Wesley and S. Thomas’battle for Sir Oliver Goonetilleke Shield

Wesley and S. Thomas’ two of the leading Christian schools in Sri Lanka will battle it out in their rugby encounter for the Sir Oliver Goonetilleke Memorial Shield scheduled to be played on May 15 at Havelock Park with the kick off set for 4.30pm. This was revealed by Farman Cassim, match coordinator at a press briefing held at the Wesley College hall.

Sir Oliver Goonetilleke a distinguished old boy of Wesley reached the pinnacle and was no doubt one of the greatest to be produced by Wesley. Sir Oliver had the distinction of being appointed as first Governor of Ceylon as it was known then succeeding Lord Soulbury in the year 1954.

As the unsung hero, very few in Sri Lanka know that he was responsible and was apart along with the late Hon D.S. Senanayake in achieving the island’s independence in 1948.

He had a distinguish career at Wesley where he was bestowed with Hill medal for three consecutive years in 1908, 1909 and 1910. Sir Oliver served the two longest pe- riods as the president of Wesley OBU from 1940 to 1949 and again from 1953 to 1963.

Farman Cassim speaking on the occasion stated that the shield in memory of Sir Oliver is worthwhile in recognising to honour a distinguished old boy of Wesley.

He was grateful to the Warden of S. Thomas’ for having accepted the request of playing the rugby encounter between the two schools in memory of Sir Oliver.

The shield was donated by the Goonetilleke family who was represented by Sir Oliver’s great grand daughter Ms. Varuni Sumathiratne. Ms Varuni briefing the media said that she is proud to be a member of Sir Oliver’s family and thanked the organizing committee, the principal of Wesley and S. Thomas’ Warden for having made arrangements to remember a great old boy of Wesley.

The senior match will be preceded by the junior matches which is scheduled to be played from 1.00pm onwards. With the two teams being evenly balanced an interesting tussle is on the cards and it’s left to be seen who will succeed in winning the inaugural match.