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Now that all the eating and drinking is over and you’ve made your New Year resolutions, it’s good to read on!

Waists and hips

Before you any further, do go and get a measuring tape! Then get to work. Try answering the question: what’s your Waist-to-Hip Ratio (WHR)?

Let’s begin: 

First measure your waist at the smallest part. 

Waist = … inches 

Next measure your hips at their widest points.

Hips = … inches

3. Don’t cheat!

Now divide your waist measurement by your hip measurement.

WHR = …

Now take a deep breath and reflect on the result.

A study some years back in the medical journal The Lancet argued that the results of this exercise can help to better assess a measure of fat distribution and thereby the risk for disease linked to being overweight (obese). 

If you are a woman, you are said to be at lower risk if your WHR is less than 0.8. But at higher risk if it’s greater than 0.8. For men, the risk is lower if the WHR is less than 1.0. By implication higher if it’s greater than 1.0.

If the math confuses you, and you are beginning to perspire, here is an example: if you are a man with a 42 inch waist and 38 inch hips measurement, your WHR is 1.10. You fall into high risk category. If you are a woman with 36 inch waist and 39 inch hips, your WHR is 0.92, and you too fall into the high risk category. If you are woman with a 26 waist and a 34 hip measurement, with a WHR of 0.76, all one can say is wow!

The Lancet study is, of course, only an indicator. There are other factors that play into the elements of risk. But the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases in the US says: “However defined, overweight and obesity contribute to the development of a number of debilitating diseases, including arthritis, heart disease and diabetes.”

The reason being, according to an analyst J.W. Payne of the Washington Post, body fat stored around the abdomen is more dangerous than fat stored around the hips and thighs. More abdominal fat surrounding internal organs, including the liver, has been linked to higher risks of heart attacks, diabetes and other illnesses.

For those who refuse to accept the reality of the ratio and the risk factors, yes there are many arguments for and against the concept, but for now my advice is eat less rice and consume no sugar, and exercise!

Coffee

There are many ways to get into the Guinness Book of World records, but a Maryland resident in the US is tried to achieve this in an addictive fashion. John Winter Smith bought coffee at more than 4,500 outlets of the Starbucks Coffee chain in North America and 213 overseas. His goal is to go “global” with Starbucks. 

According to a journal Newsday, as of December 2005, the chain owned 4,525 stores in North America and 1,018 abroad. Smith, the journal says, has driven over 70,000 miles in the past year.

What a fine advertisement at for Starbucks. Here’s a challenge: who will attempt this for a brand of good Ceylon Tea?

Grunts

The women’s singles at the Australian Tennis Open Championship some years ago drew much attention when Justine Hardene, threw in the towel (or racket) through exhaustion when the final was just a set and two-and-a-half games old. 

This brought to mind another dimension of women’s tennis. During the Wimbledon years back, a London Tabloid, ran a “gruntometer” score of 101.2 decibels for Maria Sharapova, measuring the level of “grunting” that was heard whilst serving. It was said that the noise was as loud as a police siren, give or take some exaggeration!

Picking up this concept a San Jose journal came out with the following sound equivalents:

Maria Sharapova (101) = subway train

Serena Williams (88) = lawn mower

Venus Williams (85) = heavy traffic

Lindsay Davenport (84) = hand saw

Elena Bovina (81) = hair dryer

It is said that according to the League for Hard Hearing, continued exposure to noise above 85 decibels will cause hearing loss over time!

As to why the results were released only for the women players is a good question, though. Maybe it’s off the charts, as when one’s wife yells at you… sound of an oncoming train!

http://www.ft.lk/columns/Of-waists-hips-coffee-and-grunts/4-692885

A Google search,  or even the Guinness Book,  will not yield anyone who has the twin attributes of having captained both his country at Rugby and the Banking Industry as a Central Bank Governor, Fed Chairman or Chancellor of the Exchequer.

Except our own Indrajit Coomaraswamy.

