Peter Ranasinghe was one of Sri Lanka’s soccer greats

Leslie FERNANDO

PERSONALITIES: Peter Ranasinghe who was no doubt the pride of Sri Lanka’s football during the post war period is a product of St. Joseph’s College, Colombo.

Peter’s inborn talent was spotted while he played inter-school matches and made his entry into the Big League when he was selected as a substitute for the Colombo (Central) Colours’ team in the Inter-district Tournament (later-national Championships) of the Ceylon Football Association.

It was difficult to overlook his skills, although he was wafer-thin in stature but had the ability and also his brother Christopher, and his father’s reputation made him one of the soccer greats in this country.

Peter was quick to show his prowess and at the age of 19 climbed to the top when he was selected to represent Ceylon in the second Asian Quadrangular Tournament in Rangoon, Burma in 1953.

Incidentally Peter was the only player with boots in the team. He turned out to be the best player for Ceylon who played a clean game of soccer being a knowledgeable player.

In the third Asian Tournament in 1954 in Calcutta Peter captained the Ceylon Team and did well to draw with India I-I, lost to Pakistan I-2 and recorded the first ever win in international soccer defeating Burma 2-1. In the end India became champions and Ceylon emerged runner-up.

After his top class performances in India he was dubbed ‘Peter the Great’ as he was the hero among the football crowd in Calcutta, where football is so popular. Superb display by the Ceylon team was due to the methodical training given by late D. S. Abraham, former Chief Playground Instructor, Colombo Municipal Council from 1958-1961.

Abraham hailed from Jaffna and was a top class sportsman. From then on Peter was an automatic choice for the national team, except for when he was not available due to pressure of work or out on official assignment.

Peter captained the Ceylon team in the Olympic Football Tournament’s extra preliminary round tie against India on December 22, 1963 at the Sugathadasa Stadium. He also led the Ceylon team against the Pakistan Football Federation team who toured Ceylon in 1956.

Peter left St. Joseph’s College around 1951 to join the University. At the peak of his football career he was captain of the national team and crowned his scholastic achievement with an honours degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Ceylon.

Perhaps he is one of the rare exceptions, when sports and studies seldom go together. Indeed he was a striking example, worthy of emulation by our soccerites.

Later, he was appointed as an Assistant Lecturer of the University in 1956. Peter left for the United Kingdom on a Federation of British Industries Scholarship in February 1958 and returned in 1959 to resume his post as Assistant Lecturer.

From January 1961, Peter was the Research and Designs Engineer of Colombo Commercial Company until he emigrated to Australia in search of greener pastures. His winning smile in victory or defeat was an inspiration to his colleagues on or off the field.

Peter was a household name in football.

During Peter’s recent visit to Sri Lanka he had this to say: ‘Football is one of the most popular games here and regarded as a manly sport and I started playing because all my family members played football.