Almeida played in every rugby position

SHARM DE ALWIS

Lionel Almeida who called it quits after playing rugby for ‘donkey’s years for school, club and country has remained the only one to have played the game in every position from scrum-half to stand-off, first inner, second inner, winger and full-back and he covered himself with glory right through the line.

Attributes

To achieve his position as the player of his period he had the attributes of dedication, flair and abundant skills. The first to captain Royal at hockey, he captained the rugby team also in 1956, having represented the school in athletics, basketball and 2nd Xl cricket. Nine Trinitians from David Frank’s crack team played under him when he captained Combined Colleges which lost to the national side by a mere 3 points.

His inroads to club rugger were when he he was just out of school and living at home and his determination and application saw him travel by bus from Bibile to Badulla to attend practices.

His talents were quickly spotted by CR&FC which offered him a berth in the crack three-quarter line manned by Ago Paiva, Kavan Rambukwella, Rajah Williams, Ivan Dias, Summa Navaratnam and Trevor Anghie.Lionel could fit in any role and if any player didn’t turn up for practice, he would volunteer.

Lionel couldn’t afford a new jersey and played in William Molagoda’s faded old jersey for a hamper of rugby equipment to be given to him by an anonymous donor who many months later, on sustained enquiry, turned out to be Noel Gratiaen.

Silly mistake

One silly mistake he never forgets. To play against Kandy he would be stand-off, pairing with Tyrrel Muttiah and Ago would be Kavan’s co-center. He broke through; with Kavan and the whole line backing and with only Ananda Bandaranayake to beat he tried to go solo and was whacked by a ‘Gal Banda special’ to have CR knocked out of the Clifford Cup finals.

Malcolm Wright moulded Lionel in a meticulous manner. He was never allowed to practise kicks from front of the posts. “Work down the line, hit the solitary post.” That was the era of toe kicking before footballers invaded rugger. Malcolm’s good intentions reaped the dividends and Lionel was the place-kicker for the country.

Rugby skills

The Plantation clubs were vying for Lionel’s rugby skills and soon he was with KV. After a while he was lured back to CR and was hailed by Eustace Rulach “Lionel Almeida has returned to re-inforce his old club and his presence in the team could be a source of inspiration and confidence to his tea-mates. He can prove to be the match winner for CR.”

The purple passages continued to flow from pens as Lionel unleashed wave upon ocean wave of scintillating moves and even when Ceylon was beaten 3-5 by South India in 1959, reports stated, “Outstanding for Ceylon were Harrison, Almeida and Pilapitiya.”

Lionel Almeida played rugby in the halcyon days when International players graced our rugger. D.F.McSweeney who had played for Australian Combined Services against the All-Blacksgrouped Lionel with Tony Sirimanne, Alan Henricus, Nimal Maralanda, S.B.Pilapitiya, Larry Schokman, Eric Roles and the de Sylva brothers, Raji and Sari as the players who impressed him most.

McSweeney coached the Ceylon team for the 1962 All-India Tournament in which the finals were between All-Ceylon and Ceylon Barbarians. Lionel’s skills have been summed up as “subtle and sinister, brilliant, powerful kicks, adroit, tactical kicking, eceptive side-step, scissors, dummy, versatile, sound defence, pace and deception” and much more.

Five Lions

Inveigled by Jefrey de Jong, Lionel coached St. Peter’s in 1986 to beat Royal and to hold to a draw the formidable Trinity team which had five Lions in Ickram Odayar, Sean Wanigasekera, Tyrrel Rajapakse, Tusha Weerasuriya and Byron Fernando. Petes that year lost only to Isipatana and had Rohan Gunasekera and Graham Raux in the team.

As President of the SLRFU he would visit every rugby club and every match was played on schedule. He would come to be a witness rather than give directions from his Estate bungalow. Generals have to be on the war front.

Even the schools rugby tournament went ahead in its stride with Lal Kumarasinghe and the committee lending him ample support.He invited the Hong Kong side in 1989 as a prelude to the Asian Tournament of ‘90 and two games were played - in Colombo and in Kandy. It was Hong Kong that pushed us for the Asiad after Lionel went there in 1989 to make a firm statement. He also took teams to Hong Kong and to Chinese Taipei.

Y.C. Chang and Malik Samarawickrema helped Lionel to have possibly the best team the Rugby Union has had and they were ably supported by Jayantha Weerasinghe and Uddaka Tennekoon. “Players, coaches, referees, officials, spectators and sponsors are the very fabric of rugby and each group should contribute abundantly towards the development of the game.”

Lionel’s six point agenda for the betterment of rugby:

1. Players must be disciplined, dedicated, committed.

2. Coaches must be of the top drawer and keep abreast of the requirements of the modern game.

3. Referees must consider themselves to be the 31st player in a game. They are there to adjudicate. Spectators come to watch the two sides playing and not the referee. Keeping the game flowing should be their prime objective.

4. Officials must be committed to the game and its development and not think of getting into positions to project themselves. Any bad egg must be removed if rugby is to develop.

5. Spectators are an essential sector in the game and its popularity. Unruly behavior by any section of the crowd must be deplored by the rest. Give the referee a break. They are not cheats; they are human and are apt to err and miss infringements.

6. Sponsors have contributed immensely towards the popularity of rugby and its development and it is up to those playing, coaching, refereeing and officiating to ensure that sponsors find their sponsorship worth the while.