Ceylonese Rugby & Football Club

Ceylonese Rugby & Football Club

Union	Sri Lanka Rugby Football Union
Founded	1922
Location	Colombo, Sri Lanka
Ground(s)	CR & FC Grounds
Chairman	Gavin Jayasekera
President	Jehan CanagaRetna
Captain(s)	Dushantha Lewke
League(s)	Caltex League Caltex Clifford Cup Knockout Tournament
Team kit

Ceylonese Rugby & Football Club (also known as CR & FC) is a rugby union team based in Colombo, Sri Lanka that plays in the Caltex League, of which they are the current champions. Established in 1922, the Ceylonese Rugby & Football Club have been quite successful having won the Clifford Cup Knockout Tournament 12 times. They are nicknamed the Red Shirts.^[1]

History

See also: Rugby union in Western Province, Sri Lanka

The Ceylonese Rugby & Football Club was founded in 1922 by Colonel E. H. Joseph. It was the first only rugby playing institution in the country at the time.^[2] The club had its first roots in NCC and in its 1st four years depended on NCC and Havelock Sports club for their practices and matches.

Prominent names in Sri Lankan society took part in the committee of the 1st AGM which was held n 1923. They were the Schokmans, Rockwoods, Saravanamutthu, Weinman, and Ondatjie to name a few. The 1st captain was Dr. L. O. Weinman, while the vice-captain was Rajah Hewavitharana.

After the end of the 1st World war the Clifford Cup Knockout Tournament was re-introduced, and CR & FC lost to the combined service team by 3-6. Ceylonese Rugby & Football Club continued to flourish over the next decades with schoolboys from Trinity College, Royal College, Zahira College, St Peter's College, St Thomas' College, and subsequently, Issipathana have represented the club with great distinction. The new clubhouse was opened in December 1964 and the main gate was opened in 1965.

Colours and name

The colours of the Ceylonese Rugby & Football Club come from the regiment that its founder, Colonel E. H. Joseph commanded. He insisted that the club colors should be that of the artillery colors of Red & Blue, successfully convincing the General Committee.^[3]

Stadium

The home ground of the Ceylonese Rugby & Football Club is CR & FC Grounds. The club ceremoniously opened its new pavilion on 29 June 2007. It was opened by the main sponsors of the building the Football Federation of Sri Lanka (FFSL), President Hurley Silveira and the CEO of Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC) David Griffiths. The new building includes a viewing deck that seats 500 people, six corporate boxes, two state-of-the-art dressing rooms, and an outside bar lounge for members and their guests, a lounge bar for members, and a fine dining restaurant to serve members and their guests.^[4]

An image of the stadium can be seen here.

Season standings

Players

Current squad

Captains

1923-1950[5] L. O. Weinman (1923-1924) A. R. Lourensz (1924-1926) J. A. V.Modder (1927-1928) C. W. M. Oorloff(1929-1930) G. Pereira (1930-1931) E. F. N. Gratiaen (1932-1933) S. G. De Zoysa (1934-1935) E. F. N. Gratiaen (1936-1937) R. E. Blaze (1937-1938) W. D. Ratnavale (1938-1940) N. W. Weerasinghe (1940-1942) Vacant (1942-1946) F. B. Ohlmus (1946-1948) F. E. Keller (1948-1949) W. Molegoda (1949-1950)

1950-1970 A. Perera (1950-1951) M. Rodrigo (1951-1954) S. Navaratnam (1954-1956) M. G. Wright (1956-1957) G. C. Weinman/A. A. Cader (1957-1958) A. A. Cader (1958-1959) A. Paiva (1959-1960) K. Rambukwella (1960-1961) G. C. Weinman (1961-1962) G. R. Ingleton (1962-1964) R. T. De Sylva (1964-1965) S. C. De Sylva (1965-1966) E. D. K. Roles (1966-1967) M. Azain (1967-1968) T. L. Sirimanne (1968-1969) M. Sahayam (1969-1970)

1970-1990 N. H. Omar (1970-1971) D. V. P. Samarasekera (1971-1972) D. De Almeida (1972-1973) K. G. Ratnapala (1973-1974) K. Bartholameusz (1974-1975) R. W. Schockman (1975-1976) I. Coomaraswamy (1976-1977) S. H. C. Fernanndo (1977-1978) I. M. De Z. Gunasekera (1978-1979) P. R. Balasuriya (1979-1980) J. Rudra (1980-1981) C. P. Abeygunawardena (1981-1982) I. Musafer (1982-1983) L. RSiriwardena (1983-1984) E. M. S. Matthysz (1984-1985) K. R. T. Peiris (1985-1986) E. Epaarachchi (1986-1987) D. T. A. Adihetty/C. Jordashe (1987-1988) C. Jordashe (1988-1989) S. Siddik (1989-1990)

