My Rugby days at Thurstan by – Mangala  Ratnayake

Thurstan rugby’s Golden era was when we had the Team with illustrious names like Ranjith Jayawardena,Deepal Zoysa,Lional Wickremasekara,Dushyantha Samarasekera to name a few ,when we beat Royal college for the first time, and I think went through unbeaten. I will write this article more as a historical record of events and people involved during my time.

My first year of Rugby was 1965, Indra Piyatissa captained  the team, SSM Gunasekera, Lal Kumarage,DAT Alwis, Nihal Dharmadasa, Graetian Gunawardhana, G.Wedagedara, K.L.Perera, Mahinda Wijeyaratna, Sunil Jayakody, Lalith Peris,Wasantha  Perera, E S C Fernando, were the  regulars in the team There were others like Nandalal Jayawardena,K.Maligaspe ,Arthur,WPW Perera ,Upali Liyanage who were in and out of the team from time to time. The team was coached by Kavan Rambukwella, and Mr Joe Fernando was the master in charge. We had a reasonable year winning most matches and losing some narrowly.

1966 was a tough year for our Rugby, most of the seniors had left Sunil Jayakody was the captain. I was his deputy, we lost our grounds (CR &FC), so we were allowed to practice twice a week in the CR &FC  hockey grounds, the rest of the days we had to use Brownrigg Park [ present the college & ground of Sirimavo Vidyalaya ], we had no regular coach and A R M Faiza  helped with the team sometimes. We had an enthusiastic bunch of freshers who joined the team like Tissa Nanayakkara, Hemantha Devapura, Jayantha Dias, Milinda Ratnayake, ST Fernando, P.Harrison, L.Wijekoon, Upali Hewage, P.Athukorale. The senior players had the added responsibility of coaching and mentoring the junior players.

I  captained  the team in 1967, I had Tissa Nanayakkara as deputy.Mr K.Wijedasa was the master in charge. Of the seniors,G.Wedagedara, GW Perera, Upali Liyamage, Milinda Ratnayake, H.Devapura , Upali Hewage, G Athukorala.  U.Jayasingha remained and the newcomers were Kanthi Senaratna, Niroshan de Silva, H.Bouydwin.

We had mixed results, lost narrrowly to Zahira (5-3) and lost the inaugural match for the Abdul Jabbar shield with Isipathana (6-3), which we could have won had Tissa Nana converted 4 missed penalty kicks.We beat St Marys, Beat Wesly college (13- nil) and held Royal to a draw( 6-6), We beat St Anthony’s Kandy (11-9) lost badly to St. Peters (22 nil).

A word about the second string- There were some outstanding boy?s, who turned up for training without fail, and for their sheer enthusiasm needs to be  mentioned – Suranimala Abeygoonesekara, Mohan Karunaratna, Gamini Thilakasiri, Palitha Harrison ,STK Fernando, Kumar Devapura to mention a few

It is well documented that so many players from this period went on to represent  clubs,  defence services and Police.

Whether the team was winning or loosing, there were some faithful supporters who always turned up for our matches, Priya Paranavitane, Bhathiya Seebert and Upali Ahangama were always around to support the team. From the staff Mr  Joe Fernando was always present. The new Principal Mr. PM Jayathilake encouraged and supported rugby, encouraged students and staff to attend important matches. In our days building a team was a real problem, as we lost most of the players when we got the GCE OL results and we had to start from scratch again.

On a lighter note it was standard practice for the players go across to Thurstan caf [ now named as Raheema ] for a feed or walk to Mayfair at Bamba for ‘Elu katu soup’ as that was all we could afford as students. (Thosay was 5 cents, soup was 20 cents).Sometimes the waiters could be seen running behind the players to collect the bills!

Mangala  Ratnayake

Auckland, New Zealand

2007 March

My Rugby days at Thurstan by – Gamini Thilakasiri Ranasingha

I was introduced to Rugby by one of my class mates Lalith Samaranayaka. I had no idea what so ever about the game. I started towards the tail end of the season and managed to play two games in the 2nd XV. That was in 1966 when Sunil Jayakody was our 1st XV captain.

The following year we were left  with a few old players in the 2nd XV and a few of us making an impression. The year started under Mangala Rathnayaka as the captain and 2nd XV with no captain. It was not officially announced. The boys thought I was eligible and L. Gulawita thought he was the most popular guy. Our first match of the season was with Wesley ? we ran on to the field thinking that I was the captain. Guluwita thought that he was going to be the captain. I ran ahead of him and he ran past me to be the first. We both sprinted to the field leaving behind the rest of the team, which would have looked hilarious. As my position was scrum half I had a better control of the game where as Gulawita was in the wing. Anyway we managed to beat Wesley College 3 nil, which was, I suppose, the more important fact!!

Later that season I was chosen to play in the 1st XV with Rohan Boudwyn as the fly half.

We were very unfortunate with no home grounds to practice and facing many difficulties. Nevertheless Indra Piyatissa, T N Cutilan and Dushyantha Samarasekara came to our aid and coached us. It was of tremendous help to our team and D.Samarasekara managed to get us into CR & FC grounds for training. When we practiced at common Brownrigg Park [ Present college & ground of Sirimavo Balika Vidyalya] there was no running water and no dressing rooms etc. On many occasions Dilip Gunewardana who lived in Brownrigg Park used to connect a garden hose outside his house for us to drink water and wash ourselves up after training, since most of our Rugby players travelled from outer city and had long distances to return to their homes.

In later years I managed to help organize Rugby at Thurstan with Nanayakkara brothers, Mangala Ratnayaka, Dushy Samarasekara, Vipula Dharmadasa and Basil Rodrigo as coaches. That was the period that we introduced the Old boys vs. Present boys match played for the shield donated by Kumar Devapura in 1986.

The Rugby which was introduced and taught to me by Lalith Samaranayaka, Indra Piyatissa, T N Cutilan, Upali Ahangama, Dushyantha Samarasekara and Tony Sirimanne ? I have passed on to my sons who love the game and play it well at club level and for the State of Victoria in Australia.

Thanks to the continued support of our old boys, our College and everyone involved in keeping the Thurston flag flying high.

Gamini Thilakasiri Ranasinghe
(Better known as “Kudda”)
Melbourne – Australia
2007March