Going down Rugby memory lane

Hafiz Marikar

Rugby Football was first introduced to Sri Lanka (Ceylon) in 1879 with the corporate sector initiating rugby promotions in Colombo and taking it to the Up Country by the planting The seeds of rugby was planted in the upcountry with Scottish and Englishmen stationed in the plantations.

During this time the game of rugby flourished mainly due to the plantations companies' enthusiasm and commitment to promote rugby in Sri Lanka. Possessing such a long history, Sri Lanka rugby's main contribution to the game is certainly the famous Clifford Cup tournament finals played at either Radella or Darawella. This glittering silver trophy holds a prominent place in its own right in the history of the game. The Clubs that represented the upcountry were Dimbulla AC, Dickoya MCC and Uva at one time were the three top leading rugby clubs in the country and Kandy Sports Club, today only the last name club is in the game. The other three clubs have given up,

According to past records of rugby, those who took the game seriously in the early years were the planting community from Darawella (Dickoya MCC), Radella (Dimbulla A & CC) and in Badulla (Uva). In 1908 when the Ceylon Rugby Football Union was formed with only six clubs in the game, Dimbulla ACC, Dickoya MCC, Kandy SC, Uva Gymkhana Club, and Kalutara SC. During that year only two Kandy schools Trinity and Kingswood were playing the game. And there were two Ceylonese teams Kandy Rovers and Colombo Ceylonese.

The first ever club game to be played over here, was between two Up-Country clubs, Dickoya MCC played Dimbulla ACC. This match was played on 7th September 1880, with Dickoya planters wining the game by 9 points to 3. This match was played at Darawella.

The return game took place a week later at Radella grounds and Dimbulla came out as winners with 3 point to nil. Unfortunately, Sad to Say - today, these two clubs have been out of rugby for quite sometime with no interest from either the plantation companies or the planters themselves.

Dickoya was led by Metafile, the others in the team were Curtis, Frees, Dove, Roswell, Corrier, Grahm, Haden, Messervy, Ogilvy, Parsons, Power, Wetherill, Wilton and Richardson.

Dimbulla led by Fyers had Tatha, Verelsh, Wright, Boyd, Evns, Fitzclarence, Gwatkin, Hardie, McClintouch, Roper, Setton, Tynte, Eright.

Dimbulla were the first Clifford Cup winners from Up-Country

Dimbulla ACC was founded in 1856, their sports activities were Rugger,Cricket, Squash, Billiards & Snooker, Tennis, Badminton, Dimbullla ACC was a major force in rugby until the mid 1970's when the sports decline after Plantations were Nationalized. Dimbulla were the first Clifford Cup winners form the Up-Country in 1953, when the Clifford Cup was just four years old at Club level. Then in 1956 Dim/Dicks (combined Dimbulla - Dickoya team) were second to CR & FC in the Clifford Cup tournament, than again in 1959 Dimbulla ACC shared the cup with CR & FC

Another movement came in 1970 under the leadership of evergreen Ken Murray, Dimbulla emerged as the Clifford Cup "A" division league champions, and they were deprived of the rugby double when they lost to Abdul Majeed's Policemen team 0-6 in the Clifford Cup knockout Semifinals. Dimbulla ACC were not only a major force in rugby, but also produced some of the finest ruggerites in the country namely, D.R. Macare, J. Bousfield, J. Warning, Miles Christoffelsz, Larry Shockman, S. Canagasabai, M. Parry, I McDonals, Mike de Alwis, Standly Unambowe, Dharmasiri Madugalle, Owen Mottau, Jayantha Jayewardene, Rohan Wijanayeke.

To be continued next week