Trinity-Royal 'Bradby' rugby clash on June 1
By Hafiz Marikar
The most eagerly awaited annual rugby event in the country-the First
Leg of the Bradby Shield is between the two top rugby playing schools in
the country-Trinity and Royal. The first encounter will be on June 1 at
Pallekele and the Second Leg will be on June 15 at Royal Complex. This
year is the 69th year of this encounter.
In fact this is the only rugby fixture, where the teams play in great
style in front of the largest crowd of spectators in Sri Lanka.
These two schools first played in 1920 and the two teams were made
out of players like C. David , E.M. Lalyett, A.P. Maralande, N.
Moonemalle, L.C. de Mel, H.R.V. Johnston, V.C.Shockman, J.L.C. Periers
(Capt), C.E. Weeraperumal, C. Wells, S.Thirunavukarasu, A.P. Kandsawmy,
N. Hla, W.Wethasighe A.W. Mayanga for Trinity. Then for Royal E.C. Rose,
E.N.l Jonklass, A. Speldewinde, P. Batholameusz, M. Morgan, C.G.A.
Perera (Capt), T. Weed, D.R. Rutnam, C.H. Hettiarchchi, S.C. Blok, H.
Valcuylenberg, E.K. de Vos, G. Senaratne, A. de Bruin, H. Sansoni.
Bradby Shield presented 1945
In, 1945 a Shield was presented for the game by the departing
principal of Royal College E.L.Bradby in order to revive the lackluster
interest in the game of rugby. Since the World War, the Bradby Shield
game has taken pride of place in the school rugby calendar, even though
in recent times, a number of trophies have been presented for a number
of school games.
These two schools were the first to play for a trophy and will
maintain high quality in the home and away rugby encounters. This year
is the 69th year of the Bradby Shield the First Leg will be played next
Saturday - June 1 at the Pallekele Rugby Stadium and the Second Leg will
be on June 15 at the Royal Complex, Colombo.
A record crowd is expected at this game and a rousing encounter is on
the card for rugby fans.
Few spectators at start
Rugby at its infancy drew only a few hundred spectators, crowds
weren't encouraged at this stage probably because of the post war
situation and the game was not popular. Only a few schools like Trinity,
Royal, Zahira and St. Peter's were engaged in the game among the
schools, and the clubs were Kandy Sports Club, Dimbulla ACC, Dickoya
MCC, Uva Gymkhana Club, K.V. (Kelani Valley), Havelocks SC, CH & FC, CR
& FC. In the Up-Country rugby scene it was mostly European planters, who
played the game and were fortunate while the locals had only a few
chances to participate in this sport.At that time, horse racing was the
most popular sport until the mid 1950s and not many schools took to
rugby, the late Prime Minister S.W.R.D.Bandaranaike banned horse racing
in 1956 and that helped rugby to get new enthusiasts.
Trinity leads 37 wins to 30
Coming back to the Bradby Shield encounters, head to head Trinity
leads the Bradby series with 37 wins against 30. One game was a 'dead
lock', since the introduction of the Bradby Shield in 1945.
The only occasion when just the 'First Leg' of the Bradby Shield was
possible was in 1971, when the match had to be called off due to the
Insurgency in 1971. Trinity on that occasion had the Shield as they were
the defending champions and then principal of Trinity College late
E.L.Fernando awarded it to the Royal captain in the morning assembly of
Royal College for having won the First Leg.
When the 'Bradby' was introduced the principal of Trinity was C.E.
Simithrarachchi he gave his consent and agreed to the request of the
Royal Principal E.L. Bradby.
Today, the under 17 encounter between Trinity and Royal is played for
Simithrarachchi Cup, which was donated by an Old Trinitian George
Hemachandra. Trinity coach of that year Philip Buultjens, one of
countries top class all-round sportsmen was vehemently opposed to the
idea when Bradby Shield was on offer. At that time it was only these two
schools who were playing serious rugger.
'Rugger Ball'
The principal of Trinity College Brig. Udaya Ariyaratne, an ardent
lover of rugby says that the Royal-Trinity rugby series has been
virtually a "Battle of the League of Nations."
In 1924, the Trinity team had eight nationalities. At different times
Trinity have been represented by Sri Lankans, the English, Ugandan,
French, Burmese and Chinese while Royal had Sri Lankans, the West
Indian, Thai, American, Indonesian and Chinese, not forgetting our own
Sinhalese, Tamils, Moors, Malays, and Burghers. RUGGER BALL - With the
final whistle, it will be the rugger ball time, and this time it is
going to be the 46th in the series, and will be held at Hotel Suisse.
The organizing committee is headed by President of the Old Trinitians
Kandy Branch Prof. Sarath Illangantilleke.
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