1990-2010 P. Ekanayake (1990-1991) L. V. Ekanayake (1991-1992) L. Gunaratne (1992-1994) Shanitha Fernando (1994-1995) L. Gunaratne (1995-1996) V. Prasanna (1996-1997) A. Hensman (1997-1998) C. Nishantha (1998-2000) S. de Saram (2000-2001) K. Musafer (2001-2002) A. Rodrigo (2002-2003) S. Nawaz (2003-2004) P. Fernando (2004-2007) A. Dharmatilleke (2007-2008) S. Mohamed (2008-2009) Ashean Karthelis (2009-2010) Dushantha Lewke (2010-Present)

Notable players

Staff & Coaching Team

General Committee

• Mr. Jehan CanagaRetna - President
• Mr. Rienzie Fernando - Deputy President
• Mr. Shantha Kurumbalapitiya - Honorary General Secretary
• Mr. Ravi P. Edirisinghe - Honorary Treasurer
• Mr. Christopher Jordashe - Vice-President
• Mr. Jeremy David - Honorary Bar Secretary
• Mr. Gavin Jayasekera - Chairman Rugby Board
• Mr. Roshan Tissera - Chairman Sponsorship
• Mr. Chandima Perera - Chairman Other Games
• Mr. Saneth Gamage - Honorary Restaurant Secretary
• Mr. R.T.Molligoda - Honorary Life Member
• Mr. Ravi Balasuriya - Immediate Past President
• Mr. Dushantha Lewke - Rugby Captain

President of CH &FC

The current president of Ceylonese Rugby & Football Club is Jehan CanagaRetna, who came to the position in 2008.^[6]

Past president include:

1922-1960 E. H. Joseph (1922-1935) H. K. De Kretser (1936-1947) H. N. V. C. Kelaart (1948-1952) V. C. Kelaart (1953-1954) S. G. De Zoysa (1954-1955) J. W. Serasinghe (1956-1957) W. D. Ratnavale (1957-1958) A. P. Koelmeyer (1959-1960)

1960-1970 N. W. Weerasinghe (1960-1961) P. Ramanathan (1961-1962) F. B. Ohlmus (1963-1964) W. Molegoda (1964-1966) A. E. R. McHeyzer (1967-1968) S. Navaratnam (1968-1969) M. G. Wright (1969-1970)

1970-1980 G. C. Weinman (1970-1971) R. Rajasingham (1971-1972) M. Rodrigo (1972-1973) K. Rambukwella (1973-1975) A. K. Doray (1975-1976) D. Rodrigo (1976-1977) T. C. M. Muttaih (1977-1978) Percy Perera (1978-1979) S. Navaratnam (1979-1980)

1980-1990 Lalith De Silva (1980-1981) N. H. Omar (1981-1982) D. V. P. Samarasekera (1982-1983) D. De Almeida (1983-1984) Ifthikar Cader (1984-1985) S. H. C. Fernando (1985-1986) U.N. Gunasekera (1986-1990)

1991-present S. R. P. Samarasekera (1991-1992) R. T. De Sylva (1993-1994) G. Manik Pereira (1995-1996) D. M. Balasuriya (1996-1997) C. J. Fernando (1998-1999) E. M. S. Matthysz (2000-2002) C. Dharmadasa (2003-2004) R. N. Balasuriya (2005-2008) Jehan CanagaRetna (2008-Present)

Coaches

• Viraj Prashantha - Coach
  • Bilal Yusuf - Assistant Coach

Club honours

• Caltex League:
  • Champions: None^[7]
  • Runners up: 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008

• Clifford Cup Knockout Tournament:
  • Champions: 1954, 1955, 1956, 1957, 1958, 1959, 1964, 1965, 1966, 1987, 1988, 1989

• President's Trophy Knockout Tournament:
  • Champions: 1977, 1983, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 2007

References

1. ^ http://www.dailynews.lk/2010/08/16/spo03.asp
2. ^ http://crandfc.com/front/club/?f=cms&id=3
3. ^ http://crandfc.com/front/club/?f=cms&id=3
4. ^ http://crandfc.com/front/club/?f=cms&id=10
5. ^ http://crandfc.com/front/rugby/?f=cms&id=14
6. ^ http://crandfc.com/front/club/?f=cms&id=8
7. ^ http://crandfc.com/front/rugby/?f=achievements

External links

• Ceylonese Rugby & Football Club official website
• Sri Lanka RFU Official website
• Provincial Unions
• Images of CR & FC