With a true Shakespearean flavour he was gentle, purposeful and classy, and the elements of ‘sportsmanship’ mixed so well in him that the accolades we have read in the media on his self-imposed retirement, says to all the world: ‘this was a man’.

And he was indeed a sportsman. The connotation of sports is different from sportsmanship; to wit, countless politicians and industry leaders have sports as their attributes in their record books. They are in our Parliament too. Yet how many could claim to be sportsmen in the larger sense of behaving sportingly?

45 years ago, as a rugby reporter and columnist, the sports editor of the erstwhile Times of Ceylon Elmo Rodrigopulle asked me to keep an eye on ‘this man’ – Indrajit – as he had a winning and stylish streak in him.

In doing so I found that the path from the local and international playing fields of cricket or rugby, to the higher echelons of the banking industry or the multilaterals is well-trod, but rarely with greater distinction than by Indrajit Coomaraswamy.

Sports builds character and class and if applied in the right spirit makes one a god given gift to society.

Humility is foremost. For instance, as the guest speaker at a Transformation seminar by Milinda Moragoda’s Pathfinder Foundation in November, Indrajit in came in a bit late. He prefaced his opening comments with an apology: he was held up attending a Central Bank training program on Leadership conducted by an expert. He then shares his learning by stating I drew one chastening conclusion for myself; that I am not a very good leader, in fact rather a poor leader! He meant it seriously.

And then he spoke on the subject of change and transformation in the Central Bank. More on this later, but first to rugby and its links to his personality.

Rugby and its connection to his personality

To play rugby and captain a team is one thing but to apply its attributes to one’s career is another. My first coverage of him was in my hometown Kandy. The CR&FC captained by Mohan Sahayam was playing Kandy Sports led by Denzil Kobbekaduwe. Indrajit played in the game. 

CR&FC won due to the brilliant loose play especially by wing forwards Indrajit and ‘Doc’ Tony de Sylva who not only pounced on the loose ball but marked Denzil and centre Jayantissa Ratwatte giving them no room to work their three-quarter line. He made not one, but a few sizzling runs which caught the Kandy side off-guard.  

CR went on to win the Clifford Cup thanks to vibrant play of the duo and of course the brilliance of Sahayam Specials. They went on to play in the Ceylon Side. And Indrajit deservedly graduated to captain the Sri Lanka team in the 1974 Asiad where we emerged runners-up; the highest achievement we have had to date.

Wing forwards had a very pivotal role to play under the old rules. They were both required in attack as well as in defence. In these roles Indrajit played like a veteran. If you wanted to see a good wing forward, one with flash and beauty, and substance and urgency, then the duo of Indrajit and ‘Doc’ Sylva were there for us to see.

Part of Indrajit’s genius is that he knew when to take risks. When the Bond Scam hit the Central Bank and the country it shook the political firmament. Who would want to risk one’s record to take on a thankless job? But that came naturally to the ruggerite after some reflection.  

He made the choice to serve the country at a time of dire need. He seemed to say: what’s the big deal? I am clean. I can give and take a tackle. You want me to lead, sure I will. But the field has to be open and fair and I should have the liberty to do what I need to do. The then President agreed.

Two years later as I lunched with him and Milinda Moragoda, Indrajit mentioned that challenging as the times were, he was optimistic. He had very good people at the Central Bank. But he had set for himself a time limit of (say) three years. He will use that time to build and prepare a team for the future. He was determined to put the stigma of the Bond scam into the dustbin of history so that the path can be cleared for the good people of the bank to get on with their professional work.

Yet as he moved in, like a true captain with substance, a sense of urgency and to defend his team where they were right, and put right what was wrong, there were some brickbats thrown at him for defending his team and the practices at the bank. In true Michelle Obama style, ‘when they went low to attack him, he went high!’ Being a magnanimous and self-confident captain, he not only took criticism like a man but acted like a gentleman.

