A century of rugby legends of Havelocks
Havelock Sports Club is one of the premier rugby clubs in Sri Lanka and the Havies celebrate their centenary this year. Sri Lanka was gifted with many talented rugby players by Havelocks in its rugby annals. There were times that Havies were tagged as te kings of local rugby, especially in the sixties and in the mid and late seventies and also had the largest fan base among the local rugby clubs
I started following Havies rugby from 1967 and still continue to be a strong supporter and a fan. According to my memories I have picked a century of players who did yeoman services to the club and kept the game alive at Havelocks. There were many other players who excelled in the past and played their hearts out to win many championships for the park club. Accolades should also go for all those who played and also those who helped Havies in many spheres without any financial considerations unlike the present professional status of domestic rugby.
I remember the times where a match ticket was priced at one rupee.
Listed below are the century of legendary players who played for the club with great success and dedication according to my memories – (Since 1967).
Dickie Jayatilleke, Nimal Maralande, Gamini Fernando, Noel Brohier, Cholomondely Henricus, Morris Fairweather, Hiran Fernando, Lal Silva, Glen Vanlangenberg, Royden de Zilva, Desmond Harridge, Jeff Rutnam, Dan Rutnam, Gorgy Tilekeratne, Tyronne Holdenbottle, Randy Pietersz, Jeyer Rodriguez, Jupana Jayawardene, Anton Benedict, Gavin Stevens, Shafi Jainudeen, Thajone Savanghan, Jeffry de Jong, Jeffry Yu, Hamzil Samad, Shirly Thambinayagam, Omar Sheriff, Hafi Abdeen, Lanil Tennekoon, Noel Vanlangenberg, Travis de Jong, Hazari Hameed, Frank Hubert, Michael Jayasekere, P.L. Munasinghe, Steffan de Zilva, Angelo Wickramaratne, David Nicolle, Hisham Abdeen, Shane Brohier, Beverly de Kauwe, Len Silva, Chaminda Rupasinghe, Marco de Silva. Ajith de Silva, Rienzie de Zilva, Sandu Hameed, Bharatha Mendis, M.P. Sallay, Royce Samaratunga, Kolitha Gunatilleke, Andrew Vanhoff, Neomal Surasena, P. Selvaranjan, Roshan Deen, Aruna Uduwelagedera, K.D. Nanayakkara, Graham Raux, Orville Fernando, Troy Barthelot, Shantha Rohana, Pradeep Lakshantha, Ronald Rodrigo, Kamal Mehandra, Shane Pinder, Jale Salusalu, Moape Ravouve, Sunder Niranjan, Niranjan Abeywardene, Tusitha Pieris, Leonard de Zilva, Nishantha Alex Chanaka, Thushara Jayalath, Sanjeeva Jayasinghe, Alex Taka, Rajiv Sornaratne, Joseph Waka, Shafi Hassan, Miskin Deen, Rajiv Ganapathy, Azar Samsudeen, Hilmy Shaheed, Luckie Karunasena, Nimal Jayasuriya, Hubert Ryan, Crofton Joseph, Dilan Ekanayake, Colin Dinesh, Prasanna Jayawardena, Rajiv Perera, Kavinda Jayasena, Ruwan Suranga, Shane de Zilva, Terrance Henry, William Hakalo, Diren Warnakulasuriya, Sandun Herath, Sudharshan Muthuthanthri, Atuiti Nissan, Dhanushka Ranjan.
C. Samaranayake