Meeting rugby stalwart Nizam Hajireen and speaking to Anton Benedict and reading an article by another rugby great Nimal Lewke, brought back nostalgic memories of a byegone era.
Lewke, a former President of the SLRFU and now a Senior DIG described vividly the Clifford Cup rugby final of 1973 between Police and the Army worked of at Longdon Place in his article. It was undoubtedly rugby at its best played by a band of dedicated and highly skilled players. The lure of money and material was not there then. They were fiercely loyal to their respective clubs and upheld traditional values and principles to the very end.
I delved into my musty scrapbooks to rekindle memories of that wonderful by-gone era and unearthed 80 pulsating minutes of drama and action filled moments of rugby unfolded at the 1972 final between Police and CH&FC officiated by Malcolm Wright.
The Police team was captained by Anton Benedict, who also captained the Sri Lanka team in later years. He had in his ranks ‘Rock’ Banda, Morseth, Ibrahim Hamid, Juragen Savanghan, Kularatne, Daya Jayasundara and R.P. Linton as forwards. Sunil Perera was the ‘link man’. The back division consisted of Nimal Abeysinghe, Somachandra, “Sam” Samarasekera, the former Trinity skipper and on the wings Bandula Wijesinghe and Samaraweera. The last line of defense was manned by the mercurial Nizam Hajireen.
CH was led by Y.C. Chang and had Chickera, Faiz Hamdoon, Brian Baptist, Gunatilleke, Tony Masilamani, Horace Perera, Upali Vidanage, Graham David and Tony Amit. It was an array of battle hardened players that assembled on that glorious day at Longdon Place before a capacity crowd. The Police were considered underdogs by many a rugby pundit before the commencement of the game.
In the absence of horse racing in the city women of all walks displayed their fashions and frills and chose the rugby field as their cat-walk and stage. An hour before the match commenced all seats and vantage points were occupied and the crowd waited impatiently for the match to start.
The atmosphere was tense yet the crowd was orderly and a festive mood prevailed. The granite hard Y.C. Chang and his Clan versus Anton Bena and his a Annihilators were poised for attack with the battle lines already drawn.
The game commenced amidst a thunderous ovation by fans of both teams. Within the first few minutes a long range penalty by Nimal Abeysinghe gave Police an early 3 point lead only to be equalized by a Tony Amit penalty for CH. The speedy and robust Police forwards admirably led by Anton Benedict time and again drove the heavy set of CH forwards back and vice versa while the back divisions of both teams initiated move after move only to be thwarted by crunching tackles before any side could reach the others’ goal line.
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| Nizam Hajireen |
The flamboyant CH fly-half Lorenz Pereira tried his best to breach the Police defense with judicious punts-ahead, grubbers and high ball but could not breach or bust the safe and secure hands of Nijam Hajireen who gave a polished display of booming kicks to touch with either foot as he possessed uncanny anticipation of the kick-ahead of the opponent and was omnipresent collecting some balls inches from the ground with his finger tips without knocking-on. On a few occasions he unleashed piercing runs from his own ‘25’ galvanizing his back-division and setting them in motion.
Soon after half time a penalty converted by Hajireen from an oblique angle gave Police a 6-3 lead. However another Tony Amit penalty tied the score at 6 all! The game was intensely fought out and play shifted from one side to another. But neither side was able to forge ahead. Light was fast fading by now and the energy of the players’ was being sapped out. With two minutes to the final whistle Police were awarded a scrum in CH territory by the right touch-line and 40 meters out. Police won the scrum and the shrewd Police skipper and No 8 Anton Benedict held on to the ball a fraction longer in order for Police scrum half Sunil Perera to fake a pass that caught CH scrum half off-side and Referee Malcolm Wright duly awarded a penalty to Police.
In a last ditch effort Police skipper Benedict opted for the kick and looked at Hajireen who nodded readily. In semi-darkness Benedict stood with Hajireen for a few seconds as if almost offering a prayer and plea to the Almighty. Nizam Hajireen placed the ball and steadied himself for the kick and the hitherto boisterous crowd fell silent. The versatile Hajireen rose to the occasion and kicked the ball dead centre between the posts to give Police the Clifford Cup outright for the first time.
The crowd erupted with wild cheering and Hajireen was the cynosure of all eyes and the envy of clubs. Instantly the Police team was the Darlings of the crowd and Hajireen the much sought after Sweetheart! As Nimal Lewke described in his article Nizam Hajireen as skipper of the Police team performed a similar feat a year later in 1973 in the last few minutes of the game to ensure that Police shared the Clifford Cup with Army with a peach of a drop goal.The sporting IGP at that time the late Stanley Senanayake and Chairman of Police Rugby the late Rudra Rajasingham, a sportsman par excellence himself rewarded the Police rugby team in recognition of their services by affording them the opportunity to participate in the prestigious All India Rugby Tournament 1973 in Bombay. Under Hajireen’s inspirational leadership Sri Lanka Police won the Sevens Championship defeating the Armenian team in the final, this was another first-ever achievement for Sri Lanka Police rugby.
It will not be out of context to mention here Nizam Hajireen’s contribution to Police at National level in cricket, rugby, soccer, hockey and athletics and internationally in rugby and soccer which feat is unmatched in the annals of sport in the country by any other sportsman.
Outspoken to a fault and in spite of his fabulous sporting talents he remains an amiable and unassuming individual which is the hallmark of a true sportsman. He was a great ambassador for Police sports then. Many stars have been produced by Police over the years and Nizam Hajireen is obviously the Moon among them.
To all those rugby fans that were unable to watch the 1972 Clifford Cup final, Bob Harvey was there to give expert comments over the Radio (there was no TV then).
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