Poochie Campbell and Philip Buultjens - the greatest sportsmen produced in Kandy

by Hafiz Marikar

The most illustrious two heroes of yesteryear - were one armed Football, Rugger and Hockey Referee Poochie Campbell and allround sportsman Philip Buultjens.

Perhaps the greatest personality of those days was the one-armed referee Poochie Campbell. Be it a game of football, rugger or hockey he was always there to officiate big time. His attitude, firmness and impartiality won the hearts of the performer and spectator alike.

There was a noted instance of a scrum half at his first go. The young lad was being incessantly blown for failing to put the ball in straight in a wheeling scrum. Exasperated, he spoke back to the referee on this problem.

Referee Campbell went at him by saying "I'll throw you out" Late in the game the lad, doubtless all the better for the chastisement, dribbled the ball fifty yards for a try. The referee Campbell, passing by tapped to express his congratulations on the lad's shoulder. That was a highest honour for that lad, indeed, but the crowd gave a louder handclap to the sportsmanship of referee Poochie Campbell.

Then, when we take out Philip Buultjens was a favourite of Bogambara of that period, the one-man who packed cricket, football, rugger, hockey, athletics and boxing into one bag. He was the first Ceylonese to represent an otherwise All-European Kandy Sport Club at rugby. He had touched his true form in the role of a wing three-quarter, but his superb kicking was invaluable to the side.

He was rather prone to injury against the very robust opposition and Kandy Sports Club was therefore reluctant to lose him, it seemed to use his obvious speed and skill on the field. But at football, he was Kandy's hero. They mobbed him ever around the marketplace with cheers all round.

He would keep showing on a blade of grass, and the crowd loved him for that. In that chewing was his disguised cunning trick to an opponent. He kicked high and wide and long and headed the ball over them all. It was football artistry. Philip was one of the finest sportsmen to leave with honour. Trinity College or any other school in the Island. With all that, he scored only three tries in his entire career, because of this clean and team play, he played as centre and made it sure that all tries are scored by the wing-three-quarters. He made openings to others like Johnny Murray, V.C. Schokman, B.M.S. Lule, R.La Marhant, A.N. Mayanga to score.Philip Buultjens forte had been team spirit and when he led the school in 1924 against Royal Led by J.R. Jayawardene, the final score was 37-03 in favour of the Trinitians. In the previous years he had given his support to win by 34 points to nil, 17 points to nil, and he was presented the coveted 'Lion' in 1922. In his 1924 Trinity Team there were players like D. Wise, D. Perera, C.D. Buultjens, M. Thang On, C. Bandaranayke, E. Aluwihare, S. Nagendra, C. Kisan Koli, Fred Murray, G. Taylor, G. Bandaranayake, N.H. Perera, Yan Lin, L. Lindsay.

The Royal team was from J.R. Jayawardene (capt), Victor Jayasundara, P.C.W. Peries, D.W.L. Liversz, E.O.F de Silva, Earl F. Deon, Herbert de Silva, Lesley Perera, S. Abeywardene, F.R.C. Schroder, V.C. Barthalomeusz, C.D.P. Bastian, W.L. Seeble, Neil Joseph and F.R.C. Schroder. It was Trinity's principal who reminded me about, this great product Philip Buultjens, soon after the the Trinity - Josephian rugby game, he said that Philip coached the Trinitians at rugby in 1930, 1931 and 1932 and later again in 1944, 1945, 1946 and 1947. He produced some of the best ruggerites who made the school, Kandy and the Country very proud. J. Duncan, M.I. Azeez, A.G. Divitotawela, Sidney Ratwatte, A. Panaboke, P.B. Madawella, Fred de Silva, Richard Udugama, N. Madena, Stanley Ratwatte, B. Halangoda, S. Somasundaram, M K.C. Fernando, G.P. Rajasingham, O.L.Z. Abdeen, C.E. Jansz, W. Winter, R. Breckendridge, H. Gedees, Malcom Wright, Robert Sourjah, S.B. Pilapitiya, H. Jones, T.B. Madugalle, G. Chanmugam, G.A. Yatawara, P. Nagulesweran, A.R.A. Mohamed, P.S. Dedigama, T.M.B. Math.