The perennial ruggerite

Sharm de Alwis

Jeffrey de Jong who died last Thursday of a terminal illness which he bore stoically was the crash-tackling flanker who was a utility player, filling any position from hooker, lock, scrum-half, stand-off, inner-three, winger or full-back with panache and glory.Over and above the grandeur, he was a firm friend.

It was as a flanker that he secured his place in rugby’s Hall of Fame. His bone-jarring tackles laid low several protagonists and to watch him at his merciless best with his accomplice Thajone Savangah was a sight that etched itself in indellible memory.

Jeffrey was of the Peterite stable and was fortunate to have been moulded in the early stages by Archibald Perera before he came to the Big League.

There he was coached by Gama Fernando who redefined rugby’s 3Ps not as Possession, Power and Pace but Penalty Percy Perera. Gama says “Jeff was a team guy, loyal and dedicated.If another had to be tried out at Jeff’s position, he would gladly oblige, play his heart out in the new berth alloted to him.”

Jefff was only fifteen when he first played in the St Peter’s 1stXV. Immune to injury, he contined to play in every game until he captained in 1972 in which year he also captained Colombo Schools and Combined Collges to earn the plaudits “Inspiring captaincy” and “Living example of driving purpose”.

Freshly upon leaving school, he burst upon the rugby firmament like a shining star to play for Havelocks and was termed ‘The Glory Guy’ for his firt performance against the rugged Army unit. He took the hosannas in his stride and went on to re-write heroics, being always in the thick of things.

He led the U22 SLRFU XV as well as the President’s XV. He played for Havelocks with singular distinction until 1979, having captained in 1977. Those were the heady days of Havelocks when they won the Clifford Cup with the persistent regularity of a church bell.Some of those who kept the Havies flame afire were Jeff and Dan Rutnam, Jeyer and Raja Rodriguesz, Thajone Savangah, Anton Benedict, Desmond Harridge, Royden de Silva, Tyronne Holdenbottle, Hafi Abdeen, Hamish Paternott, Shafi Jainudeen, Noel Brohier, Travis de Jong, Jeffrey Yu, Hamzil Samad, Angelo Wickramaratne, Frank Hubert, Glen Van Langenberg, Jupana Jayawardena, Lanil Tennekoon, Tony Martin, Y.S.Ping, the fantastic combination of P.L.Munasinghe and Michael Jayasekera nd Kumar Abeywardena of the ‘Up and Unders’. Quite a litany, yes? Jeff’s first stint with the country’s XV was in 1974 when he was barely 20 years old. That was in the 4th Asiad.He continued to play for the country in ‘75, ‘76, ‘77, ‘78 and captained in ‘79 in the Hong Kong Sevens.

Jeffrey de Jong was made of durable material.He was perennial and versatile. He had covered the mile in 4 minutes 9 scs even though he missed the Public Schools event because he “went out for a smoke.” Playing in accustomed positions, he had been glorified “The lonely brilliance as second full-back.”

But it is as a flanker that he is best remembered. He would either lay a guy with a bone-crusher tackle or he would be the master of interceptions and time in, time out he would tear apart a flabbergasted opposition to bang the ball under the posts.

The Havelocks team he captained in 1977 was absolutely peerless and stand-off Frank Hubert could afford to go on his exploits because of the backing he received from the forwards.

They had the country’s best third row in Thajone, Jeffrey Yu and Jeff de Jong and the luxury of 2nd row Anton Benedict playing his robust, instinctive third-row game. Flights of valour meet up with flights of fancy and the sister of the Paternott brothers who were the epitome of rugby laid low Jeff to walk the aisle.

Whenever he had been on a visit to his homeland from his adopted Melbourne, we would meet at the familiar club with familiar faces and talk of faded splendour nearly into the morning sun. “Friendship is Love without wings,” said Byron and as you have gone, my friend, we’ll follow soon.