ROHAN ABEYESUNDERA
St. Peter's College had already earned stripes in both cricket and rugby from 1950 – 1959. In cricket, there were many noteworthy names worth mentioning during this period. Pat Kelly, Tony Don Michael, H.I.K. Fernando, Ago Paiva, MSM Ghouse, H. Wittachchy, Clive Inman (204 not out in 1954), Tudor Wijesinghe, Maurice Salgado, Jayantha Fernando, Lakshman Serasinghe, Brian Seneviratne, Ken & Russel Duckworth. Brian de Silva, Darrel D'Silva, David Muthumani, Premasiri Athukorale, Anton Perera, Christy Marthalingam, Desmond Dharmarajah, Richard Alles.
In this backdrop, Rohan Abeyesundera belonged to the sixties stars and his colourful sports career started in 1961 – when he represented St. Peter’s College in Cricket, Rugby and Athletics. This article takes you through his golden years in school and his team mates who ‘walked the walk’ with Rohan. The writer will also capture Rohan’s impressive club career in rugby since leaving school.
By: Upali Obeyesekere – Old Peterite living in Toronto, Canada
St. Peter's College had already earned stripes in both cricket and rugby from 1950 – 1959. In cricket, there were many noteworthy names worth mentioning during this period. Pat Kelly, Tony Don Michael, H.I.K. Fernando, Ago Paiva, MSM Ghouse, H. Wittachchy, Clive Inman (204 not out in 1954), Tudor Wijesinghe, Maurice Salgado, Jayantha Fernando, Lakshman Serasinghe, Brian Seneviratne, Ken & Russel Duckworth. Brian de Silva, Darrel D'Silva, David Muthumani, Premasiri Athukorale, Anton Perera, Christy Marthalingam, Desmond Dharmarajah, Richard Alles.
RUGBY – Rohan represented St. Peter’s College from 1961 – 1964. It must be said that the sport of Rugby was evolving in the school system around this time. St. Peter’s had by this time stamped its class in school rugby and were competitive in the sport. Coached by the legendary Archibald Perera – Rohan played alongside legends like Adiel Anghie, Didacus de Almeida, Jeyer Rodriguesz, Darrel Wimalaratne, Haji Omar, Aubrey & Rodney Paternott, Hazmee Hameed, among others. In 1961, Rohan played under rugby legend Didacus de Almeida – in 1962, he played under another legendary Peterite forward Jeyer Rodriguesz, and in 1963, under Stephen Alagaratnam. These were all big names in Peterite rugby in the early 60s. Rohan and Didacus de Almeida played together for CR&FC after leaving school and were members of the same national side later on in life.
Rohan had the proud distinction of captaining the Peterite Rugby XV in 1964 and his team mates were Darrel Wimalaratne, Aubrey & Rodney Paternott, Chris Harridge, Hazmee Hameed, Mervin Fernando, M. Jainudeen, Michael de Niese, M. Rezel, Franklyn Bowen, F. Ratwatte, S. Mather, A. Rajendran, Haji Omar, D. Sathiavadivel, Dennis Killelea, D. Van Cuylenberg and D. Yashista.
Rohan was picked to represent Colombo Schools against Outstation Schools from 1962 – 1964. In a traditional game at the time, he also represented Combined Schools against University of Ceylon from 1962 – 1964
CRICKET – Rohan Abeyesundera represented St. Peter’s College in Cricket mainly as a spinner, from 1961 – 1964. He fell into a select group of Peterites since the early 1930s who had the distinction of playing Cricket and Rugby for college. Others who were privileged to play cricket and rugby for college in the pre-60s era are Shirley de S. Illesinghe, Percy Perera, Lakshman Serasinghe, Jayantha Fernando, Maurice de Silva, Brian de Silva, Didacus de Almeida, Adiel Anghie, and Desmond Dharmarajah, among others. Post-60s there have been many who earned the elusive double – the Paternott brothers (Aubrey, Rodney, Hemish), Everard Hoffman, Darrel Wimalaratne, Chris Harridge are names that come to mind immediately during my era in school. I am sure there are many more.
Rohan was a regular member of the Peterite cricket team from 1961-1964. He played under the captaincy of Adiel Anghie (1961), Richard Heyn (1962), Tyrone Le Mercier (1963) and David Heyn (1964). The coterie of cricketers who played alongside Rohan from 1961-1964 were household names at the time. Viz: David Heyn (All-Ceylon), Adiel Anghie, Richard Heyn (All-Ceylon Hockey), Tyrone Le Mercier, Maurice Deckker, Tissa Jayaweera, Aubrey & Rodney Paternott, Didacus de Almeida (All-Ceylon Rugby), Travice Fernando, Adithiya de Silva, Ravi Fernando, Darrel Wimalaratne (All-Ceylon Rugby), Peter de Niese, among others.
