CH to field foreigners

Ranjeeva Seneviratne

The Colombo Hockey and Football Club which was the first club to field foreigners in club rugby will once again play two foreigners in the 2011 rugby season.

With the council of the SLRFU giving the greenlight for the last four clubs of the 2010 ‘A’ Division League to play foreigners this year CH and FC have decided to obtain the services of foreigners.

“We are already negotiating with Kenyans, Tongans and Fijians and will be recruiting three foreigners - a fly half, No 8 and a utility player said the President of the club Shane Dullewa.

The clubs will be allowed to field two foreigners - a forward and a three quarter in the 2011 ‘A’ Division League Tournament. CH and FC has been in the forefront of club rugby clinching the Rugby Triple in 1990, 1993 and 1994 and the ‘A’ Division League in 2000 and emerged runners up to Kandy SC in the ‘A’ Division League and Clifford Cup in 2003. An exodus of their players to other clubs resulted in CH and FC slipping last year to seventh position in the ‘A’ Division League winning just three games against Army (26-16), Police (22-14) and Havelocks (25-0) and losing seven games in 10 outings.

The inclusion of foreigners will enable us to give reputed teams such as Kandy, CR and Navy a run for their money and ensure a level playing field, said Shane Dullewa.

The Fijian duo of Apisi Nagata and Jalasi Radrardo helped the Maitland Crescent Club to bag the Premadasa Trophy in 1986 by edging out the mighty Police men by 7-4 in the final.

Nagata went onto play for the club till 1994 and was joined by his compatriots Ilatia Ravouvou and ‘Man Mountain’ Manasa Qoro and the trio played a key role in the success of CH and FC which reigned supreme in club rugby from 1990 to 1994.

The lads from Maitland Crescent clinched the Rugby Triple thrice in 1990, 1993 and 1994 and the Rugby Double in 1992.

In 2003 once again CH and FC’s rugby reached great heights propelled by the duo of Samoan Fred Moe and Fijian Jimmy Bolokoro. They finished runners up to Kandy SC winning 12 matches out of 14 in the ‘A’ Division League and in the Clifford Cup Knock-out Tournament losing by 20-36 in the final.

The duo gave a dazzling display throughout the season with the most memorable game being against a formidable Army outfit whom CH and FC beat by the staggering margin of 69 points to 17 with ‘Man Mountain’ Fred Moe scoring five tries.

This year CH and FC will be led by Sri Lanka winger Lakala Perera and will have the services of national players Shane Dissanayake, Avantha Hettiarachchi, Tuan Shamrock and Dinesh Sanjeewa.