Scrums, mauls and lineouts were his domain. He could take them in his stride. He had a keen sense as to where the ball will be in the scrum. He got there before others were destructive. He had good timing too. He would move right up to the line of attack to face the opponents but was careful not to overstep, lest he his blown offside! Calculation was critical for him.

He was intent on transforming the team in the field. But the Governance Structure in the ‘Big Clubhouse’, as it were, must change too! Hence, he was passionate that the new Central Bank Bill must be passed by Parliament. That the Monetary Policy Board should have an arm’s length relationship with the Governing Board; that the technical team (the players in the field) should be able to play their fair game without interference from the ‘Clubhouse bosses’.

He also was an advocate of a tight architecture. He had the direction of the goal posts in mind. He did not want random play where the ball went loose, that every Tom, Dick and Harry could walk into the Operations room.  And where everybody was scampering as money was printed and asset bubbles waded into the field and goodies were distributed to the fans in the stadia and beyond. Everything got inflated!

So, he wanted a clear framework within which to play. ‘Flexible inflation targeting’ to arrest the volatility on the field; no printing of money. ‘Active Liability Management’; that we had the ability to raise funds in the markets to keep the team and the fans alive; that we could yet actively borrow funds in the market and reserve funds into ring-fenced areas for judicious use later.

As an agile ruggerite, he preferred a ‘flexible exchange rate’ than a ‘crawling peg’. Good wing forwards manage volatility in the field not only through needed cover or corner flag defence, but with frontal attacks as well judiciously managed.

His was intent to set the stage to manage exogenous shocks. Expensive defence tactics of the exchange rate, however, can hurt: “don’t defend the rate unnecessarily as it can be pretty expensive and the outcome could still be what we are trying to avoid” (some $ 4.5 billion was applied in defence of the rate and yet inflation remained at a high).

While the local teams played their best looking inwards, as captain and coach he advocated Open Play.  Move the ball with fluency down the line and the scoring will come. Be outward looking. Attract outsiders to what we can offer. 

We are blessed with factors of land, labour and produce and garments, precious stones and tourism, and skills and a service orientation. We can attract them all to our matches! He recognises that we have a fabulous location, a geopolitical dynamic and an aspirational fan base or population. We need to monetise these god given gifts so we carry the fan base in the stands to job growth and prosperity. 

So that they are able to watch the game and participate in the match we must ensure not having to borrow to pay for our tickets which have become pretty expensive! They eat into our food budgets.

Export orientation (even our sports) is the Top Line to Indrajit. It has to be enhanced. 

If not, we will not get out of the stadium. Rather, get caught instead to the debt-trap! To this end we cannot resort only to defensive play by protective imports substitution, but rather have ‘open play’ given that the share of traded goods have gone down (from some 60% to 40%).

Don’t have an ‘Anti Export bias’ is his rescue clarion call. Build strong relationships with all. Like good ruggerites, we need to build good alliances with those who can improve ‘our game’. Rugby although a rough game has its charm when played in flowing, open style. Scissor moves and dummies will in turn add zip and zest to our game.

For this we need strategic and tactical alliances. China and India are our big brothers. We need them as we do the US (60% of our Bond investors come from the US). And the rating agencies take all these relationships and activities in grading us for the market. If these relationships go sour our ability to raise funds diminishes. If the players start jabbering and not focusing on the way to attract support, and talk out of turn, we will be undermining our efforts.

Indrajit, the pragmatist, strongly feels we need them all for the short and long haul. And they need us too given our endowments. And we need them badly to help us ride out the coming storms.

But in all this we need to ‘box cleaver”. In this age of international diplomacy, Indrajit reminds us of Jane Austen’s Penelope, as a parting thought.

Penelope had many men who were interested in her. They courted her, but she made sure that none of them got into her bedroom. Nonaligned as we are, we should not get too close. And, to use a rugby analogy, as a wing forward, we should get close enough to the front of the scrum but make sure we stop just short of being blown offside.

