The Navy rugby ground at Welisara is bone hard. The sailors who play on it are a rugged lot. Navy rugby is on the march to the top now. This they confirmed in no uncertain terms when they bagged the third spot in the A Division Caltex League behind KandySC and the CR&FC. In the coming season they are expected to dish out scintillating rugby especially since they have recruited a host of school leavers from leading rugby playing schools.

Fareed Rahman	Irshad bin Ali

The Sunday Times launched a brief look back at their rugby, from the time they were a B Division team and reminisced some of their key players.

The name of Malcolm Marshall, the former Antonian rugby player stands out like a beacon. He together with Lt. Col. Abdus Kuthus Doray, Rear Admiral A.W.H. Perera, and Commander Asoka Weerasekera fashioned Navy rugby in the 1960’s. Malcolm Marshall took on himself the task of moulding the rugby players. He played as the fly-half and fashioned most of the moves.

Marshall together with link-man Zunoon Rahman mesmerized the defence with their sudden breaks and the ball traveled down the line at terrific speed with Zunoon’s elder brother Fareed (at centre) adding the extra zip to tear down the defence to shreds. Malcolm Marshall, Zunoon and Fareed turned out for the Defence Services team with distinction.

Incidentally Zunoon, Jiffry and Fareed hail from a sporting family. All of them represented St. Peter’s College Bambalapitiya at rugby while their elder brother Munsoor captained Royal College at boxing and guided the school to the Stubbs Shield in 1958. Munsoor who was later Sports Editor of the Malaysian Strait Times, also played hockey for Royal.

Zunoon captained the Navy rugby team in 1966. Fareed’s youngest brother T.B. Rahman (Bagus) played rugby for Isipathana and later turned out for the Havelocks A and B teams. Bagus is a leading sports journalist attached to the Daily Mirror.

Fareed Rahman, who was Chief Petty Officer, was also a champion athlete winning the Champion Athlete’s Trophy at the inaugural Inter-Ship Track and Field Championships in 1955. He was also the Champion Athlete at the Cochin Command Athletic Meet whilst following a course in India. Fareed is also a qualified official of the Ceylon Amateur Athletics Association.

In 1975 Navy won the B Division rugby title under the leadership of the granite hard forward Irshad Bin Ali, an Old Zahirian who played for Zahira with the effervescent Havelocks and Sri Lanka fly-half Omar Sheriff. Some members of the Zahira team he has played with are M.A. Majeed, Nilam Mansoor and Haris.
Some Navy players who turned out under Irshad Bin Ali that year to give Navy the B Division title were:

P.L.B. Nandasiri who hailed from Tangalle and who turned out to be a top rugby player despite the fact that he had never seen a rugby ball during his schooldays, Brian Van Heer, Ramanayake, Ilex Perera, Tom Halideen, Bin Ghalip and boxer Somapala Perera. The side was coached by Percy Perera, better known as ‘Penalty’ Perera in rugby refereeing circles.

After Navy was promoted to the A Division their rugby began to take shape under the guidance of Rear Admiral A.W.H. Perera and Commander Asoka Weerasekera. It is now up to the present set to take the team right to the top.

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