Thrilled fans with his deeds on the field:

Almeida was a ruggerite par excellence

Lionel Almeida who died on Monday was a ruggerite par excellence who thrilled fans with his deeds on the rugby field during his illustrious career which spanned 17 years.

Having begun his rugby career as a scrum half at Royal he turned out for his school for three years playing in the pivotal fly half position in his final year in which he captained his school.

Joining CR and FC in 1957 he blossomed out as an excellent fly half and went onto don the Sri Lanka Jersey in 1959 and played for the country with distinction till 1967. Joining the Dickoya Maskeliya Cricket Club in the early '60s he played a major role as full back in taking Dickoya to the forefront of 'A' Division rugby during which period the club went onto beat reputed teams such as CR and FC, Havelocks, CH and FC and Army. Among his teammates at Dickoya were Raji de Sylva, Manik Jayakumar, Manik Pereira, Tony Johnson, Rohan Abeysundera, Mohan Samarasinghe and the dreaded third row of Chris Bean, John Bousfield and David Bretherton.

Having hung up his boots in 1971 he took upto refereeing and emerged as one of Sri Lanka's leading referees having the honour of officiating in the 1985 Clifford Cup final between Police and Havelocks.

He coached his former club CR and FC in 1984 and moulded them into a champion outfit with the club clinching the Premadasa Trophy in the inaugural year. He also coached the Peterites in the mid 1980s before serving as Technical Advisor to Isipatana in 1997 and 1998.

Almeida was elected President of the Sri Lanka Rugby Football Union in 1989 and 1990.

His greatest achievement as an administrator was when he along with his predecessor Yu Cey Chang was able to convince the hierarchy of the Asian Rugby Football Union to hold the 1990 Rugby Asiad in Sri Lanka when they were considering shifting the venue to Malaysia due to the unstable situation in the country due to the JVP insurrection.