For me, at Royal, cricket & Rugby were my first love affairs. I am so proud of the fact that I represented college in both sports, captaining cricket & playing in two (2) Bradby Shield encounters, wining one & losing one.
Under the astute captaincy of our No: 8 Dr. Fred Perera, Royal won the only Bradby in which only one leg was played, i.e. in 1971, due to the JVP insurgency. Incidentally, Royal trounced an unbeaten Trinity Team led by Ping, which included the future Sri Lankan halves combination of Irwin Howie & Tikiri Marambe. Coached by the maestro Mahesha Rodrigo, Royal turned the tables & made sure Royalists young & old had plenty to cheer about.
The Bradbys for me brings back nostalgic memories. I entered Royal Primary in 1960 & College proper in 1968 & my heroes were the cricketers & the Bradby winners. We always read about Ashey Caders first Bradby winning Royal side, consisting of 14 freshers, in 1948, the great captain & coach Geoff Weinman who was as I understand the first school boy to don the Sri Lankan Jersey, the famous try in 1958 by Lorenz Pereera when Ken Balendra out hooked Trinity on their put in when Royal won under Dudley Fernando, the famous side captained by the magnificent No: 8 & Sri Lankan stalwart. Keith Paul, the “absolute” leadership of Bulla de Silva in 1968 to win the Bradby, Lasitha “Bonsa” Guneratne’s unbeaten champs in 1988 & the record breaking year of Zulki Hamid in 2002, when Royal won with an aggregate of 83 points to Nil. Also I remember cheering the Bradby winning sides under Sampath Agalawatte, Anura Dhammika, Ruwan Jayasuriya, Chinthaka Abeysuriya, Rajiv Malalasekere, Shanaka Perera, Haren Kaluarachchi, Rajitha Jayasundera, Mahin Abeyratne and the unbeaten champion side of Naren Dhason and Dhammika Athygalle’s side in 2010. Also I remember with nostalgia Dr. Harindu Wijesinghe’s underdog, Royalist’s who played the 1st tied Bradby and who have the distinction of braking the longest winning streak by a school team in 1992,beating a great Thomian side led by future Sri Lankan skipper Savantha De Saram, halting their 55 plus match unbeaten run.
As a Royalist Rugby player and fanatic Royal supporter Bradby is the ultimate plum. This is the bride and the others are the bridesmaids. We savour the moment we wear the jersey, run on to the field and come out winners. I was lucky in 1971 to be on the winning side. But, it was heartbreaking in 1972 after winning the 1st leg 9-8 we lost the return 10-3 in Kandy. I was so happy to see us win in 1973 again under my friend, later Sri Lankan star. Michael Muller.
I also remember with gratitude the masters-in-charge and the coaches that moulded us fellow Royalist’s to become men, in line with our motto “Learnt of books and learnt of men and learnt to play the game”. Foremost in my mind is master-in-charge of Royal Rugby, the incomparable.
Mr. M. Thambapillai, a proud product of Trinity who embraced the Blue & Gold and guided generations of Royal Rugby players to become Men and to play the game clean and hard. Then there was Mr. H. Nanayakkara, Mr. Hanifa the present Anura Sir and many others who gave their time and energy selflessly. To all of you, our heartfelt thanks and of course the great Coaches; I had the privilege to be coached by the greats, like Geoff Weinman, Mahesa Rodrigo, Summa Navaratnam and at U.17 the affable Lakshman Kaluarachchi, who coached us to the 1st U.17 Rugby win against Trinity in 1969. Of course, we must not forget the Master tactician Malik Samarawickrama, that Super center Jagath Fernando, Bradby winning Captain Dr. Fred Perera and Dr. Maiya Gunasekara, who did yeoman service, devoting their time and energy to mould future Royalist’s.
To sum it all, the BRADBY IS SPECIAL. A word of appreciation and respect for our able rivals from Kandy, who at many times have lived upto their motto “Respice Finem” (look to the end). May this year’s match be a memorable one and my fervent Royal hopes of Royal to break the three (3) year draught and bring the BRADBY back to Royal. Disce Aut Disce De
Ajita Pasqual
Royal College Cricket
Coloursman
1970 – 1974
Captain 1973
Royal College Rugby
1971 – 1972
2 years coloursman
