RUGBY: It’s a penalty awarded some fifty yards out, far left and near the touch line. It’s a defining moment as the fate of the game hangs in the balance. The crowd hushes into a stony silence at Havelock Park as the kicker, the handsome full back, digs his heel into the ground in a calculated manner. He then places the ball with what seems as quadratic precision, working out the relationship between angle and velocity and distance. He steps back purposefully and confidently, eyes the distant goal posts, which seem miles away. He takes a deep breath and moves in swiftly and strongly. And kicks. It’s a Torpedo kick with the toe of his boot. There is poetry in motion as the ball defies the forces of gravity and sails, it seems, forever and then over the upright. The linesmens’ flags go up and there is burst of cheers and joy and lumps in throats. If he has done this once, he has performed this act many times before. Wonderment is enacted each time. The magic boot and toe, that fashioned that bullet-torpedo kick, was that of Trevor St. C. Anghie. Little wonder that he had such a double barreled name.
With the passing away in Australia last week of Dr. Trevor Anghie at the age of 81, memories of his colourful rugby as the ace full back in the Sri Lankan scene in the 1950s, flood the mind. He captained Royal in 1950 and played thereafter for CR & FC. He then crossed the divide in what was a controversial move and played for rivals Havelocks. More about this in a bit.
His Royal team in the ‘first leg’ of the Bradby included H.E. Wijesinghe, Alan Henricus, W. Unamboowe, F.S.N. Perera, D.A. Vantwest and D. Bartholomeusz. The forwards were G.C. Weinman, D. Raymond, S.D. Gooneratene, A.B. Vantwest, A.H.A. de Silva, R. Modder and Devaka Rodrigo. T. Vairawanathan and Norman Goonewardene and C. Balachandran played as replacements in the second leg.
. Stylish kicker
Kavan Rambukwelle would recall in later years that Trevor’s prowess as a stylish kicker was well known, but in one game he was off form. He had just missed two fifty yard penalties. One striking the left upright and the other the right upright. The third kick awarded could be described as a sitter, in front of the posts and while he went back to his mark after placing the ball, the large crowd was hushed in the pressure cooker atmosphere.
At that moment a raucous voice, much the worse for Bacchus, pierced the silence “Stop showing off, plant the bloody ball between the posts!” Trevor duly obliged and, as Kavan recalled, bowed graciously towards where the call came from! Trevor reveled in theatrics.
Trevor played for CR & FC for many years, until a controversy arose and he and Ranjit Sri Nissanka decided, on a matter of principle, to cross over to Havelocks who then formed a crack team in 1959: Trevor Anghie, Arendtsz, Franklyn Jacob, Sumanasekera, Maurice de Silva, Nimal Maralande and Bertie Dias. As forwards they had Ranjit Sri Nissanka, Alan Drieberg, Cramer, Hubert Aloysius, E. Bartholomeusz, Conrad Ephraims (Captain) and D. Ephraims. One name regrettably is missing from the record that we have. In that year, Havelocks lost to CR & FC in their first inter club encounter (3-8), but won the return match (11-8) which was a major upset for the dominant CR & FC Team.
At the time Trevor played for CR& FC he did so in the company of such renowned players as Malcolm Wright, Summa Navaratnam, A Gunawardene, U. Amerasinghe, Ago Paiva and Mahes Rodrigo who was the captain of the team.
Then there were those forwards as well, Lionel Fernando, R. Christoffelsz, A. Doray, V.R. Schockman, Eardley McHeyzer, H. Numan, Norman Gunawardene and the inimitable Ashy Cader. What is so significant of the Anghie- Sri Nissanka the cross over is that it took place when The CR & FC was at a peak of its repute. It took a lot of spunk to make the move. But Trevor and Ranjit were endowed with a surfeit of courage.
The move brought about a new beginning to the Havelocks. Until that time, the CR & FC seemed the preserve largely of Royalists and Trinitians; while most of the other leading rugby playing school boys would migrate to the Havelocks, while the CH & FC was more or less a rugby club for expatriates. The Havelocks had their share of shining stars in their galaxy: Nimal Maralande, Frankie David, Maurice de Silva, Max Flamer-Caldera, Maurice Fairweather and many more.
Soon a host of Royalists and Trinitians would be attracted to the Havelocks such as Y.C. Chang, Gamini Fernando, Noel Brohier; and later the likes of Shafi Jainudeen, Mark Sunderalingam, Glen Van Langenberg and Gogi Tillekeratne would play for the Havelocks. And so Dr. Trevor Anghie as a star full back and place kicker, blazed a trail and etched his name in the history of Sri Lankan Rugby. He was a delightful person too.
One more story from Kavan’s reminiscences: Trevor was of a friendly and gregarious type and didn’t leave even his opponents to themselves.
At Bogambara he peeped into the Trinity dressing room and shouted at “Gul” Herbert Fernando who was tying his boot laces before going on to the field. ‘I hope we will have a good match Herbert’. Herbert’s response was ” just try lying on the ball, boyo, and I will break every bloody rib in your body.” Trevor who could take a tackle as much as he would kick, walked away with a gracious smile.
. Tribute from Norman Gunawardene
Norman Gunawardene, the famous All Ceylon cap , who played under Trevor at Royal, reminisced about the golden years of rugby and recalled Trevor Anghie as “that full back, powerfully built and mobile, the best conventional place kicker, probably ever”!
The grass that he tended so carefully as he took aim at his goal will surely lie lightly over Trevor as he is delivered to his eternal rest.
