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 nation in Asia, behind Japan.

The game has developed ever since and now being played in every corner of the city and many parts of the country as well. The club league in Sri Lanka always managed to showcase school boy talent in the past and at present, almost all the clubs have managed to secure few star players to their teams.

Back in the day, many school boys joined a club of their choice considering the locality, family ties or may be a former coach who was a member / past players of the club invited the player to come and play.

This was the case until the 80s and many of those players did not get paid– but played the sport purely for the love and passion. Then came the 90s where the sports took a different turn as first step of being professional and commercial. This era, we saw many players started switching clubs due to internal politics, attractive pay, facilities and some were even offered good jobs. This was the time that the only club from the Hill Capital - Kandy Sports Club got many players from Colombo clubs like Police and CR to come join them. Since then Kandy SC always attracted the best players in the country to represent them.  It is quite evident that money was the turning factor for the players to switch clubs and the match fees paid during the 80s or 90s cannot be compared to the amounts paid at present for the rugby players.  This shows that the game also have moved to a different level among the clubs where they spent quite a substantial amount for a Rugby season to bring the best for their club.

I still remember one Kandy vs Police game in the 90s at Police park always triggered the supporters from both sides and some games created fights between some and one particular game went to the extent of the Kandy SC flag being burnt down few unruly Police supporters. But none of these incident couldn’t stop the hill capital club to attract the best players to come and wear the local French coloured jersey ever since.

In the same era, we had the few islanders coming in and making their names in the newspaper headlines. The Salusalus, Mansa Quoros, Kittys, Batis, Jimmy’s. You name it. We had it. Those ever smiling Fijians, Tongans and Samoans entertaining the Sri Lankan Rugby lovers with their bull dozing runs, dummys and side steps in every pitch they played.  Not forgetting the birth of those small clubs like the Pink Elephants, Old Bens and The Puffins who played rugby socially to keep themselves fit and entertained during the same late 70s, 80s and 90s.

Petersons was a club which attracted the best school boy talent along with the big Fijians in the 80s and early 90s. This was a club where many school boys use as a step to start their club rugby careers and then move out to other clubs after 1 or 2 years. The Black shirts now a Division B club who does not even a have a sponsor to cover the basic expenses of the players which is quite sad to know.

CH & FC – One time the most glamourous clubs in Colombo who won many championships, attracted the best rugby players in the schools along with the supporters couldn’t make a name in the local club scene over the last few years.  However their new look last season has attracted many great young players in to the club and I am sure they are the team to watch this season.

The Longden Place – Red Shirts CR & FC always had elite school boys joining from day one and currently they have managed to attract the best school boy talent. They have also managed to get some of the best brands to come in sponsors in the past few years and the club have invested heavily on their infrastructure development in their property. This year the Red shirts has signed up one of the most successful coaches in the recent times Mr.Nilfer Ibrahim who will look forward to deliver his best in the coming season.

The chocolate and pink jersey lads - Havelocks had some decent seasons in the recent years. Even though they had the cream of the top school rugby stars in their line up, they still couldn't make a huge impact last year to be in the top 3. 

The 3 forces and the police team always had few boys who have played rugby in their schools. But they have always moulded many non-rugby players to become players after joining them. This was a very encouraging factor then and now they have managed to a decent set of young school boys to come join the clubs as contracted players. 

We also had the birth of few small clubs in the 90s and in the recent past. Kandy Youth was one which had few ex school boys players in the hill capital representing the club. Then the Old Zahirians formed a Rugby club to give a place for all those schools boys who could not find a place in the elite clubs. We also saw the Hambanthota Sharks and Up Country Lions coming to big league few years back. But they too couldn’t make a notable impact as many players moved to other clubs end of the season.

In the last few years Kandy SC has managed to sign up many Rugby players from Colombo clubs and schools. No doubt, it’s all about your bank balance end of every month. But it’s not the only factor. The club also have a professional set up to sustain, uplift and manage the player’s, their needs and careers. It was also very encouraging to hear that one of their past foreign coaches even conducted English classes for few players during the week. The club has a very strict disciplinary code of conduct for every player on and off the field. The players are advised to pursue their higher education while working and playing.  All these points boil down to the game day as well and we have all seen the brand of rugby they play. Even though they lost to Havies few years back in Colombo quite badly and to Air Force in the recent times, the number of championships they have won over the last 2 decades speaks about it for sure. Every player delivers on the day and their die hard supporters too expect the same for them. They are always in their toes at the edge of their seats to support the club no matter whats the outcome is. They can no doubt be called as the local All Blacks for sure.

In a recent interview with Daily Mirror, Sri Lanka Rugby (SLR) Vice President Mr. Rizly Illiyas said that  “Over the last few years, Inter-Club League Rugby Tournament has not been as competitive as we would like to and one possible option (of doing so) is the addition of foreign players.”

“However, if we allow all the clubs to have overseas players, I don't think that would solve the problem which is why I believe the teams in the bottom-half need strengthening. With one really good foreign player, I believe the teams from the bottom-half would be able to compete against top-half sides and that eventually would make the tournament more competitive”

A team like Kandy who have been competing in the Asia Western Club Champions league in the last few years and competing against sides Baharain RFC and Abu Dhabi Harliquins simply wouldn’t mind playing the league against clubs with one or two foreigners.  

The 2018 Club Rugby season kicks off in few days and let’s see how entertaining and sizzling it’s gonna be with some new school boy players taking on the field and another set of young good players crossing over clubs in the past few months.