They called them the ‘Hooking Brothers ‘for good familial reasons. A special stream of Rugby Genes had infused their rugby careers that were carried through the family tree. And while six of the Kumar brothers played rugby at Royal, four won colours and two of them captained the school.
And tonight as the Royal 1963 rugby team celebrate their 50th Anniversary and raise their glasses they will toast one of the princely brothers—Manik Jayakumar who captained the 1963 side. He reminds this writer who witnessed the match half a century ago, of a spider like figure playing custodian and originator. Being a hooker and captain has a special challenge but to Maniks reveled in this role. Naturally he went on to captain several up-country sides and to play in ‘friendly’ games against the All Blacks and the London Welsh
Those of us who track ruby history as a pastime cannot recall a family of so many ‘hookers’—with no pun intended– so much so that genetic strains and chromosomes makes way for a lively discussion in the biology classroom. For how else can one reconcile the hooking strain of Devakumar, Punithakumar, Weearakumar and of course Jayakumar?
And tonight as heady brews make way for a lively discussion and banter, there will surely be mention of another hooking incident in another vintage dating back to 90 years ago. The Royal coach was Stanley de Saram who used to speak with a ‘suddah’s accent’. At practice he called for volunteers who can hook. Sargo Jayawickreme, better known later for his cricketing prowess volunteered instantaneously. The others who knew Sargo could not reconcile this and when his teammates stared at him, Sargo asked ‘Yakko Duwanda Neda, Kewwe!”
A fifty year span often relegates memories into the haze. But as the revelers gather to down champagne, the 1963 Bradby’s will almost come to life as if it was yesterday.
Mahes Rodrigo the Royal coach had this thing about the colourful, if not intimidating, Trinity Red, yellow and Blue jersey. He once said to this writer, that the problem is that as Trinity run into the field, they are psychologically five points up when compared with the somewhat lackluster blue gold and blue of Royal. So Royal decided to order Jerseys from India that hopefully would have rich glitter, rather than don the dull Bernard Boteju brand. When the jerseys arrived they were worse than the local brand. It appeared that a middle man had played a role in India, and the product that was received was not ‘Halal’ –to use a contemporary Sri Lankan metaphor. In the end the Royalists ended up with the BB brand. That was ominous of events to unfold. But Mahes shrugged it off and said ‘let’s play (damned well) or depart!”
The first match was a 6 all draw. Trinity captained by Loku Piyasena had such stars as Mohan Sahayam and MTM Zaruk as their trump cards. Others in the side were Gotabaya Dissnayake, Justin Labrooy, Podi Piyasena, Rodney Geddes, Manik de Silva, David Ondaatje, George Carson, Sarath Illangantillake, Nicko Perera, HJ Fernaodo A Canagasabai and Clifford Elhart
The Royal team had some really fine players, in Kusum Vidanage, ‘Mousy’ Thurairatnam, AHN Welikala, NK Fernando, Hemaka Amarasuriya MJC Fernando, RT de Zoysa, Upe Wickremasinghe, U Sellamuttu , Rex Perera, Lucky de Chickera, Keith Paul, Lucky Dissanayake and Lakshman Hettiaartchi.
As memories go, the celebrants at the Royal event will recall among other flashes of memory, of what a superb tackler Hemaka Amarasuriya was, playing as a center and often as a wing three-quarter; of how he scored many tries in his tenure, and above all of humility he displayed the more he shone—a trait seen as his corporate life played out. Of how Rex Perera and brother Fred Perera were better known to eat in buckets of rice to outsmart the Thomian in da Silva brothers who were renowned for eating ‘bowls of rice’! And of the sound and tactical sense of the Royal third row in Lakshman Hettiaaratchi, Keith Paul and Lucky Dissanayake
Going into the return Bradby in Colombo the huge crowd support for Royal diminished any the Psychological upmanship that the Trinity jersey had.
On the scoreboard at least, the teams were evenly matched for most of the game in Colombo. Royal fought tirelessly and one recalls how Keith Paul left the field with a dislocated knee. While he was tying up his knee with bandages, Mahes Rodrigo who as a matter of principle never spoke to a player when a match was in play, walked up to Paul and ordered “ get back on the field and stick there even if you did nothing else!’ Mahes perhaps knew better why he ordered this—Keith Paul in his own inimitable gutty style goes in and scores a try!
Trinity were awarded a penalty and had it gone over the match would have been drawn and the Bradby shared. But drama—and fate– unfolds as the ball hits the upright and bounces back into the field, only to be pounced on by that brilliant Trinity winger Justin Labrooy who darted like a gazelle and scored to give Trinity a victory.
The 1963 Royal and Trinity sides both produced a full complement of outstanding ruggerites that did Sri Lanka proud. Although none of team made the Sri Lanka “Dream Team” that Mithila Gunaratne recently put together to provoke discussion and debate, he was remiss in one important respect in that he omitted one player who should have been crowned into the Dream Team hand down!
And that player, that hero and that magnificent ruggerite and gentleman was the one who in the prime of his later career jumped into the sea to save the drowning son of friend and lost his own life.
Lucky Dissanayake of the 1963 side—we salute you!
Daily News June 12, 2013
