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80th Trinity College Vs St. Peter’s College Rugby encounter for General Deshamanya Denis Perera Memorial trophy
A story of eight decades was born on a rugby field back in 1933 set on a picturesque Bogambara in the ancient city of Kandy with Hantane Mountain overlooking from one end and the Colonial prison compound completing the backdrop for those who come to the middle for the huddle and challenge their opponents’ powers with the oval-shaped ball.
It was between two schools, formed in Sri Lanka based on Christian faith during British Colonial rule. A leading Anglican educational institute in the hill capital, Trinity College Kandy, formed in 1872 was once known as the ‘Cradle of Rugby’ in Ceylon, taking over from the pioneers of the game Kingswood College who introduced the game of Rugby amongst schools in 1891. The other based under the Catholic faith, formed in a suburb in Colombo’s seaside in Wellawatte bordering the Old Dutch canal back in 1922 as St. Joseph’s College South later named St. Peter’s College in 1927 and was the fifth school to enter the Schools Rugby arena in 1932, they were the novices.
Two Rugby teams representing these two institutes met for the first time where Peterites under J.E.F Pereira in their 2nd year in Schools Rugby received tough teaching by then superior masters of the game Trinity College when the Lions mauled them by 58 points to nothing at the Bogambara grounds under legendary Edward Buultjens’ XV; a record still stands tall as the highest winning margin of the series. St. Peter’s visited Bogambara once again in 1934 under Shirley Illesinghe to face Trinity Lions and this time they managed to settle for a somewhat decent loss in the hands of high-riding Trinitians with a score margin of 3-17.
The 3rd of the series of encounters, which is now an annual encounter on its 80th match, returned to Colombo for the first time in 1935 when it was the time for the Peterites to host Trinitians in their newly acquired ground at the banks of Old Dutch canal. This ground, which stands at present is one of the if not the oldest school rugby playing venues in Sri Lanka, was acquired back in 1930, with St. Peter’s College took much interest in developing outdoor sports skills among its students by introducing Cricket, Athletics and Rugger. In 1932 Rugby Football was introduced to St. Peter’s College under the Rectorship of Fr. D.J Nicholas Perera. The school was fortunate enough at that time to have had a brilliant Rugger player and sportsman on the staff, Mr. Herbert Wittahatchy who took over in the same year as Prefect of Games cum Rugby Coach and took painstaking interest to promote and uplift this novel game at College.
St. Peter’s under Fred Keller in 1935, did the unthinkable and achieved a historic feat by beating Trinity College by 6-0 and became unofficial joint schools rugby champions with Trinity College as Petes also beat Royal College but lost to Zahira College. This was in their 4th year of taking up this game where as Trinity, Royal and Zahira were playing this game for more than a decade. It took Royal College 17 matches to beat Trinity College (there were no fixtures for 3 years) and it took Zahira College 8 years to beat Trinity College. St. Peter’s without stopping from there continued their winning performance to 1936, where they produced their first ‘Invincible’ XV under legendary Archibald Perera. Archie in 1933 stepped out for St. Peter’s College after having learnt his rugby basics at Trinity College and went on to wear the blue white & gold jersey for four consecutive years with the year 1936 being his finest. This was the year Sri Lanka, back then called Ceylon witnessed Archie’s invincible side at its prime where they faced Club teams and won 5 matches which included the win against CH & FC at Racecourse Grounds and lost 4 and drew 1. When it came to school games St. Peter’s had a clean sweep by winning all with wins against Royal 16-3 at home, Zahira 12-7 at home and finally a nail-biting win over Trinity 3-0 with a penalty put over by Archie during the last few minutes of the game.
It is said in the annals of School Records ‘Of this team, George Keller, Archibald Perera and Stanley Livera went on to play in representative games – Keller for the Ceylonese in the All India Tournament, Archibald Perera captained the Ceylon Barbarians in the All India Tournament and Stanley Livera for All Ceylon. It was a great achievement for a Ceylonese to play representative Rugby as the game was dominated by white players during this era’
St. Peter’s College went on to beat Trinity College for five consecutive years from 1935-1939 which was a record then and later bettered by St. Anthony’s College, Katugastota. During this period and up until World War II, the Peterites dominated the head-to-head contests against both Trinity and Royal and in the process were able to grab the school rugby championship for five years in a row. Trinitians came back strongly in 1940 under S.B. Dissanayake to register a win by 8-3 and then lost the following year, to Peterites led by W.A.Chandrasena by just 0-3. However, St. Peter’s College and Grounds was taken over In 1942 for WWII for a British base, halting any Rugby progress until 1948. Though, in 1948, under the stewardship of M. Numan (former Peterite Rugby player) and Harold De Silva as the captain, Peterites regrouped, they found it hard to find their winning footings on the Rugby field as Trinity and Royal continued to play rugger without any hindrance to the game or their institutions despite the war, In the absence of St. Peter’s and Zahira (rugby teams), both schools commenced Rugby’s blue ribbon encounter ‘Bradby’ to keep the game alive. The mid-1950s saw the emergence of many new school rugby teams including S. Thomas’, St. Joseph’s, Wesley, St. Anthony’s, and Thurstan while Zahira made a return and later Isipathana etc joined the fray making the Schools’ Rugby more competitive.
