The early years of Bradby Shield
Hafiz Marikar
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.
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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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