That rare feat by the three siblings from the school by the sea
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From left: Hashaka (Captain 2014), Hashith (Captain 2015) and Harith (Captain elect 2019)
It is a rare feat to have three brothers leading the school in any field of sport. At S. Thomas’ College, Mt. Lavinia this rare feat was achieved twice, by two families.
They are the Rajapaksa family and Senanayake the family.
Though the father, the former President of the country Mahinda Rajapaksa, didn’t play rugby in the schools he received his education (Nalanda and Thurstan colleges), his three sons however represented the Thomians in Rugby. The three younger Rajapaksas Namal, Yoshitha and Rohitha all captained the Thomian rugby teams.
Namal set the ball rolling by leading in 2005 while Yoshitha collected in 2006 and passed on to Rohitha in 2008 to lead the sides respectively.
A record set by the Rajapaksa family with three sons captaining S. Thomas’ at Rugby was lowered by the Senanayake brothers.
In the Senanayake family, Hashaka led the Blue Black and Blues in 2014. He was followed younger Hashith leading the Thomians in 2015 followed by the youngest Senanayake, Harith leading the side this season.
Rugby is in their blood as their father Shiran Senanayake played for the Thomian 1st XV in 1977. He represented the school by the sea in rugby under Shane Pinder. This is a unique record that Senanayake’s now held.
The senior Senanayake represented in the schools rugby tournaments in Thailand in 1977 and 78 respectively with rugby players in the caliber of Duane Supremaniam, Christopher Joshua, Shanaka de Livera and Lakmal de Zoysa etc.
Records are there to be broken, but the names of the players who played the game maintaining the best traditions will linger in the hearts of followers for a long time.