The writer could be reached via email at mohamed@mvmuhsin.com

His shoulder was dislocated, elbow smashed, nose broken and his Jaw popped out only to be jutted back again. And yet rugby and the Bradby was his life. That was Mike de Alwis the Trinity Scrum half of the 1956 team, who went on to Captain Sri Lanka. If Mike was a  ‘gutty’ player of the Trinity side, M. Odayar was the ‘celebrity. Wearing a hair net to keep his hair in place, and playing in soccer boots, he was so valiant in the Bradby that he dislocated his collarbone but continued to play; fielded the ball with the injured arm and dealt a ward-off with the other.  When there was a lightening food strike in the boarding dining hall days before the Bradby and all others walked out, Odayar tactically stayed back. And when waiter ‘Bittara’ Banda brought in the boiled eggs, Odayar smartly consumed a dozen or so to derive his energy for the game! There were heavyweights too in the side! Gamini ‘Bull’ Weerasinghe and Jinna Dias Desinghe, playing true to his double-barreled name, heaped “One Tonne” tackles on Royal forwards who out jumped Trinity.

Rugby at that time was fast, brutal, strategic, and colourful, and have I mentioned brutal? Tackling from head to toe was permissible!

If this line up seemed brutal then it was balanced by the finesse of the rest of the 1956 team whose line was not crossed once in school matches; winning the Bradby 15/nil & 11/nil; winning all upcountry games beating Uva, Dimbulla and Kandy; six of the players later played for Sri Lanka and two captained. In the team were also forwards Wilhelm Balthazaar, Rodney Frank, Raji de Sylva, and Frankly Jacob, Halves Feroze de Alwis, and Nimal Maralande; Ken de Joodt, Sena de Sylva, Sene Ettipola Vernon Boteju; besides of course Mike de Alwis, Jinna and Odayar. Leading from the front was David Frank acclaimed as the best captain Trinity has ever had in our generation and coached by the best Coach we’ve ever seen in Bertie Dias who later was National Coach.

The bonds between Trinity and Royal have always been strong and exemplary. In the 50’s both teams would spend time together before the Bradby’s– stay together, eat, relax and travel together to the match…walk together from Trinity to Bogambara; and from Reid Avenue to the Racecourse grounds.

If the teams in the 50’s demonstrated this spirit then even a better example was set in 1965 by the Schools’ enlightened leadership when a Royalist, Cedric Oorloff was the Principal of Trinity while Dudley de Silva was Royal’s head –both leading educationists and disciplinarians. A thoroughbred Royalist, Miles Christoffelsz was Trinity’s Coach; and a Trinitian MT Thambapillai ‘Gentleman of Class’ was Master -in -Charge of Royal Rugger. The Royal coach was the redoubtable Mahes Rodrigo. The referee in the Kandy encounter was Royalist Dr. Larry Foenander and that super Trinity Coach of the famous 1956 side, Bertie Dias, refereed in Colombo. What are the odds of such a cocktail of leaders being presented to rugby fans in these times!

To meet the expectations of these leaders, Athleticism and Adrenaline was often in full display by both teams.

It’s now called the Obolensky try. Named after the “flying Russian Prince”. In 1958 Royal had their own Prince, Lorenz Pereira. He scored one of the best ever tries in what was Bradby’s own Obolensky moment. Trinity, playing at Longden Place started to lose possession and then the Royal threes were heading towards a bunch of Trinity defenders and was eventually brought down. But right-winger Lorensz Pereira scored the try! He saw what was about to happen and in a flash sped right across the field, joined the line as an extra man to snap the loose pass and score. 

The return in Colombo had its own share of shock and awe. Lorensz had two brilliant interceptions and had fashioned a Royal win. In the dying minutes, the Trinity third row led by Rodney Frank began what remains a phenomenally highly skilled dribble covering 75 yards with perfect control at a sweeping speed to score. This brought back memories of the previous year in Kandy when Ken de Joodt’s seventy-five yard run and try electrified the match. 

