With the Dialog Club rugby league kicking off this weekend we take a look at the men who have been handed the responsibility of marshaling the top 8 clubs of the country during the league. We have a versatile set of coaches in the league with reputed coaches making a return to club coaching and rookies looking to make a mark in the club circuit.
Police SC – Sudath Sampath
For his evading runs and side stepping capabilities, former national sevens skipper Sudath Sampath was a well-known name in the Asian rugby circuits during his playing days. Having donned the CR & FC jersey in the club arena in 1990, Sampath joined the police force as a Sub Inspector and went onto represent the club with distinction. After a few stints coaching schools’ outfits Sudath took over the coaching duties at CR&FC as the sevens coach. He was also entrusted with the responsibility of guiding the national Sevens team and most recently was the man in charge of the victorious young tuskers who won the Asia U20 7s championship. A member of the Police coaching outfit from the year 2007, Sampath will be the main man in charge of the Cops this season and hopes to bring them back to the top four at the end of the season.
Navy SC – Mothilal Jayathilaka
Having previously been part of the Sailors’ coaching team during the ground breaking 2013/14 season where they emerged League champions for the first time, Mothilala Jayathilaka returns to the sailors as the man in charge for the 2016/17 season. Navy Sports Club has a good mixture of experienced players and young talent coming into their ranks with most of their senior players representing the team for almost 05 straight years. Jayathilaka, a staunch believer in the value of strength and conditioning, wants to make sure that Navy SC is the fittest team in the league and hopes to repeat the success of the 2013/14 season by clinching the league title this time around as well.
Havelocks – Ronny Ibrahim
The veteran coach Ronny Ibrahim returns to the club rugby circuit as the man in charge of the Park club for the 2016/17 season. Having coached the revamped Navy outfit from 2009 to 2012, he was instrumental in bringing out some of the current top players to the national fold. His good work with the Sailors was noted by the Indian Rugby Union where he was appointed as the head coach of India in 2013 while in 2014 he coached the Sri Lanka Tuskers at the inaugural Serandib cup. Ibrahim has a good set of players under him and is confident that he will be able to guide the park club to be title contenders and provide stiff opposition to all competitors.
Kandy – Sean Wijesinghe
In charge of the Island’s most successful club, Sean Wijesinghe can only hope to be able to emulate the success he had last year with Kandy SC. After an illustrious career that spanned over a decade at the Hill country club, Wijesinghe joined the coaching outfit of Kandy as an understudy to Johanne Taylor and was handed the responsibility of marshaling Kandy in the 2015/16 season. He can look back at his debut season with pride as Kandy SC emerged as triple champions and were unbeaten throughout the season. This year with the addition of a few star national players, Kandy will be looking to move their game a notch above the rest.
Air Force – Leonard de Zilwa
An impressive utility back in his playing days for Havelock’s Sports Club, this will be the second season Leonard De Zilwa will be in charge of the Airmen. De Zilwa was the man in charge of Navy SC in the 2013/14 season when the sailors clinched their maiden league title. Air Force SC took some time to settle down last season as they didn’t find their footing in the first round but managed to put out some good performances in the second round, challenging a few of the leading clubs. They managed to win the defense services tournament getting the better of the Army, Navy and Police SC teams. De Zilwa has the same team from last year available to him and will be looking to fine-tune the shortcomings from last season.
CH & FC – Namal Rajapaksa
Former Sri Lanka Skipper and Member of Parliament Namal Rajapaksa has volunteered to mentor the CH& FC team during the 2016/17. It will be the first time the eldest Rajapaksa sibling will be trying his hand in coaching at the club level. Rajapaksa was an instrumental member in the Navy team and also went onto captain Sri Lanka during his playing days and will be eager to continue his success in his new role as a coach.
CR & FC – Ben Macdougal
Former Scottish international Ben Mcdougal will be the man in charge of the Longdon place club for the 2016/17 season. Having completed stints at Army SC and St. Peter’s College prior to taking on CR&FC, he is no stranger to the local rugby fraternity. With a promising young squad under his purview, Mcdougle is looking to instill professionalism that is seen in other countries to CR & FC and do one better this year to clinch the evasive Dialog Rugby League title.
Army – Feveri Verbula
Fijian Feveri Verbula will continue to mentor the Soldiers for the second season running. Verebula, a seasoned coach, was part of the Papua New Guinea 7’s team and also the North Harbour Club in New Zealand prior to taking the responsibility of marshaling the Soldiers. With only players who were enlisted to the force available for selection, Army SC provided stiff opposition to all the top clubs and made Kandy SC, the eventual winner of the league, work hard for victory going down 6-9. Verebula with more exposure in the local rugby circuit and a better understanding of the squad will be looking to dish out some giant killing performances during the current league.
