The Moose Clothing Company and Lanka Hospitals joined hands with Havelock’s Sports Club to become their official sponsors for the ongoing rugby season which is now in tandem.
The Moose Clothing Company one of the leaders in the apparel industry got on board as the main sponsor while Lanka Hospitals another pioneer institution in the healthcare sector will be the Health Care partner for the Park Club for the third consecutive year.
Havelocks one of the pioneer clubs in the country, celebrating their 106th year in existence, especially promoting the oval-shaped ball game, has played a phenomenal role in contributing towards the game producing many players to don the national jersey. After two years of the barren period due to the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, the game of rugby recommenced this season under strict health surveillance with eight clubs in the fray.
 Havelocks skipper Shenal Deelaka receiving the club jersey from Head of Marketing of Moose Clothing Kithmini de Silva. Also in the picture are Deepthi Lokuarachchi, the Group C.E.O. of Lanka Hospitals and Roshan Opatha, Rugby Secretary of Havelocks |
Havelock’s was one of the clubs which underwent a torrid time in maintaining the rugby squad of 35 players and officials sans a sponsor. Nevertheless, with the dynamic leadership of Thusitha Peiris, the incumbent President of the club along with his team put up an indefatigable effort to get things going while retaining the players and coaches paying their wages at a moderate amount which he confirmed aa a herculean task for them. A club that has only rugby as their sporting event hardly had any other sources of income except their in-house bar. At a crucial juncture, Moose Clothing a subsidiary of Brandix has shown their willingness to lock horns with them
which they hail as a towering strength for them to march forward.
“We are very thankful to Moose Clothing our new partner for accepting our request along with Lanka Hospitals our existing health care partner for the last three years under these testing times. A club with a proud history of over 105 years has done a yeomen service in producing players handling the oval-shaped ball to represent the national squads. Sponsors are crucial stakeholders for any sporting body. But when it comes to rugby we need about 25 to 30 million rupees to run a season. But after the post-Covid situation and the ongoing economic crisis things have become much tougher. But we have been boxing on with the support of our members curtailing our overheads. But this sponsorship has made our matters much easier and to continue playing rugby which is the only major sport at Havelock’s.”
“Retaining a squad of 35 players is a big ask and we were able to continue it so far. Unlike the good old days where the rugby budgets were very minimal, in the present scenario, things have transformed vice versa. Today any player before joining negotiates the package which is a sad situation. But we have to move with the present trend otherwise we will be at
the losing end like a few years back when 10 of the senior players were bought by other clubs.
Havelocks always has been at the forefront harnessing young school leavers. But after gaining exposure they move into clubs mainly for money.
The present set of players are aged between 21 to 25 years and some of them are concentering on their academic studies while playing for us. By and large, we are well focused towards maintaining the remaining feat and hope to put up a much-improved performance than the past games and to win the championship.” Said Thusitha.
“As you’ll aware Moose Clothing is a youthful clothing brand. We have been supporting sports in the country for the last few years whether on a smaller or larger scale. We supported Badminton and Cricket initially but now we decide to move into rugby to support this game. We are excited to sponsor one of the pioneering rugby playing clubs in the country. We wish the team all the very best for their future engagements.” said Kithmini De Silva, Head of Marketing, Moose Clothing
“Being the health partner for Havelock’s we are absolutely honoured and privileged to extend our support further for the third consecutive year. This is game has drawn and attracted public attention and the sporting community in the country. Therefore, as per Lanka Hospitals we are
extremely pleased and honoured for inviting us. Being personally a rugby enthusiast this association with this club will continue for many more years. As Lanka hospital, we are fully geared to deliver the required support for them as the health care partner.” Said Deepthi Lokuarachchi, the Group C.E.O. of Lanka Hospitals.
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