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The early years of Bradby Shield

Today, the cards are stacked heavily against the Royalist who will have to face the music of the rampaging Trinitians at the Pallekelle Stadium.

Even as the seconds tick for the final countdown, the 'Whistle' of the referee, will do no harm for the Trinitisans to gather their wits at this final hour of the first leg of the coveted Bradby Shield encounter scheduled for the grand kick off at 4.30 pm today. This writer goes back to the 1948 game where Royal beat Trinity for the first time in Bradby.

The first Bradby winning Royal team - in the picture – (Seated) – A. Goonawardene, Sidney G de Zoysa (coach), Ashrof ‘Ashley’ Cader (Capt), J.C.A. Corea (Principal), G.C. Weimen, M.T. Thambapillai (Rugby Master), A.E. Artholomeusz, (On Ground) – D.A. VanTwest and D.R. Perera. (Standing) – S.D.N.Hapugalle, D.D. Samarasinghe,
Trevor Anghie, T. ‘Muggy’ Vargunam, E.D. Fonseka, B. Sivaratnam, D. Raymond, G.T. Prinpanayagam, A.J.B. Anghie.

It took three years for them to beat Trinity after the Bradby Shield was presented.

These two schools have been playing since 1920 and have produced a galaxy of national players, coaches, referees, and administrators.

These two schools first scrummed down on July 31, 1920. Trinity had no problem they won all their matches from 1920 to 1940.

Then in 1926 and 1927 there was no rugger at Royal, in 1929 they did not play Trinity played only with Zahira College. The first ever win for the Royalist came in 1941 under the captaincy of M.N. Jilla. Till 1944 there had been twenty two games out of which Trinity won nineteen and Royal three.

During the War all schools had to 'forget' rugby and played whatever cricket they could. The principal of Royal E.L.Bradby initiated a two match series and the Trinity principal at that time was C.E.Simtharchchi who agreed and then came the Bradby shield in 1945, to the team that scored the highest aggregate in both legs.

The first leg was kicked off in Colombo in 1945 and Royalist beat the Trinitians 3-0. The scoring was done by F.D. Schockman. Then came the second leg in Kandy. Trinity were able to score 6 points and win the Bradby in the inaugural year.

There was one man who objected to this. That was Trinity's coach Philip Buultjens. Later in 1946 Trinity under S.B. Pilapitiya beat Royal led by Mahesh Rodrigo, in the first leg which went in favor of the Royalist 3-0, and the second leg Trinity won 8-0. In the 1947 game, G.Shanmugam guided Trinity to beat Royal led by N.W. Karunaratne. Trinity won the first leg 6-0, and the second leg was a nil all draw. Then came the 1948 Bradby where the Royalist were led by Ashroff "Ashley" Cader and Trinity by A.R.A. Mohamed. Ashley Cader led from the front to pocket the first Bradby shield win.

The first leg - at Police Park The first leg took off at the Police Park, Bambalapitiya on 4th of July where the Royal side scored 6 point off two penalty kicks at goal to three one penalty. In this game the Royal forwards dominated the game. They had heeled the ball out eight times out of ten, thanks to hooker T. "Muggy" Vargunam. The Trinity three-quarters strangely enough could either give or take passes out or move as they were close to each other. Some good tackling by Trinitians kept the Royal tally low. Royal College three-quarters attacked from the first whistle and L. Panditharatne tried to run through but Lakshman Kadirigamar had him marked.

A long kick by A. Gunawardene saw the ball near the Trinity goal. In about the third minute after the kick off, Royal got a penalty on an off side infringement and Trevor Anghie made no mistake with the conversion. Royal back division was always been in the picture. But they fumbled the ball on a number of occasions.

Off a scrum in mid field C.J. Senanyake the Trinity scrum half cut through and passed to the forwards, where C.B. Halangoda was the first to touch the ball and it changed several hands and finally the ball ended up once again with Halangoda who touched down. M. Schockman obtained the extra points.

With the score 3 all, there was a ding dong battle, and once again, Trevor Angie's boot did the scoring to make it 6-3. With final whistle coming from Harold Van Rooyen, the Royalist celebrated their first leg win in grand style at the Police Park.

The Second leg - at Bogambara Grounds Royal defeated Trinity by 8 points to 6 this was at the Bogambara grounds. Royal for the first time, got the break to pocket the Bradby Shield. In this second leg a great game of rugby was played. Tackling by the Trinitians was excellent and shrewd kicking to touch by M.Shockman prevented the Royal three-quarters from increasing their tally.

At half time Trinity led 6-0 with L.D. Williams and Wadsworth scoring tries. In the second half Royal were able to score though Trevor Angie and Van Twest while the second try was goaled.

This great game of Bradby was refereed by the Royal coach Sidney G. de Zoysa. In the previous year 1947, Trinity coach Philip Buultjens handled the whistle in the Bradby.

Today they are trying to bring referees from overseas, when in the past this game of Bradby was played in a friendly manner where the coaches, old boys have refereed this vital game with no problem from either teams or their officials.

The first Bradby wining team under the watchful eyes of former Royalist Sidney G de Zoysa a Police Officer. A product of Royal College where he excelled in rugger. Later he played for Police SC, CR & FC from 1928 to 1940, Led CR & ; FC in 1934 and 35. Sydney joined the police in 1931 as an ASP, at a time when the high ranks were the monopoly of the Bristishers and rose to the rank of DIG.

He was clean and a tough Police officer and a superb sportsman, excelling in rugger, athletics, cricket, boxing and polo. He played for Royal in 1928 under H.S. Roberts. His team mates were E.G.Labrooy, R.E.Blaze, W.E.Eliyathamby, T.F. Jayawardene, E.R.M de Fonseka, L.K de Fonseka, L.D.Munaweera, J.W. Searasingeh, C.F.Roberts, S.W.S.W.Dassanayake, L.Jinendradasa, R.G.W. Paulusz and N.W.Weerasinghe. That year Trinity were led by M. Kin Maung who beat Royal by 23-6.

A few days after the Bradby, captain of Royal Ashroff "Ashley" Cader received a Telegram - via Cable and Wireless Ltd - (Best Congratulations to Royal Fifteen on Double Victory over Trinity.

Trinity Team - D. Ratwatte, D.L.P Pakstun, S. Ellepola. L.D. Williams, L.V. Wadsworth, T.B. Pilapitiya, Lakshman Kadirgamar, C,.B. Halangoda, L.N. Panaboke, K. Armugam, C.J. Senanayake, A.R.A.Mohamd (Capt), H.L. Fernando and S.S. Bambaradeniya

Today at the annual dinner hosted by the principal of Trinity College for the two teams at the school hall, Dilroy Fernando who has handled twenty Bradby Shield games and who is giving up refereeing with be presented with a plaque, for the great service he has rendered.

 

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