As Royal College and Trinity College set forth for the 74th traditional encounter, the President of Sri Lanka Rugby (SLR) Asanga Seneviratne takes us through his Bradby Shield memories.
My first experience of the Bradby shield was at Longdon place, the home of rugby, one hot Saturday afternoon in June 1982.The grounds were packed to capacity and the match was played on a knife’s edge. Both teams defence was outstanding. The score stood at 9-6 to Trinity. In the last minute of extra time, Royal scrum-half, Sriyan Cooray made a break and seemed to have it in the bag with no defence in sight. But as he dived for the line, the Trinity full-back Dushanth Wijesinghe came out completely unseen and made an unbelievable tackle that saved the try and the match for Trinity! Both players were carried off to hospital. The 2nd leg at Nittawela was even closer, with Trinity managing to sneak through a 6 – 4 win in the pouring rain.
The Bradby Shield is the blue ribbon of Sri Lanka Rugby, easily the most looked-forward to Rugby encounter in the country. The 73-year old tradition sees over 20,000 spectators converge on the Royal and Pallekale stadiums. The players representing their respective schools in this iconic encounter follow a rich tradition of camaraderie, loyalty and sportsmanship and are the envy of every single school boy and fan.
There is no doubt that Royal and Trinity have produced the finest Rugby Union players this country has seen. I love the passion with which Trinity play the game, always making it look easy and effortless. Some of Sri Lanka’s finest ballplayers have been produced by them and rugby is second nature to them.
Royal has always excelled at whatever sport they compete in and will never give away an encounter without a fight. They are always the side to beat and have handled the pressure over the years with true Royal grit!
In the 1980’s the local rugby scene was dominated by Royalists and Trinitians, as they have done since the 50’s. While it is unfair to single out a few, I have to mention some of the gentlemen who have played an influential role in my life, helped so many sportsmen, and contributed immensely to the development of rugby in our country.
My first coaches at CR & FC were all Royalists. Lionel Almeida, probably the finest three-quarter, and the “fastest man in Asia”, the perennial Summa Navaratne, taking care of fitness. Malik Samarawickrama was in charge of planning and taking sessions and getting the side together. AjithAbeyratne (Trinity) was my first National Coach and Pastor. CPP Abeygunawardena (Royal), was my first Captain at CR and Rohantha Peiris (Royal), Dilip Adihetty (Trinity) are just some of the legends I played under. My teammates included Hiran Muttiah, Sriyan Cooray, Kapila Ariyaratne, Janaka Lenaduwa, Ajith Weeratunge, Ajith Gunasekera, Wimal Epparachichi, Mahendra Navaratnam, Sarinda Unamboowe and Lasitha Guneratne (all from Royal), PradeepAdihetty, Inthi Marikkar, Shah Doole and ThusharaWeerasooriya (Trinity). We also had Saman Jayasinghe, Iqbal Hassen, Haroon Mussafer, Sujantha Sukumar, Junaideen, Sritharan, Seyyad, and Rabba Gunasekera turning out for CH & FC and Sri Lanka. I also had a habit of playing touch-rugby with most of them daily before cricket practices at the CCC.
This rich and varied blend of Royalists and Trinitians did have some things in common which I believe set them apart from the crowd.They were loyal, honest, hard-working, had a great sense of humour and never gave up; character traits we struggle to come by in this day and age. I am honoured to have known and associated with so many of them.
The Bradby is marked by great festivity and traditional gatherings. I am probably the only non-old boy to have attended the Royal-Bradby dinner on no less than four occasions in my capacity as President of Sri Lanka Rugby and it has always been a night to remember! In one of his speeches, Stanley Unamboowe, who had been a classmate of my Father’s brother, questioned my credentials to be a Thomian when my Father’s entire family attended Royal!
Sri Lanka Rugby was built around the Bradby Shield. The contribution from both institutions is legendary and shall never be forgotten!
I wish both teams the very best for the match and may God bless you.
Esto Perpetua Royal and Trinity!
Asanga Seneviratne – Sri Lanka Rugby
 Asanga Seneviratne takes us through his Bradby Shield memories.){kind=link}