Royal Stickers return from Aussie tour
National Schools Hockey champions Royal College returned home after a satisfactory 5-match tour to Canberra, Australia, where they won 3, lost 1 and drew the other. Their performances was very much appreciated by the Australian public.
In their opening match, they beat the ACT Under-18 Team 3-2 and lost their 2nd match to Canberra State Team 9-0 played under floodlights. They went on to defeat Dharmalan College and Marist College by the same scoreline of 3-1, with their last match on tour against Trinity Catholic College ending in a thrilling 2- 2 draw.
The Royal College Stickers were fortunate to undergo a training programme conducted by Australia’s U-21 Coach Ben Bishop who was a member of the coaching staff of the Olympic Gold Medal winning Australian team. Bishop was surprised at the talent of the Royal Stickers and gave a wealth of knowl- edge and advice on all aspects of the game.
The Royal team was hosted to dinner by the Sri Lanka High Commissioner for Australia, S. Skandakumar, at the Sri Lanka High Commission in Canberra and were presented with Gold Medals for their performances.
The team received enormous support from old Royalists in Canberra and in Sydney, with many turning up for the matches in large numbers. It was heartening to note that not only old Royalists, but old boys of other colleges too came to support the touring team.
Speaking to the Sunday Times, Royal College coach Rohan Dissanayake said, "We undertook this tour to give the youngsters much needed foreign exposure and experience, and to learn the latest methods used by Australia, who are now considered giants of international Hockey."
He paid a glowing tribute to Royal College Principal, B.A. Abeyratne for his encouragement and guidance to make this tour a success, and for the support and assistance received from the Sri Lanka High Commission in Australia, Royal College Hockey Club in Sydney, Rob Sheekey the General Manager Hockey ACT, former staff member of Royal College, Thilla Kirubaithilakan, the Sri Lankan community in Canberra, parents of players who went on the tour and past Hockey players of Royal College.