These lads from Kayts want to let their rugby fly
They came, they saw and they sure are determined to conquer the world of school rugby in Sri Lanka within a matter of months or years. The young set of rugby players from St. Anthony’s College Kayts last week took to the road from the tip of Sri Lanka to the deep south to take part in their first major tournament, at the Schools Division II Rugby 7s held at Rathgama during last weekend.
Two features make the story of St. Anthony’s Kayts ruggerites very interesting which are: they are the first school in history from to take up rugby and it’s just been one and a half months since they first held the oval ball. Overall rugby was a total stranger for these enthusiastic set of rugby players who had the heart to take up the odd challenge. And they are determined to move forward.
The contingent of young ruggerites left Kayts last Thursday (15) and reached Avissawella at dawn hours the following day. An ardent rugby promoter, K.S.P. Karunaratne gave them a warm welcome as the boys and officials refreshed at his residence before attending a reception arranged by the officials and students of Ihala Talduwa School in Avissawella.
“They were here for a half-a-day training camp and when I related their arrival to Mr. H.M. Piyadasa, the principal of Ihala Talduwa School, he was keen to host the St. Anthony’s rugby team for breakfast. But I never expected this reception to be so rousing as the boys from the north were given a rousing welcome. It’s a healthy start for those youngsters who look forward a successful future,” said Karunaratne during the training programme held at the Kelani Valley Rugby ground.
In the competition the Kayts Antonians were drafted in Group ‘E’ in their inaugural competition along with Talduwa Buddhist School, Rahula College Katugastota and Mahinda College Galle – three highly experienced teams from the south. But to the surprise of many the first-timers managed to reach the quarterfinal stage before making their exit from the tournament losing to Eheliyagoda Central on the final day. On the first day the Kayts Antonians were highly commended for their performances in the group stage where they beat Mahinda Galle by 17-5 and drew against Talduwa Central by 5-all. They only lost to Rahula Katugastota but for a starter their achievement was overwhelming.
Father James Sinnarajah, the Rector of St. Anthony’s Kayts was seen keenly involved with the boys who only knew how to plant a try, the stylish way. These boys having the physical temperament to take the full contact had the courage to come forward and adopt a totally strange game. Fr. Sinnarajah explained on the background of these players who had been involved in many sports even during the height of the war in the north.
“Through sports we can build up mutual understanding. It is a very good opportunity for us and our boys to come to the south and make new friendship while gaining experience in rugby. Even during the war we travelled south in ships and boats to take part in competitions. St. Anthony’s Kayts emerged national champions in Physical Education in 2008 and in 2009 we were runners-up. We also reached the final in 2005. These boys are used to these tough conditions of rugby though we are just one and a half months old for the game. Many of these boys represent the national team in physical education and they are capable of doing all exercises performed at rugby.”
“We are the first school to take up rugby. Earlier there were individuals who took part in tournaments representing other teams but as a school unit, we are the first. We have only 500 students in the school but interestingly we had less trouble in attracting them to rugby and they were keen as ever. These boys come from very poor families. Some of them even rush back home after school and help out their parents in farming before returning for practi- ces. Some of these boy’s parents do odd jobs for survival. They are not rich in assets or wealth but are very rich in talent,” asserted Fr. Sinnarajah.
St. Anthony’s Kayts which was established in 1872 by Rev. Fr. Boissean was one of the schools that were selected by the Sri Lanka Rugby Football Union (SLRFU) as one of the schools of their rugby coaching camp. The coaching camp was conducted by former national coach Ellis Meachen, Ananda Kasthuriarachchi and Viper Gunaratne Jnr and K. Kularatnam better known as Rajan in the rugby field. Kularatnam was attached to the SLRFU as an administrative officer though rugby was not his leading light. But having known almost all the rugby coaches, the SLRFU had decided to appoint Kularatnam as a development officer and coordinator. He has been involved with the St. Anthony’s Kayts rugby team during the past six weeks as their rugby coordinator.
“All schools that took part in the coaching camp in Jaffna were presented with a rugby ball. Sad to say St. Anthony’s Kayts was the only team that fielded a full team and continued the sport till now while other schools only sent a few or none to represent their institutions. There are over 20 leading schools in Jaffna but it seems as many of them didn’t show much interest in taking up this sport. This way we have to commend the effort of St. Anthony’s. They requested by assistance and we train every Mondays and Thursdays at the Duraiappa Stadium with the help of Security Forces officials. In addition Mr. Karunaratne was a key figure in helping our rugby. I’m not that expe- rienced in the game but I was able to give the boys physical fitness while obtaining help from Sri Lanka Army personals in training the boys the sport. The boys were keen though they lacked the perfect exposure and training but after seeing their performances in the training camp here at Avissawella, I think they can go far,” Kularatnam said.
St. Anthony’s Kayts has been a school that has been a regular participant at national events. One of their runners even won the 400m relay bronze medal at the National Schools Athletics Championships. In addition to their travels to the south for other sporting events they compete at volleyball, football, softball cricket, badminton, table tennis, basketball and now rugby. The school interestingly has only 500 students to engage in all these sports but for rugby the turnout has been commendable.
“There are about 20 boys from all the age groups. The boys are young and they can certainly develop to a level to challenge leading teams from the south. We hope these boys will be given the much needed support from the schools association and SLRFU by providing coaching personnel and playing gears. In addition we need to have an allocated period for rugby in Jaffna. At the moment all the schools engage in all sports disciplines without proper selection. As a result the quality does not prevail in sports among Jaffna schools. We have understood the need of focusing on development if we are to reach a standard and that’s what we are trying with St. Anthony’s Kayts rugby,” pointed out Kularatnam.