Bhatiya's last scrum

Trinity College’s preparations for the forthcoming School Rugby season got off to an inauspicious and sad start, when one of the players, 17-year-old Bhatiya Ekanayake collapsed and died.

It was the first day of practice and the thirty odd players in the squad had been asked to do a road run, starting from the school and ending at the Rugby grounds in Pallekele. A couple of people who had seen the unfortunate incident had noticed that Bhatiya was struggling along before finally collapsing at the turn off to the stadium.

A bulky lad, Bhatiya was vying for a place in the team as a prop forward. Bhatiya leaves behind his father (an employee of the school) his mother and family.

People associated with Trinity Rugby confirmed that a similar incident had taken place in the late eighties. A flanker who had not attended holiday practice for two weeks, turned up one day. Asked the reason for his absence, he had said he was down with the flu.

Accordingly, he was not allowed by the school authorities to practice straight away. When he did start practice, he collapsed when he was involved in a scrummage. He was gyrating and was rushed to a Doctor, who pronounced that the boy’s life was terminating. The unfortunate lad spent three days in the Intensive Care Unit before passing away. It turned out that his mother had asked him not to run even 25 yards because he had an attack of meningitis.