Denzil Kobbekaduwe was the Trinity Captain in 1959 where his super leadership qualities were evident. As a Captain he had it in him not only to lead and inspire but to coach and mentor.

The early ‘60s had it’s own moments of a special kind of leadership.

The 1960 Trinity team, coached by Phillip ‘Feet Feet’ Buultjens, was captained by the famous all –rounder Eric Roles who, besides him, had three others playing for Sri Lanka in later years: CH Seneviratne, Jayantissa Ratwatte and Noel Brohier. In 1961, Noel Brohier was asked to captain the Trinity team.  But with characteristic humility he says to the Master-in-Charge Hilary Abeyratne “Sir, ‘Bull Dozer’ Jayanatha ‘Jaws’ Jayawardene is senior to me and I can’t match him and I will play under him’!” Such magnanimity was the selfless character of the ruggerites then. With such a code of conduct Trinity regained the Bradby in 1962 and retained it in 1963 under ‘Big Piya’ Piyasena who also was a Sri Lanka Cap.

It was in that year one recalls how Keith Paul left the field with a dislocated knee.  But got back as things were tight. In his own inimitable gutty style he goes in and scores a try!  In the dying minutes, Trinity was awarded a penalty.  Had it gone over, the match would have been drawn and the Bradby shared. But drama—and fate– unfolds.  The ball hits the upright and bounces back into the field, only to be pounced on by that brilliant Trinity winger Justin Labrooy who darts like a gazelle and scores to give Trinity victory!

Bradby’s never get won or lost till the last whistle calls!

The 1964 teams were ‘special ‘in many respects. Trinity came into the match with the reputation of the infallibility of the magic wand that was the ‘Sahayam Special’. Mahes Rodrigo was a good judge and had a sixth sense. He was a master tactician. He says to the team before they run in “ guys, remember Sahayam will score, but Royal will win!

Zaruk slings out a long pass to Sahayam. Aladdin’s lamp is rubbed and then the “magic” unfolds: Sahayam collects the ball, pretends to toss it in the air, then fakes a pass, and appears to recapture it. Time’s winged chariot seems to be at his back as he changes direction and makes a compelling move. He is fast and flashy as he darts with a disarming smile through 35 yards. And then the reality dawns: that the instantly classic signature of the “Sahayam Special” has been delivered. The Nittawela crowd bursts into a deafening victorious roar!

That Roar and merriment was however, short-lived.   Royal’s Lakdasa Dissanayake decides that to counter Trinity he has to count on aerial bombardment!  So he resorts to one of the most dramatic displays, several at that, of drop goal kicking that any school to this day has seen. His three penalties from forty yards out and his conversion from the touch line gave him a personal tally of 11 points in a 14/6 victory. Yes, his best kick was the only one he missed, from fifty yards out, middle right, and only just short. There were gasps and applause and jaw dropping disbelief that such a feat could have been accomplished to give Royal a well-deserved victory.

 Lakdasa was the Rt. Royal Hero of that day and for years to come. God’s will has its own designs. Being the hero he was, Dr. Lakdasa Dissanayake, a dear friend of this writer, lost his life in its prime while attempting to rescue a friend’s son who was drowning at sea.

Miles Christofelsz in 1965 took charge of coaching with refreshing advocacy of ‘open play so intensely committed the run and pass game and rarely to resort to kicking even in defence!  Trinity captain and scrum half MTM Zaruk and Glen Van Langenberg, the glamor boy of Trinity sports, made an art of this. Throughout the season rugby fans marveled at the unique ‘open’ playbook that Trinity played to. They came in throngs to see the Welsh –type of rugby. But at the Bradby, Royalists countered by spreading defense across the field.  And in tightly contested games Royal tactics got the better of Trinity.

