A dry season for results barring the Royal-Thomian
View(s):Is pride the cause for big match brawls
By M. Shamil Amit
The big match encounters played by traditional rivals every year are a much looked forward to event by most of old and present boys of respective institutions. But the saddest part of these encounters is that the majority of them end in clashes between old and present boys of these schools.
In some encounters old boys of big match-playing schools domiciled abroad make it a point to be a part of the celebrations of their school and make arrangements in advance specially to witness these traditional matches. But if it ends in clashes then is their trip worth the trouble?
But this time around it was pathetic to see that for the first time in history police had to use tear gas, which has never been heard of. Even the traditional limited over encounter falls into this category with the majority of them ending in clashes or spectators invading the field, forcing the umpires to abandon play.
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Having covered most of the big matches for more than a decade and being a witness to most of the clashes that have taken place during or after these competitions, the conclusion is that every spectator that comes to witness these encounters only thinks of his school. They don’t like to see their alma mater lose the big match and look to preserve pride.
This year three big matches, Ananda-Nalanda, Mahinda- Richmond and Dharmasoka MV-Sri Devananda Ambalangoda, were affected as the matches were called off by the umpires at various stages.
The Royal Panadura and St John’s Panadura limited over encounter too was called off when the former was on the verge of winning the game and which ultimately ended with police officers baton-charging the supporters of both schools.
I recall a big match incident that occurred a few years back where two schools, that had ironically named their traditional encounter the ‘Battle of Friendship’, turned the playing field into a mini battlefield, with authorities in the end calling for help from the Army. Later the match was nicknamed the ‘Battle of the Enemies’ before being scrapped.
Besides the Royal-Thomian, which ended in a predictable victory for the Reid Avenue lads, other big matches this season could not yield results.
The Battle of the North between St John’s Jaffna and Jaffna Central and the encounter in Matara between St. Thomas and St. Servatius too failed to produce any positive results.
The season began with the big match between Dharmapala Pannipitiya and Rahula Matara which petered out into a tame draw. The same result followed in the two big matches at Moratuwa, which were between St. Sebastian’s and Prince of Wales and Moratu MV and Sri Sumangala Panadura.
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Two big matches were special for three schools as Dharmasoka MV was celebrating their centenary and were looking forward to making it a memorable one. However, unfortunately they were unable to achieve that, as when they were heading towards victory the match was called off due to a pitch invasion.
It was also special for Thurstan and Isipathana as the two schools were celebrating the golden jubilee of their big match, which began in 1963. Normally this big match was the first to herald the big match season but they prolonged it as some of the old boys from both schools domiciled abroad were expected to arrive.
Isipathana, who came into the game as underdogs, dominated proceedings on the two days even though the game ended in a draw. The Battle of the Saints between St Peter’s and St Joseph’s too saw the latter, who was less fancied, dominating proceedings, while the 84th encounter between Ananda and Nalanda too ended in a listless draw which was followed by an ugly brawl.
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