Former groundsman Wijepala still remembers great deeds of Kingswoodians

Upananda Jayasundera - Kandy Sports Special Corr.

CRICKET: Dampe Arachchige Wijepala is 81 years old, but age didn’t prevent him from `keeping’ his yearly customary `date’ with the Kingswood vs Dharmaraja annual cricket encounter that was played at the Asgiriya International Stadium the home of Trinity College, Kandy.

Why was Wijepala so keen in going for this cricket match? Well, he has links with the match.

This year was the 103rd encounter and Wijepala knew about cricket for a long time as he was the groundsman of Kingswood College for 57 years from 1947 upto 2004.

He joined the ground staff as a 19-year-old and learnt all the intricacies of maintenance of the ground.

In the good old days there were in turf strips to ponder so much of wicket preparations for matches, but there were the usual time consuming jobs about getting the grounds ready for matches.

A long stay at the school has enabled Wijepala to come to know cricketers from Kingswood who made the grade to higher levels.

He has had the good fortune to have been able to associate and work under around 10 former principals of the school. He vividly remembers principals Nonis, Lenerolle, Nihal Herath, Rambukwella, Ratnayake and W. Abeyratne that came to his mind.

Besides the principals, he remembers some of the cricketing greats who were at Kingswood. Owen Mottau, Maurice Fernando, B. Raju, Freddie White - a cricketer who later blossomed out to be a fine hockey goalie, Mahinda de Silva, Clifford Ratnavibhushana and Mangala Dharmaprema.

He was a married man with five children, but one died, but the enthusiasm with which he worked for the school did not diminish and Kingswood College authorities too were mindful about the services he rendered to the school.

In appreciation of the loyal services rendered to the school, Kingswood College built a house for Dampe Arachchige Wijepala in Gadaladeniya near Lankatilleke Vihare as a goodwill gesture.