The other star performer for Trinity was SamCanagasabai. He had a two pronged strategy as lock forward – thunder and brute force.’ Pack Leader Extraordinary.’  On the last day of school closing at Trinity there is a General Assembly where awards are given. For Trinitians, winning the Rugby Lion –the insignia of excellence –is a treasured accomplishment in life’s journey. The evening before, Vice Principal and disciplinarian GY Sahayam sees Sam in the corridor and the VP calls out to Sam in his nasal accent and says ” Hey Monkey! Make sure you come properly dressed to Assembly!” And at Assembly the roof was brought down when the Lion award was announced!  In our time no one deserved it more than this rugged and much admired ruggerite and leader.

( Published in Behind The Shield –the history, the heroes, the hearts of 75 years 1945-2019)

Author M.V. Muhsin

A herd of humanity was hurtling down Independence Drive the main street of Lusaka. They were yelling in unison ‘Kavolala, Kavolala’ –“Thief, Thief” in the local dialect. Running ahead at thunderbolt speed to save his life was the subject of the attack.  It was the Bradby weekend in 1979, forty years ago. As  Bradby fever transcends global boundaries, we were in Zambia, doing our Saturday shopping but anxious to hear news on SLBC of the outcome of the game in Colombo.

We were about to witness ‘Instant Justice’ being administered in the streets of Lusaka.

And then the one- man rescue squad next to me darted forward with a rasping primal ‘Haka, Haka’ cry.  He dealt a bone crunching tackle and synchronized it by dragging the Kavolala into the shop nearby. The mob was stunned.  Frozen in their tracks.   Invectives were yelled at the rescuer for being a spoil sport. The shopkeeper closed the door with the rescuer,  me and the Kavolala pulled inside. A merciless beating, perhaps a killing, was averted!

So, I asked ‘Boga’ Harinda   Gunasekera, the rescuer in the story, what made him jump into the fray. With the Bradby at the back of his mind, he says,  showing off his boxer torso, “I tackled Maiya Gunasekera at the ’69 Bradby, and this was a piece of cake!”

As it turned out in later years, Maiya and Boga honoured the class of ’69 by playing for Sri Lanka.

This week as the teams of the Class of ’69 celebrate their 50^th reunion, the Bradby Canvass in my mind’s eye is illustrated with such memories, and those related to the 75^th Anniversary celebration of the Bradby series. It’s an emotional time for Bradby aficionados.

In the year before -1968- the ‘Bulla Team’ had bullied Trinity to a 19/0 thrashing and a 5/3 win in the return. Smarting over this loss it was Shafi Jainudeen’s Trinity team’s challenge   to avenge defeat. This the Trinity Captain accomplished with an 8/0 and a 9/3 win. It was a major upset against the odds.  As one scribe described it: ‘when the Trinity bus makes its way back to the Kandyan Hills, it will surely run on champagne’!

Yet, score lines are really a misnomer in Bradby Shield games. Both Royal and Trinity over the past 75 years have upheld and handed on some of the best traditions of the game exhibiting a repertoire of the finest qualities, on and off the field. They play for the love of winning and not for the fear of losing. And even when they do lose, they take it in a spirt that was best described by the late, and much loved, Bishop Rev. Lakshman Wickremasinghe :  Rugger, he wrote,  is and always will be to me the ‘Queen of Games” A good match is the thing of beauty, a satisfying aesthetic experience , and exhibition of skills, vitality and controlled power which fine specimens of manhood can display.

Bishop Lak continued: My old school is Royal, and nothing can break the ties that bind me to my alma mater. But Trinity for many reasons has been my ‘adopted school’ with which I have intimate ties. I must admit Trinitians, especially when they dominate play, have a quality which is uniquely their own. So much so, that when I watch the annual match, like St Paul, ‘I am torn two ways’ unable to decide which side I would like to see win the match.”

While partisanship is inevitable and adds to the colour of the Bradby, the overall yearning of the throngs of fans is to see rugby played at its best.

1969 was no exception. A relatively inexperienced Trinity side under the  Shafi Jainudeen was molded by Denzil Kobbekaduwe to win and regain the Bradby. Denzil was always strategic.  He prepared his team by reading the minds of the Royal’s  treble -barreled coaching outfit in Geoff Weinman, anchor Lakshman Kaluaaratchi and MT Thambapillai.  