POST – SCHOOL RUGBY CAREER
Rohan left St. Peter’s in 1964, after the rugby season. He evolved into a terrific forward playing club rugby that . Rohan was immediately recruited to CR&FC – synonymous with Sri Lanka Rugby and was a proud member of its championship Clifford Cup team.
In 1966, Rohan made a career move going into planting in the Up-Country district. He played for Dickoya in 1966 and was picked to represent All-Ceylon the same year in a star-studded team that won the All-India Trophy. Coincidentally, Rohan was in familiar company as the national side included four Peterites – Maurice De Silva, Jeyer Rodriguesz, Hadji Omar and Didacus de Almeida. Other stars who were in the national side were Sari De Sylva, Ken Murray, M.A. Majeed, Hiranjan Perera, Tony Sirimanne, Jeff Ratnam, Mike Alwis, M. Flamer-Caldera, Eric Roles, G. Tiruchittampalam and C.H. Seneviratne. Rohan was in familiar company as the national side included four Peterites – Maurice De Silva, Jeyer Rodriguesz, Hadji Omar and Didacus de Almeida. Other stars who were in the national side were Sari De Sylva, Ken Murray, M.A. Majeed, Hiranjan Perera, Tony Sirimanne, Jeff Ratnam, Mike Alwis, M. Flamer-Caldera, Eric Roles, G. Tiruchittampalam and C.H. Seneviratne.
ALL-CEYLON RUGBY TEAM THAT WON THE ALL-INDIA TROPHY IN 1966
Rohan had an impressive club career that saw him play for Kandy Sports Clun from 1968 – 1971 and was picked to represent Up Country Vs. Low Country from 1966-1971, captaining Up Country in 1971.
The icing on the cake however is the fact that Rohan represented All-Ceylon from 1966-1971 (6 years) and played against India, Blackheaths, Lorea, Thailand, Singapore Joint Services, Paris University. Toured Bangkok with the All-Ceylon Team for the first International Rugby Tournament (3rd Asian Rugby Tournament). Subject to correction, Rohan’s six-year stint playing for All-Ceylon is a record as no player has played nationally for this long. A legendary feat for this gentle giant who had his baptism to the game of rugby in the greenest of sports grounds in Bambalapitiya at his alma mater, in 1961.
THE CLIFFORD CUP – The most prestigious club rugby knockout tournament in Sri Lanka and arguably the oldest rugby tournament in Asia. The Clifford Cup came into being in 1911 when Lady Elizabeth Clifford (wife of the acting Governor of Ceylon, Sir Hugh Clifford) was interested in the annual rugby football fixture between Low Country and Up Country and expressed a wish that a match take place in Colombo on her birthday 26 August, between teams representing the United Services and All Ceylon. Rest is history.
Past winners of the Clifford Cup – 1950 and 1951 (Havelocks), 1952 (CR and FC), 1953 (Dimbula), 1954 to 1956 (CR and FC), 1957 (CH and FC), 1958 (CR and FC), 1959 (CR and FC/ Dimbula) 1960 (CH and FC), 1961 (Havelocks), 1962 (CH and FC), 1963 and 1964 (Havelocks), 1965 and 1966 (CR and FC), 1967 and 1968 (Havelocks), 1969 (CR and FC), 1970 (Police/ Havelocks) 1971 (CR and FC), 1972 Police), 1973 (Army/ Police), 1974 (Havelocks), 1975 (Army), 1976 to 1978 (Havelocks), 1979 and 1980 (Police), 1981 (Havelocks), 1982 and 1983 (CH and FC), 1984 and 1985 (Police), 1986 (Air Force), 1987 to 1989 (CR and FC), 1990 (CH and FC), 1991 (Police), 1992 and 1993 (Kandy SC), 1994 (CH and FC), 1995 to 1997 (Kandy SC), 1998 (no tournament) 1999 to 2005 (Kandy SC), 2006 (CR and FC), 2007 to 2013 (Kandy SC), 2014 (Navy).
WHERE IS ROHAN TODAY? – Rohan is married to Surangani and lives in Melbourne with their daughter and two sons who are all married. Rohan is the step-brother of another famous Peterite – Shirley de S. Illesinghe who captained St. Peter’s College in Cricket & Rugby in 1934.
