath de Zoysa, a former rugby vice-captain of St. Thomas' College, Mt. Lavinia and Uva captain of 1967, (had the rare distinction of playing with his son Gihan, for Uva in 1983) and has been involved with Uva rugby for many years, confirmed the '64 Uva team had some of the finest players in the country.

A nod of the head from Sarath's pretty wife, Mariffa, was ample assurance of her enthusiastic joy and knowledge of the game of rugby, that covers over four decades gone by. "Behind a successful man is a dedicated wife" is perhaps what Sarath could say!

Indeed, the 1964 team was heavy and fast, comprising flashy flankers Franklin Jacob and David Witham, mercurial hooker Mike de Alwis, between the two props 'jolly' John Boyd-Moss and Duncan Scobie.

Then two burly second rowers Graeme Hamer, (with 280 pounds in weight - he could push the entire scrum, if need be!) and an exemplary captain Vivian Blaze (who stopped consuming hard liquor during the season, to be fit), while the 'No. 8' was a battle between David Thompson, Tony Perera, Dickie Hermon and Malcolm Dias.

In the back division, there was the halves combination of two former Sri Lankan players, a superb scrum-half S. B. Pilapitiya, who could wriggle through the smallest gap to score off a five-metre scrum, combining effectively with fly-half Ken de Joodt, who helped the team to more points through many drop-goals.

Chris Lushington from England and Nihal de Zoysa (Sarath's younger brother) as two piercing centres, with Brian Money-penny, Shelton Perera and R. Tissera, fighting it out on the wings. In Dr. Trevor Anghie at full-back, Uva had a superb place-kicker along with Ken de Joodt who also took the penalty kicks and conversions.

As a fantastic utility player, Geoff Garnier, could play as a scrum-half, fly-half, centre or full-back. Sarath de Zoysa and Ronnie Munaweera, played in the back division, in a few matches, but were unfortunate to be hampered by physical injuries, during this season.

I believe, it was nostalgic and so pleasing to John, to meet up with many others who had played along with him, among them been Jayantha Jayawardena, a former Uva Planter ('73 to '79) and now Advisor on wildlife and elephants to the ADB, who captained Trinity in 1961 and Dimbula in '73.Peter Amerasinghe, CEO of Ceyquartz, who founded the 'Pink Elephants' around 1970, as a rugby team of former Sri Lankan players.

Peter played for Dimbula, when planting in the district from 1963 to '75. Vernon Tissera (elder brother of Michael Tissera), has perhaps one of the longest planting career records, extending over 45 years and now runs the 'Hideaway Guest House' in Pottuvil.

Jayantha Samarasekera, captained Royal College in 1961, winning the Bradby, later played for Uva and is now the GM of Horana Plantations. Brian Munaweera was planting in Uva, Dickoya and Dimbula, from '65 to '82, playing for Uva and Dim-Dicks. He is presently the GM at C. V. Bhatt & Co.

Some of the other planters and rugby 'greats' who were present were, Gamini Weerasinghe (Trinity 'Lion', Uva, Sri Lanka, Dim-Dicks, etc), Lionel Almeida (ex-President SLRFU, Royal captain, CR & FC, Sri Lanka, etc, etc), M. U. Odayar (Trinity, Uva, Sri Lanka) and Geoff Garnier (Kandy, Uva, Sri Lanka).

It was truly an exceptional experience to meet with a legend of Uva rugby and a classic, true tea planter.