Rienzie at the helm of CR and FC

Former Thomian, Havelocks and CR and FC lock forward Rienzie Fernando was re-elected President of the Ceylonese Rugby and Football Club at its annual general meeting held at the club pavilion on January 22 (Sunday).

Former Thomian, CR and FC and Sri Lanka centre Christopher Jordashe was elected as Deputy President while Triple Lion in rugby, cricket and athletics of Trinity Thushara Weerasuriya is the new Vice President of the Club.

Former Trinity prop forward Hanza Hassanally was elected Secretary of the Club while Saneth Gamage remains as Treasurer.

CR and FC will be led by Sri Lanka Centre Lasintha de Costa who has donned the Red Jersey since 2006. He has been a regular member of the Sri Lanka team since 2007 playing in the Rugby Asiad, Hong Kong Sevens, Dubai Sevens and Asian Five Nations tournament. This year the Red Shirts will field a side which is a blend of youth and experience. Seasoned campaigners of the calibre of Dunstan de Silva,Mohamed Sheriff, Heshan Gunaratne, Mushin Faleel, Shehan Dimitri, Hasthika Bandaranayake, Ishan Noor, Reza Mubarak, , Ashan de Costa and Chilanka Samaraweera will play for CR and FC this year along with talented youngsters Sri Lanka youth players Shehan Pathirana (Royal), Malintha Soysa, Piumi Jayasinghe, Dushan Dep (St Joseph’s), Mekalanka Pramoda, Nipuna Devinda, Shanaka Kumara, Prasad Madusanka (all from Isipathana) Dinuk Nayakaratne and Dilshan Kelaniyangoda (both from Trinity), Haffiz Adahan (Thurstan).

Injuries to key players and lack of a reliable place kicker saw the Red Shirts slip down to fourth position in the Caltex ‘A’ Division League last year and were knocked out in the quarter finals of the Clifford Cup by Air Force.