Trinity College after losing in 1941 at Bambalapitiya, went on to cast a hoodoo over Peterites for 44 years where boys from Bambalapitiya failed to score a single win during this period against the boys from the hills. It took some beating, moral shattering and heartbreaking encounters to break this spell before Rajith Abeygoonewardena’s start-studded Peterites stepped out at CR & FC against Trinity in 1985. Peterites came close many times, and it was legendary coach Archibald Perera’s dream to see a Peterite XV recording a win under his tutelage while he was in charge as MIC and Coach at St. Peter’s. He achieved this with great pride while he was a player and as a Captain. Since the recommencement of Trinity-St. Peter’s encounter in 1948, in the next 30 years both teams featured in 15 close games (1948-1977), where the winning margins were less or within a single scoring opportunity (less than 05 points) which also includes 03 draws (1966, 1969 and 1971). That’s how close the series was fought, and Trinity College managed to remain unbeaten amidst all the close shaves they’ve had. Petes finally broke the hoodoo in 1985 under Rajith Abeygoonewarden the elusive win was achieved, an XV exquisitely moulded by Archie’s student Frank Hubert, at CR & FC (8-0).
During this time (1948-1977) Trinity also produced some of the best sides the country has seen, while few were to follow. Beginning during the 1950’s decade Trinity remained unbeaten for six years, from 1952 to 1957 with just one drawn game – against Royal in 1955. This period produced the legendary all-conquering side led by David Frank in 1956, which is widely debated as one of the best sides ever produced by Trinity. St. Peter’s led by Lakshman Serasinghe was beaten 42-0 in Kandy. The late Ken de Joodt who was a member of the Trinity XV recalled how tough that game was for Peterites, playing in soggy conditions in Kandy with no injury reinforcements players being carried off the field cutting a sorry figure, a depleted side against and an all-conquering invincible XV. Under Ken de Joodt, in 1957 at Bambalapitiya, Trinity managed to beat Jayantha Fernando’s XV by 19-9 and then a heavy defeat meted out to Peterites under M. Salih in 1958 (37-3).
Denzil Kobbekaduwa also didn’t spare the Peterites under Adiel Anghie, while handing over a 33-0 defeat in 1959. The 1960’s decade was kind to Peterites, well it depends on which side benefited from kindness. The Champion Trinity side under Roles in 1960 struggled to beat Peterites under Tony Johnson (6-5), then in ’63 Peterites under Stephen Alagaratnam (0-6) also gave a good account of themselves, then the two Champion sides of St. Peter’s ’65 under Darrle Wimalaratne (5-8) and ’66 under Hamzi Hameed (8 all draw) agonizingly fell short against Trinity sides led by M.T.M Zarook and Glen Van Langenberg respectively. The Champion Ajit Abeyratne’s Trinity side of 1967 was tested by equally good Rodney Paternott’s Peterite XV in a blockbuster at Bambalapitiya (8-6). In 1969, Bradby winning Champion side of Trinity under Jainudeen and Archibald Perera’s son Sunil Perera led St. Peter’s XV featured in an epic 3 all draw.
Peterites were unfortunate to miss out on 1970 (Hamish Paternott, 6-11) and agonizingly 1971 Jizwy Nizar’s side was forced to settle for an 11 all draw against Y.S.Ping’s XV while the 1972 Champion Peterite side under Jefferey de Jong had the agony of losing to Athula Unantenne’s Trinity XV 10-14. In 1973, two sides which ended the season as Joint Champion featured in a thriller at Bambalapitiya, Rohan Wiratunga led St. Peter’s XV yet again underwent an agonizing 9-10 loss against Trinity 1st XV led by J.K.Yu. The series had its only black mark, post-game spectator violence, at Bambalapitiya in 1975 after Frank Hubert led St. Peter’s lost to Robert Sourhaj’s Trinity XV by 7-8 which prompted Rector of St. Peter’s College Rev. Fr. Claver Perera to suspend rest of the rugby season. In 1976, Trinity College 1st XV led by S.V.Ranasinghe handed a 54-7 thrashing to St. Peter’s, the second-highest winning margin of the series. Then in 1977, the all-conquering Champion side of Trinity led by Ravi Balasuriya found it tough against an equally matched side led by Angelo Wickramaratne to beat at Bambalapitiya (9-7).
