Those Rugby Greats from SPC

A Tribute and a stroll down Memory Lane
By S Sivendran - 2006

RUGBY
With the curtains coming down on Club Rugby and the Schools Rugby Tournament occupying center stage, it is time to take a stroll down memory lane and recount the past Rugby Players of Schools and Clubs who have contributed immensely to this sport.

The first name that comes to my mind is

DARREL WIMALARATNE,
The unassuming ruggerite who captained St. Peter’s College, CH & FC, and represented the Low Country in the Capper Cup, and also Sri Lanka. Darrel also played for Colombo Schools and Combined Schools as a fly half. Having left school, first played for Havelocks SC and then joined CH & FC and went on t become the third Ceylonese Rugby Captain after Lorensz Pereira and Brian Baptist. CH & FC was, previously, an exclusively expatriate club catering to the English. When Darrel captained CH & FC he had some great rugby caps, viz:

LORENSZ PEREIRA
KUMAR BASTIANPILLAI
BRIAN BAPTIST
LAKSHMAN DE CHICKERA
MAURICE MARINNON (an Australian)
JIZWI NIXZAR
JOHN BURROWS
DAVE HUNTINGTON
MICHAEL HAWKE

Darrel also represented the Low Country captained by HADJIE OMAR, who was another Peterite and CR & FC Player who later captained Ceylon for several years and had players such as:-

Dr. TONY DE SILVA
SARI DE SILVA
BUMPY JAYASEKERA
OMAR SHERIFF
GEOFF RATNAM

The Up Country team was captained by ROHAN ABEYSUNDERA, a tall and hefty forward from St. Peter’s College who also went on to represent the Country.

Darrel was also selected to play for Ceylon against England.

Hadjie Omar captained a National Side which included,
JEYER RODRIGUEZ
ROHAN ABEYSUNDERA
ROYDEN DE SILVA
DARREL WIMALARATNE
DIDACUS DE ALMEIDA

All from St. Peter’s College.

DARREL’s CRICKET CAREER
Darrel was also an outstanding cricket player who played for St. Peter’s College as an opening batsman and opening bowler and went on to captain his alma mater and had in his team such greats as:-

RONNIE GUNARATNE
RODNEY PATTERNOTT
AUBREY PATTERNOTT
C NIRMALENDRAN
EVERARD HOFFMAN
STEPhEN DE NIESE
MERVYN FERNANDO

to name a few.

He also played for the Sri Lanka Schools Team under the captaincy of Anura Tennekoon. Having left school he joined Colombo Colts Cricket Club and later the Colombo Cricket Club and played with distinction. He is also a qualified Level 2 Cricket Coach, accredited to the Australian Cricket Board, and has functioned as head coach of St. Peter’s College who won the Schools Limited Over Championship. He also coached the Tamil Union and the Sinhalese Sports Club, later on.

Darrel, a naturally talented sportsman was a dashing fly half and a center three quarter who began his rugby career at St. Peter’s College, Bambalapitiya and represented his alma mater from 1963, and captained his school in 1965, playing in te pivotal position of fly half. He had, in his young side some brilliant rugby players, such as:

ROYDEN DE SILVA
A towering second row forward who went on to captain Havelocks Sports Club and also represented the country at Rugby and Basketball.

AUBREY PATTERNOTT
Another giant of a second row forward who later turned up for Havelocks, Dimbulla, CH & FC and the Ceylon Barbarians, is now living in Australia.

RONNIE GUNARATNE
A hard running center three quarter, who later played for UVA and CR & FC and presently the Vice President of the CR & FC. He is also a top cricket administrator with Sri Lanka Cricket.

HAMZIE HAMID
A public schools sprint champion who played as a flying winger, and went on to captain the Combined School’s Team, and later played for the CR & FC and Ceylon. He is now a successful businessman in Canada.

M JAINUDEEN
Was selected to play as Scrum Half for Colombo Schools.

DURAND BECKMEYER
Another fast winger now living in Canada.

RODNEY PATTERNOTT
A well built center three quarter, who later played for Havelocks Sprots Club, CR & FC, and the Presidents XV against foreign teams. He coached St. Thomas’ College Mount Lavinia and was an ‘A’ Division referee. He now lives in Australia.

RAJAN RAJENDRAN
A fast breaking wing forward and a hard tackler who continued his rugby at CR & FC and Kandy SC.

D WAKISHTA
Another crash tackling wing forward who later played for the University and CR & FC.

Dr. PARAMSOTHY
A well built wing forward who later played for the University, CR & FC, and Air Force, now practicing Medicine in Canada.

MICHAEL DE NIESE
A sturdy prop forward who later migrated to Australia and became a Professor but passed away at an early age.

CHRIS RAZEL
Another strong Prop Forward.

CHELLIAH NIRMALENDRAN
A dusky Hooker who is now in England.

JAMES ALAGARATNAM
An exciting No. 8 now living in Canada.

MERVYN FERNANDO
A lock forward now in the USA.

EVERARD HOFFMAN
A solid full back with a safe pair of hands who represented Colombo Schools and Havelocks SC. Now settled in Australia.

DENNIS KILLERLY
Another center three quarter now living down under in Australia.

HAROLD JANSZ
Another young Wing Forward.This champion team coached by the legendary Archibald Perera and was hailed by all as the best St. Peter’s College Rugby Team since WW II.