Seventy’ started with the late D.S. Wickremasinghe captaining the College athletic team, followed by the late C.L.A. Gunaratne in 1971. Both years were not so successful for Royal.
The wicket keeper/stand off and sprinter Ray de Silva took over the leadership in 1972 and initially had late E.L.C. Fernando as his secretary who was to be followed mid year by the current Navy Commander Thisara Samarasinghe. The seniors again did not fare too well that year. However, the juniors were different and a winning outfit. The next paragraph describes what made this difference.
The Royal College Athletics team of 1976
1st Row ( from L to R ) – Udaya Abeysekera, Sumith Priyananda, Mr K L F Wijedasa (Coach), Niraj de Mel (Captain) Mr L D H Peiris (Principal), Janaka Edirisinghe (Secretary), Mr M D R Senanayake (Master in charge), Ravi Widyalankara, Lasantha Subasinghe
2nd Row (from L to R) – R P Ranasinghe, Roshan Fernando, Chrysantha Ferdinando, Rohantha Peiris, Ravi Fernando, Mihira de Alwis, Chrysantha de Mel, Kapila Seneviratne, Rohitha de Silva. |
The Royal Junior School although considered as a separate entity from the main Royal College back then, it was inevitable that the juniors after grade 7 or 8 would move into College. Unfortunately, as there was no sports meet at RJS during the whole of the 60’s, the nucleus to feed Royal College with athletes was not available.
This was perhaps another reason Royal didn’t fare all too well at Public schools’ meets in the late 60’s & 70’s. It was only in 1970 with the advent of a new Head Master, that a sports meet was held after 13 years. This meet gave birth to Royal College’s Athletic supremacy in the ensuing decade. It was with the oldest batch at RJS going over to RC in 1972 including myself which saw the Junior Tarbat brought back to Reid Avenue after sometime.
The next batch of juniors that moved in 1973 was the strengthening of the foundation for Royal’s athletic dominance. Dehiwela MMV comprising a whole bunch of ex -‘Pathana’ boys and the lads from Mount Lavinia were holding sway until 1972 sharing among themselves the reins of school’s athletic supremacy. Unaware to these schools that in the meantime at Royal an outfit was being moulded into the caliber of champions.
Under the leadership of Dhammika Wimalaratne with the watchful eyes of a 50’s captain Dr J.C. Fernando, College emerged winners for a second successive year at the Junior Tarbat championships in 1973. Then the unbelievable victory at the ‘Daily News’ Relay Carnival pipping Dehiwela MMV the favourites by a mere point. There was no looking back from here onwards for College clinching the Senior Tarbat after quite sometime following the all round efforts mainly of the under 17 boys. Royal athletes won sprints, hurdles, jumps, throws and relays in this category with Mahen Perera, Ranjith Moderagamage, R.F. Perera, Sumith Priyananda, Thusitha Jayawardena, Janak and Janaka Edirisinghe and myself excelling in our respective events. This helped Royal build up a solid points base to lift the Senior Tarbat again by a whisker. At the senior level, it was the inclusion of Royce Koelmeyer from St Mary’s Negombo that saw victories in sprints and Long Jump.
1974 with Mahen Perera leading the athletes and Royce Koelmeyer as his deputy the building up of a classy team from juniors to the seniors commenced. The engaging of a top national coach in Mr K.L.F. Wijedasa resulted in accomplishing this task.
This year, in addition to Royal’s own star athletes of 1973 mentioned in the earlier paragraph dominating hurdles, sprints, relays, throws and jumps, the promotion of Ravi Widyalankara, Channa Ranasinghe, Jagath Gunaratne, Rajiva Wijetunga, Rohantha Peiris and a few others from junior to senior level led to an all round success. The entry of Godfrey Fernando and Sandre Fernando further boosted Royal’s dominance in sprints, Long and Triple jumps and middle distance events respectively. In this year, both Junior and Senior Tarbat championships were bagged by Royal in addition to carrying away the relay championships. ‘Daily News’ Relay Carnival was also won quite comfortably by Royal.
Under the captaincy of R.F. Perera with me as his secretary, 1975 was another all conquering year. Royal walked away with Relay Carnival trophy, junior and senior Tarbat shields, winning also the track, field and relay championships at these meets.
