Dr. Kapuwatta to continue his good work

Hafiz Marikar

Tomorrow, at the 138th Annual General Meeting of the Kandy Sports Club, the man who put things in order at the Nittawela club, Dr. Sarath Kapuwatte will take over the presidency once again. It will be the unanimous decision of the members of the club.

Tomorrow's Annual General meeting will take place at the Lt. Gen Denzil Kobbekaduwa pavilion, at 10.30 a.m.

The sporting Dr Sarath Kapuwatte, a product of S.Thomas' College Mt. Lavania deserves the position for all the good work he has done to keep the club alive and kicking.

It must be said that, this 138 year old club came up to this position, mainly due to the efforts of Dr. Sarath Kapuwatte and his loyal team of committee members. At one time this club was struggling to win matches.

The Clifford Cup was introduced to the club scene in 1950 and up to 1992, they never won the cup, on four occasion entered the finals, 1954, 1955, 1979 and 1978, but it was after his take, in 1992 they won the Clifford Cup for the first time.

And after the white planters left, the club was on a bad wicket, and many veterans like late E.W. Balasuriya, Chandra Wijenayake, Dr. C.D.L.Fernando, Dr. John Karunarthne, Stanley Martin to name a few gave all the needed backing but, the team could not win a single trophy.

Since Dr. Kapuwatte took over, in 1990 and in 1992 approached the King pin of the game Malik Samarawickrema and invited him to join the Kandy Sports Club, which invitation the former Royal, CR & FC and Sri Lanka Scrum half accepted and came into the Kandy Sports Club Committee.

Malik with his experience in rugby as SLRFU council member, team manager and president, gave his fullest support and made Kandy Sports Club to win cups after cups.

The initiative of Dr. Kapuwatte along with a handful of personalities in Kandy got the ball rolling, of course, it was a very difficult task with many a odds against them. However, what was impossible came to reality in just a few years and this trend continues to date.

Kandy Sports Club the kings of local rugby scene are once again, hoping to give off thee best, when the 2013 season kicks off in November this year.

It was in 1992, that Kandy Sports Club for the fist time won a trophy under the leader ships of Ananda Kasuriarahchi and Maurice Joachim.

From that Clifford Cup win, onwards they have been winning tournaments one after the other.

This is the only club which has brought so much fame winning the league Championship on 16 occasions out of 19 tournaments. On 10 occasions they have been triple champions which is considered a great achievement indeed and have won the Clifford Cup on occasions in outings.

There is another person Kandy Sports Club will not forget when it comes to rugby and he is non other than Priyantha Ekanayake, the player who changed the Nitawella club pattern.

Dr.Sarath Kapuwatte who is heading the club as President currently and with this years presidency knows to get the fullest support from the king pin of the game Malik Samarawickrema and the Committee members.

The club was formed in 1874 by then coffee planters and by 1954, the Club house was ready and the ground too was perfect for rugby.

On an invitation of the committee then Governor General Sir Oliver Gunathillake opened the club house and the playing field.

That Club house was changed into the modern one and also the ground was given a face lift by Dr. Kapuwatta and his committee with the fullest backing coming from Malik Samarawickrema.

Then In 1999, the club took pride in hosting the Singer - Sri Lankan Airlines Sevens that year as part of the 125th anniversary celebrations.

This was followed by five other tournaments, which were also concluded with grand success. It was our fervent wish that this tournament would achieve a distinct Asian identity and International Rugby Board status.

The Kandy Sports Club's ambitions came true and that time the International Rugby Board (IRB) saw that Sri Lanka Rugby Football Union is capable of hosting the International Rugby Board Asian Qualifier for the Rugby World Cup - 7's tournament in Kandy Sri Lanka in September 2004 at the Nittawela Rugby Stadium.

The reason for the decision was because the IRB has inspected and approved the organizational and hosting skills of the Kandy Sports Club with the "Singer Sri Lankan Airlines Sevens" Rugby 7's since 1999.

In order to host this tournament the IRB forwarded a Tournament Hosting Guide on the Rugby World Cup Sevens Qualification Tournament Manual in -2004 accordingly Kandy Sports Club under took a huge development program in keeping with the IRB requirements and the following work was programmed and work was done in time.

The old pavilion was re-structures to accommodate 550 seats at a prime location for viewers. This pavilion will be named "Dr. Sarath Kapuwatte Pavilion" to felicitate his dedicated services to the club in the capacity of President for the past many years with success and the Club being a Champion team in rugby throughout his Presidency.

This pavilion was ceremonially opened by President Mahinda Rajapaksa who was then Prime Minister on September 10, 2004.

Then the extensions to the exciting pavilion were added to accommodate an additional 350 seats with facilities, such as wash rooms, lounge, food court, medical center etc. and it was named the Singer Pavilion.

Then on the opposite side of the grounds a new media centre, to host both foreign and local media with all facilities and another floor to accommodate the television crew was also completed and it was named "Indrajith Banadaranayake - Media Pavilion" for his great contribution for Kandy rugby.

A new covered stand was constructed near the scoreboard, named "Priyantha Ekanayake Stand".

This was to honor Priyantha Ekanayake for his contribution for Rugby in Sri Lanka and captaining the national team for 10 years.

Then the terraces behind the goal post was later covered and named "Nalaka Weerakkody Pavilion" in recognition of his contribution to rugby.

The terraces around the ground have been concreted on tiers for spectators viewing for all spectators, with the shifting of the wall at the entrance; a new car park was done to accommodate around 30 vehicles for the invitees and guests of the club.

This is apart from the VIP car park, members car park and the public car park.

The road leading to the Nittawela grounds and the parking areas have been widened and premixed with adequate water and electricity facilities.

An ultra modernized gymnasium has been constructed and available for the players, members and others.

Both dressing rooms have been upgraded to International Standards.

In 2007 the playing field was fully reconstructed at a cost of 4.5 million with Australian Burmuda grass and leveled to prevent water logging.

Behind all this development and promotional activities we are proud to say that Dr. Sarath Kapuwatte has been the live wire and motivator for the club.

The last committee included people like Emil Van der Poorten, Lesley de Soysa, hard working Secretary Nihal Ratwatte, Treasurer Rangith Gunarthne, Ground Secretary Rangith Gunasekara, Udaya Balasuriya, Team Manager Kapila Silva, and Rugby Chairman Lasanth Wijasuriya.