The two brother schools, Wesley College, Colombo and Kingswood College, Kandy are yet again set to display their prowess in rugby when they play each other on Saturday the 1st June at the Bogambara stadium in Kandy for the coverted “L.E. BLAZE TROPHY”.
Wesley College Colombo
Wesley College, Colombo founded on the 2nd March, 1874 by Rev. Daniel Henry Pereira with Rev. Samuel Roswe Wilkin as its founder principal is a leading college in Colombo with a rich heritage of traditions. Wesley College bears a proud history with great contributions to the nation by producing men of Honor, grit and Industry. There are many great statesmen, Sportsmen who represented the nation and prominent personalities who are the products of this great institution. Wesley started rugby in 1955 with the first captain being Eddie Buell
Kingswood College Kandy
Kingswood College, Kandy was founded by Sir. L. E. Blaze on May 4, 1891. Kingswood College is also of repute with a similar history of great traditions and contributions to the Sri Lankan society through many facets. But to the rugby loving public, Kingwood College is known as the School which introduced Rugby to Sri Lanka. Kingswood started playing rugby from the year it was founded in 1891. In 1906 the first ever match between two schools in Sri Lanka was played between Kingswood and Trinity College.
Sir L.E.Blaze
Sir. L.E. Blaze is honored by Sri Lankans as the fore farther of Sri Lankan rugby but there were many contributions made by him to Kingswood College .Under the aegis of the mission, Sir Blaze left an indelible stamp over the school. At the outset Sir Blaze, modeled Kingswood on the English Public School. He endeavored to give meaning and substance to that often repeated phrase “Gentlemen of Kingswood”. He chose a motto for the school in Latin, “Fide et Virtute” as was customary at the time. He then chose the distinctive school colours, Maroon and Dark Blue, and he wrote the words of the Kingwood College, school song!
The L.E. Blaze Trophy
In honor of this great Gentleman, Brother Schools Kingwood College, Kandy and Wesley College Colombo set out to play an annual encounter of rugby which consists of two legs. Each hosted by the schools in Kandy and Colombo. The first L.E. Blaze trophy game was played on 17th July 1986. The game was won by Kingswood College that year. Kingswood was captained by Ronnie Ibrahim & Wesley by Sumedha Kuruppu. In the history of the L.E. Blaze Trophy out of 25 encounters, Kingswood has won 18 and Wesley was won 05 while 02 games ended in draws.
The L.E. Blaze Trophy 2013
This year Wesley is captained by the fourth year coloursman, Rahul De Silva and vice captained by another fourth year coloursman Gavin Seigertz. Wesley commands the No. 3 position in the Singer Schools rugby league 2013 points table so far having registered victories against Isipathana College, Science College, St. Josephs College and St. Anthony’s College, Kandy.
The Kingswood team is Captained by 3rd year coloursman Rumesh Premathilake. There are three 3rd year coloursmen in this year’s team. So far Kingswood has won 2 games and has lost 4 & 1 drawn. Kingswood is currently at No. 6 position in the Singer Schools rugby league 2013 points table.
The game is tipped to be an exciting 80 minutes display of rugby, with both schools playing for glory in this annual encounter. We invite the rugby loving public to be there to witness the sportsmanship of these two great brother schools!
