Sundare one of two to win a straight lion

SHARM DE ALWIS

Domiciled in Germany, Sundare needs only the flimsiest excuse to meet up with the multitude of his friends in Sri Lanka. He is here right now, having attended a wedding in Jakarta which to us is seas apart; but not to Sundare to whom distance is only a matter of an air ticket.

He says he will fly back shortly to recuperate and make it to the two Legs of the Bradby which Trinitians and Royalists, alike, consider the cordon bleu of the country’s rugger.

Mark Sunderalingam, S.P., to give his full name and insignia never knows that a guest, like fish, after three days, begins to smell. But his hosts have been tolerant and he has been allowed an extended stay time in, time out, even though his own visitors, varying in age from 20 to the 70s start trooping in from 7.00 in the morning till after the witching hour.

Actually the doors of his school mates from senior to parallel to junior have been left open for his house crawls which invariably end up as pub crawls. Even then, Upaka Wirasinha, the Trinity hooker of 1961 and Nimal Cooke of the touch lines stand by to frisk him away, because, like the Rolls-Royce having a tool kit - just in case.

straight Lion

Sundare is only one of two to have been awarded a straight Lion which means that his Lion and Colours were awarded simultaneously. The other was Gamini Weerasinghe who was crowned along with four other immortals in 1956. Those Titans were David Frank, Raji de Sylva, Franklin Jacob and Wilhelm Balthazaar even though Nimal Maralanda, Mike de Alwis, Ken de Joodt, Sena de Sylva and Uvais Odayar were overlooked. Nimal and Mike went on to captain the country’s rugger and Ken won his Lion two years later in his second year of captaincy.

The other Lions in 1966 when Sundare was crowned were Jupana Jayawardena and Glen Van Langenberg. Ajith Abeyaratne would have been the fourth Lion but for a small matter of discipline being exercised which delayed his Lion by one year.

Sundare played Trinity rugger under Glen and Ajith to form the most devastating third row that school rugger has ever displayed with Ajith, Sundare and Gogi Tilekeratne manning the line of defence as well as relentless attack.

They played like they were from the legions of the Carthegenian emperors and the Bradby shield was won handsomely with the second year’s performance excelling that of the first.

Sundare may be beafy now because he has entered the sexy sixties and needs to flash an aura of masculinity but in the period he played rugger he was only skin and bone with a dash of guts and glory.

snake infested

Let it not go unrecorded that mark Sunderalingam did not have a stint with bat and ball for him to curry favour with captain and cricket Lion, Himendra Ranaweera but his cricket was confined to the Upper school quadrangle and he was put to field in the snake infested manna grass though he would opt for the periphery of the Napier kitchen.

When the boy became man, he joined Havelocks and helped the Club to three Clifford Cup championship honours but his scant respect for discipline, training and all that go with the noble and rumbustious game of rugby put paid to his having been selected for National duty.

Perhaps his seemingly fragile frame did not impress the selectors that he would fell the hulkiest of the lot. A David was lost to the country’s rugger.

My only question to the loquacious Sundare was who he rated as the best number 8 from the Trinity stable. He scratched his cob-webby head and asked for the luxary of two choices - Ajith Abeyaratne and Noel Brohier. Stand-off? - Glen and Mohan Sahayam.

The after-the-games beers, the bawdy songs and team dinners perhaps may be attributed to the warm cameraderie that evolves out of rugger. A significant feature of rugby is that even though it is a body-contact game, ever-lasting friendships are forged, a factor that cricket has yet not aspired to.

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