Royal went out as favorites. But both teams dished out block- buster fare.  It stood to the credit of the Trinitians to have withstood

tremendous pressure and win both encounters.

Standing out in bold relief on my  ’69 canvass are many memories:

 Of Royal’s  versatile  Jagath Fernando,  their chief play maker, being  closely marked by Trinity’s own trump card in gutty  Sam Samarasekara; of how Royal’s scrum half Beverly Janz hounded  his counterpart the ubiquitous Tikiri Marambe resulting in   passes to Trinity’s darting gazelle of a fly half  Irwin Howie being put at odds with the expected sweeping movements of the Trinity line that included Fredrick  Prins, Nihal Marambe, and Cuda Wadugodapitiya; of how the stylish Harin Malwatte, the Royal Fly-half and captain, along with his insides were schooled to try beat  Trinity at their own art  in open play; of how Royal’s forwards Maiya Gunesekera and Fred Perera dominated the line-outs but  were matched by  capable Trinity counterparts in Anura Madawela , YS Ping , Mohan Samarakoon and Rohan  Tennekoon; of how the respective hookers  in  Dushy Perera  and Boga  Gunasekera engaged in Houdini type exploits to gain access in the scrums; of how  Ralph Roberts and Ranjith Panabokke ably commandeered by Izwan Omar  formed a stunning   Trinity back row ; and of how Izwan was at his best in cover-defence while architecting,  with tactical finesse, several good moves.

The canvass of memories further shows the Royal line  in motion in the Trinity’s ‘ 25 and a crafty Harin Malwatte dummy selling   two defenders, sending a pass over to  Senaka Abeyaratne who sent  Dilanjan  de  Soysa sprinting over for an unconverted try; of how  both Royal’s  wing-threes  in Dimitri Gunasekera and  Prasanna Kannangara  tactically backing the move to guarantee a precious try; of how this move gave  Soysa the distinction of being the first player to cross the unbeaten Trinity line that season.

And the canvass shows in bold relief Shafi Jainudeen the exemplary leader firing  across two penalties—the first a beauty from thirty yards out and mid right; and the second from 15 yards out of the posts; and of   a peach of a move – the piece de resistance—with   Trinity winning  the ball in midfield,  Irvin Howie ‘s well timed pass to Sam Samarasekera who,  with a sizzling run,  hotly pursued by Royal defenders,   dives over near the corner flag for an unconverted try.  `

 Both teams had solid bench strength that gave coaches the tactical flexibility to substitute with such payers for Royal as SDR Arulpragasam, RCA Ponnaswamy and T Lazarus ; and for Trinity in Romesh  Nugawela.

The Trinity win against the odds was characterized by Royal’s MT Thambapillai, an old Trinitian himself,  who  wrote : Trinity wielded on me both as a scholar and a sportsman a great influence, and you can count on them to live up to the lines of the school song ‘ When the last charge goes thundering towards the twilight goal’ to do the unexpected.

Over the years, especially in recent times, Royal’s rugby has taken a remarkable with a stunning forwards display in mauls and scrums, equaling the ‘open play’ that Trinity three-quarters captured the hearts of all fans. This is a happy augury for higher standards in school rugby. 

 As I leave the ’69 canvass to posterity one sees dedicated coaches and teachers of the caliber of Denzil and Thambapillai. And in a tribute to Coach Denzil, his Captain Shafi recalled to me,  a few weeks before Shafi’s  untimely passing,  how Denzil taught him the elements of leadership on how to work the players, to coordinate and play together, to display commitment and to win, but more importantly to abide by the rules of the game and uphold the spirit of rugby.

Thankfully the Bradby tradition over the past 75 years is still upheld by Trinity and Royal with the finest quality and spirit of rugby in the country.

Author M V Muhsin