Barring Royce Koelmeyer who was overage and gone on to play Rugby, most of the successful athletes of the previous year continued to bring laurels to college. There was also the addition of Udaya Abeysekera from down south which strengthened the middle and long distances in the under 17 age group. Royalists won the 800 and 1500 meters events as well as the 3000 and 5000 metres in the senior age category at the public schools.
Mihira de Alwis of Darley Road fame joining the ranks of Royal added luster to the College team winning the 300 M hurdles event. Royal simply dominated every public school and Relay carnival event winning and often even taking second and sometimes the third places. Another noteworthy performance during this year was Godfrey Fernando winning the pentathlon at the junior public schools meet which was the first time for a royalist.
Running for College five straight years, I captained the side in 1976 with Janaka Edirisinghe as my deputy. It was another great year winning every conceivable championship from juniors to seniors. Both senior and junior Tarbats, the F.D. Wijesinghe cup for under 17 champions, C.C. Dissanayaka cup for field events, C.T. Van Geyzel shield for senior track events, Jefferson for Relays, Daily news trophy at the Relay carnival were all won to adorn the show cases of Principal L.D.H. Peiris’s office. That year college amassed a mammoth 214 points to win the senior Tarbat with the runners-up lagging way behind. Mr Wijedasa continued to coach College which really helped the athletes to aspire for greater heights. There were two classy athletes in Chrisantha Ferdinando from St. Sebastian’s, Moratuwa and Roshan Fernando from St. Mary’s Negombo that entered Royal in 1976 which added further meat to Royal’s success.
Also in his fifth straight year, Ravi Widyalankara the champion sprinter cum long and triple jumper of the last 2 - 3 years took over the reins of college in 1977 and was ably assisted by Channa Ranasinghe as his secretary. The Royal glory continued for yet another season. Virtually all of the championships were won in that year as well. The feature of the year was winning all the relays at the annual Relay Carnival and amassing the highest possible aggregate of 120 points. Ravi won the 200 M sprint and both jumps whilst Chrisantha Ferdinando clinched the 100 & 400 metres in the under 19 age group at the senior Tarbat championships. Roshan Fernando won the under 17 sprints and the long jump events. R.J.R. de Silva added muscle winning the 400 & 800 metres of this age group. Jefferson shield for relays and both Tarbats were once more back at Royal College together with numerous other trophies as well as the Daily News trophy at the Relay Carnival. Chrisantha Ferdinando became the second royalist to win the pentathlon at the junior public schools meet held during the year.
With such great success it was the obvious choice that Chrisantha Ferdinando takes over the captaincy in 1978. Together with Kapila Seneviratne as his deputy, Royal did well to win the Daily News Trophy at the annual Relay carnival but by a quirk of fate missed taking the Senior Tarbat losing it by three points, thus breaking the winning streak of five successive years.
College was also unsuccessful in its bid to retain the Junior Tarbat, possibly a signal of the decline to follow in the coming years. On the personal side, Chrisantha went on to win the Junior National championship in the 400 m sprint and became the first schoolboy to clock under 50 seconds. He was selected to represent the country in that year’s Asian Games held in Bangkok and for the next couple of years he was an automatic choice to represent Sri Lanka in the quarters including the Moscow Olympics in 1980, possibly the first Royalist to do so for a long time.
Roshan Fernando and Chrisantha de Mel combination steered Royal into a yet another successful year in 1979 this time making sure that the senior Tarbat was back at Reid Avenue and the Relay carnival championship as well. Juniors again did not fare too well.
There were three Masters in charge during this decade whose valuable mentoring cannot be forgotten. Mr R M. Dharmasena was the MIC from 1970 – 1974 whilst Mr M.D.R. Senanayake, an old boy, did a brief stint from 1975 – 1976 until his success at the CAS examinations took him to the Ministry of Finance.
Mr V.A.B. Samarakoon then took over in 1977 and went on to the end of the decade where due to his tremendous commitment and dedication saw him been given the responsibilities of Cricket.
It has been my wish to see Royal College emulate the feats of 70’s over and over again in the ensuing years; but sad to note that to date Athletics has been one sport where it has been elusive for College. |
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