Basil’s love for northern rugby
Basil Rodrigo
After having helped immensely to nurture rugby among schools in the North of the country, whose progress in the sport was for so long stymied by civil war, former CH&FC player and veteran school rugby coach, Basil Rodrigo, says that the region, although teeming with talent, is in dire need of support from the Sri Lanka Rugby Football Union (SLRFU).
The coach, who over the past year has worked with students from several schools in Kilinochchi and Jaffna, said that players there, despite being deprived of vital training tools such as tackling bags, cones and rugby balls, showed an admirable quantity of dedication and a profound love for the game. However, he lamented that this needed to be properly fostered by officials back in Colombo.
“I go there when I can, but it is not a full time thing. I have a job here in Colombo. If the SLRFU supports me to be there on a full-time basis then I can. Basically, there is a lot of talent there and if they get the proper help, then in two years there will be a rugby club in the province,” he explains.
Basil has worked hard with the boys and girls of the district, and says that he has succeeded in providing them with a firm understanding of the game’s fundamentals along with a general idea of its finer points.
Helping the onetime SLRFU official have been a slew of other selfless individuals, who have journeyed to the region’s schools and helped in their rugby development at their own expense. These include Dr. Chandika Basnayake, Dr. Gnanapandithen, Col. Wickremesinghe and Brigadier Athula Galgamage.
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