Wesley College Colombo and S Thomas College Mt Lavinia have embarked on a trophy game in the schools rugby arena. The trophy is to be named after the most illustrious Sir Oliver Goonathileke and will be worked off on the 15th May 2015 at the Havelocks Sports Club.
A media conference was held yesterday at the Wesley College hall in connection to this at which plans for the encounter were unveiled.
Old boys of both schools participated in this occasion and Jeremy Brohier- President of the Wesley College old boys Union, Clifford Rodrigo- Sports Administrator of Wesley College, Varuni Sumthirathne- Member of the Goonethileke Family, Farman Cassim- Match Coordinator and Sisira De Silva- Director of Sports S. Thomas’s College were present at the head table.
Considered an outstanding public servant, Sir Oliver Goonetilleke Ceylon’s first Ceylonese Governor General and a colourful personality was one of Wesley’s five illustrious Knights and arguably Wesley’s greatest alumni. As the unsung hero, very few in the public domain know that he was responsible along with the late Hon. D.S Senanayake for achieving Sri Lanka’s independence in 1948.
Sir Oliver did not fail to recall with gratitude the education he received at Wesley, and that the bursaries and scholarships played a valued part. Bestowed with the Hill medal which is the supreme award of the College for a record three consecutive years in 1908, 1909 and 1910, Sir Oliver maintained an abiding interest in Wesley and made several contributions for its improvement. Teaching at Wesley for a few years and later passing the London B.A. and the London Inter Science (Economics), Sir Oliver served as President of the Wesley College OBU from 1940 – 1949 and once again from 1953 – 1963, the longest to serve in that capacity
Starting off the proceedings at the media conference Mr. Farman Cassim explained the importance of Sir Oliver and that such an encounter is organized to keep his memory alive. He also said ‘In honour of such gentleman we are organizing this rugby match against the 2 main Christian schools in this country. I also thank the Warden of S. Thomas’s for accepting our invite and joining hands with us to make this a success.’
Talking about this event Mr. Clifford articulated that this could be the’ battle of the blues’ for rugby. He also mentioned that from the time he has been representing Wesley college, both schools have been performing with great sportsmanship and it would be a privilege to play against S. Thomas’s College.
The Goonethilleke family has donated the trophy and Miss. Varuni spoke on behalf of them. She expressed her thoughts on how proud it is to be a part of Sir Oliver’s family. She thanked the organizing committee for bringing alive a part of history and also the principal and the warden for letting the teams play against each other.
This clash could be a friendly or a tournament match as the league is yet going on. It will be decided by this Saturday. If S Thomas win against St Anthony’s this will be an additional game. If they lose both teams are likely to go into the plate and thus it will end up a league game.
The organizers invite all the supporters of the two schools to witness what would surely be a nail biting episode.
