The Rising of Sri Lankan Club Rugby - By Hamza Hidayathullah
Rugby was introduced in by the British and the first rugby club, the Colombo Football Club, was founded in Sri Lanka in 1879 . Then in the year 1896, the Colombo Football Club merged with the Colombo Hockey Club to become the Colombo Hockey and Football Club which many call it the CH & FC. As per to the records available, The first ever club game was played up in the plantations on 7 th September 1880 between Dickoya MCC and Dimbulla ACC at Darawella, with Dickoya winning the game by 9 points to 3. Since then, this beautiful game has become a passion among many Sri Lankans next to the Gentlemen’s game – Cricket. This can be seen with the number of spectators who turns up for a schools / club game compared to cricket matches. Even though Rugby is played at a semi-professional and recreational level in Sri Lanka, the 2012 International Rugby Board figures shows that there are over 103,000 registered rugby players in Sri Lanka, making it the second largest rugby-playing ...