Summa recalls Royal’s maiden Bradby win
Summa (standing extreme right) with the Royal rugby team of 1941, alongside Principal E.L. Bradby and Lakshman (standing 4th from left), the uncle of President Ranil Wickremesinghe
Summa Nawaratnam, at 97, is Sri Lanka’s oldest and probably the only living athlete to have achieved many feats alike both in track and field and rugby. With the first leg of the 76th Bradby Shield encounter between Royal College and Trinity College coming to a conclusion yesterday, Nawaratnam is the only living rugby player out of both schools to feature in a pre-Bardby era game.
Royal first beat Trinity at a Bradby Shield encounter in 1948, thus claiming the coveted title for the very first time with scores of 6-5 and 8-6, and then repeated the victory march the following year to retain the shield after scores of 5-3 and 8-8. But to really achieve their first win against Trinity, Royal had to wait for 21 long years since both schools started playing each other in 1920.
Until 1944, the year before the Bradby Shield was inaugurated, Royal had only beaten Trinity thrice in 27 meetings. On all three occasions, the now legendary Nawaratnam was a member and played a key role. Being a gifted sprinter, who later in his career was known as the ‘fastest man in Asia’ for clocking 10.04secs in the Men’s 100yedrs sprint at the India States Olympic Meet in 1953, In 1941 Nawaratnam was barely 16 when he turned out for Royal, who for the first time ever turned down Trinity a win with scores of 11-3.
“It was the very first time in the rugby history of Royal that we toppled Trinity. That year, I remember, we had a very good season, also beating St. Peter’s and Zahira,” Nawaratnam fondly recalled.
Summa now, (left pic) and on his wedding day (right pic) . The bestman (on right) is Tissa, the uncle of President Ranil Wickremesinghe
After 1942, upon negotiations by the two principals – E.L. Bradby of Royal and C.E. Simithriarachchy of Trinity, from 1943, two games were played in the same year, one in Colombo and the other in Kandy. This was the year Nawaratnam led Royal, and won both encounters by 6-0 and 5-3, before Trinity came back strong the following year to comprehensively beat Royal by 15-0 and 17-0 in 1944, the year before the Bradby Shield was inaugurated.
Nawaratnam, also a fine track and field athlete who represented the country, then called Ceylon, alongside other legends such as Duncan White, John de Saram and Oscar Wijesinghe, nearing his centenary year, recalled those games with great interest for a reason beyond sport.
“You see, the present President’s uncles, Tissa and Lakshman Wickremesinghe, played alongside me and under me. I was very close with Tissa, who was the bestman (groom’s maid) at my wedding. He and I were of the very same age, but Lakshman and I played together for many years, even under my captaincy. Tissa was only into rugby, but Lakshman was very good at both athletics and rugby. Being a Christian, Lakshman later became a priest and at the time of his demise, was the Bishop of Kurunegala,” comparing and explaining on the differences of eras Nawaratnam recollected.
“Those were the days when sportspersons were well qualified both in the field of sports and academically. Later on in life they went on to become great contributors to the country. Sadly we are missing that part today both among many of our sportspersons and mostly from those who are engaged in politics. There should be a test to define their qualifications, especially on those who are engaged in lawmaking,” he asserted, while lamenting on Royal’s missed opportunity in retaining the Schools Rugby League title.
“They (Royal) committed more mistakes than Isipathana, we have to be truthful and honest as sportsmen. If not for those crucial mistakes, Royal had all chances in winning the game and retaining the league title. But it’s just another game, hope they will learn from the mistakes and do well at the Bradby. Unfortunately my presence at the ground is uncertain this time due to health issues. But I will be following the game, as I have been doing this whole season. Whatever happens, the boys should enjoy the game and the moment, that’s how we created history back then,” said the legend, who is still very much active in rugby as a junior coach through his Summa Nawaratnam Royal Junior Rugby Academy.