In 1984, both sides featured in a very close game in Kandy, where St. Peter’s had another chance of breaking the hoodoo but it was not to be, Trinity College winning by 9-4 with a last-minute goal. Peterites finally broke the hoodoo, in 1985 and since then this series tally has seen some twists. Trinity has won 15 games and lost 14 with 03 games ending in draws. In fact since 2000, during the last 20 encounters, St. Peter’s College enjoys a lead over Trinity with 12 wins and 03 draws against 06 losses.
In 2011, Trinity under Murad Ramzeen romped to a 34-10 win at Bambalapitiya against Petes led by Banuka Nanayakkara ending retaining their League title hopes. In 2012 St. Peter’s under stand-in captain Dulaj Perea pulled off a stunning win over Trinity at Pallekelle with a 34-29 which was the solitary loss for Trinity during that season which also affected League title hopes. Interestingly, home advantage or home ground plays little role in this encounter, this is if one analyses the recent venues. Going by records St. Peter’s has a better chance of winning at Pallekelle and Trinity has a better chance of winning at Bambalapitiya. St. Peter’s scored their last win at Bambalapitiya in 2019 and Trinity scored their last win at Pallekelle in 2014.
In 2014, two schools came together to recognize the importance of Trinity-St. Peter’s Rugby encounter, one of the oldest school rugby encounters played annually, with a trophy being introduced in memory of legendary Late General Deshamanya Denis Perera (VSV, FCMI) who passed away in August 2013 at the age of 82. General Deshamanya Denis Perera an eminent Peterite and a sportsman represented St. Peter’s College 1st XV under Harold De Silva in 1948 and Ken Ariyarajah in 1949. He was selected as one of the first ten candidates to join the newly formed Ceylon Army on its formation as Cadet Officers on his nineteenth birthday in 1949. He was the first Sandhurst Trained General of the Sri Lanka Army (1977-1981). Regarded as the pioneer of the Sir John Kotelawala Defence Academy (KDA) its first Chancellor, and the founding father of the Sri Lanka Military Academy (SLMA) at Diyatalawa. Post retirement he served as the Sri Lankan High Commissioner to Australia. He also served as the President of St. Peter’s College Old Boys’ Union (1987-1990) and as a Vice Patron until his demise in 2013. He has been a visionary leader and will be remembered for his knowledge, professionalism, magnanimity, excellence in soldiering and above all for his humility.
Trinity College won the inaugural Trophy encounter under Tharinda Ratwatte in 2014 at Pallekele after a thrilling game by 29-22, the game was witnessed by Mrs. Denis Perera who graced the occasion as a Guest of Honour. Peterites bounced back in 2015 under Kevin Dixon to win the Trophy back, at Bambalapitiya and since then St. Peter’s College has retained the trophy by winning the last 06 encounters, their best-winning record against Trinity and now at the doorstep of equalling the best achieved by any side against Trinity in the history (St. Anthony’s 7 wins in a row, from 1999-2005). Overall the series tally is headed by Trinity College with an imposing 52 wins out of 79 matches played so far, and St. Peter’s College winning 21 and 06 games ending in draws.
St. Peter’s College will host Trinity College this Saturday at Bambalapitiya, the 80th encounter between the two schools for the Denis Perera Memorial Trophy, which is also a second-round encounter of the Dialog Schools Rugby League 2024. The Chief Guest of this encounter will be former Sri Lanka Rugby Captain and Champion Peterite Rugby Captain (2002) Dilanka Wijesekera.
St. Peter’s College has been in top form this season and looking to retain the League Championship after completing an unbeaten run during the 1st Round of the Dialog Schools Rugby League. Trinity College, after going down to Isipathana College and D.S. Senanayake College in the 1st Round has a fighting chance of picking their first League title since 1987 when Tyrel Rajapakse’s Invincible XV did win both League and Knockouts. It will be a hard task for this Trinity XV, but the Lions are capable of delivering the unthinkable, and when it matters most as they’ve done many times in the past against St. Peter’s College. On the other hand, St. Peter’s, looking to maintain their dominance over Trinity, and in the League and playing at home will look to retain Major Deshamanya Denis Perera where he belongs.
A legendary battle with many twists and turns returns to Bambalapitiya and will unfold another chapter this Saturday with a game that could live up to its expectations that spectators of both schools can take pride in witnessing.
