The first leg of the 75th Bradby Shield meeting between two long standing rugby playing schools - Trinity College and Royal College - will take place on Saturday June 1 at the Pallekele rugby grounds. The Royal-Trinity rugby games have brought the two schools closer to each other in a way that is inexplicable. This game since its inception in 1920, has inspired brotherhood and unity among the players.
For these two Bradby encounters, supporters of both schools come from even overseas to watch the matches. After the Bradby was introduced in 1945, in 1971 only one encounter was played due to security reasons. The shield was carried from Kandy to Reid Avenue by then principal of Trinity College E.L. Fernando and awarded to the Royal captain Fred Pereira at the morning assembly of Royal College for having won the first leg by 22 points to 3.
Before the Second World War only four schools played rugby, Trinity, Royal, Zahira and St. Peter’s. But during the War St. Peter’s and Zahira gave up due to army taking over the school. So as to prevent the interest from dropping in the game, the principal of Royal College E.L. Bradby, came forward to present a shield in 1945 for the matches between Trinity and Royal, with matches to be played in Kandy and Colombo.
The team which gets the highest aggregate of points in both matches is awarded the Bradby Shield. The Shield was designed and made by a Kandyan silversmith, and donated by Principal E.L. Bradby on his departure from Ceylon in 1945. It is a wooden disk decorated with intricate traditional Kandyan silver works.
The first Bradby game in 1945 saw Royal led by C.D.L. Fernando beat Trinity led by Robert Sourjah 3-0 in the first leg in Colombo. However in the game played in Kandy the Trinitians managed to win 6-0 and clinch the shield in the inaugural year on the basis of aggregate. In the second leg Trinity were led by S.B. Pilapitiya. So, at the assembly when the Royal principal had asked the captain C.D.L. Fernando, what happened to the match, the reply had been, Sir, they (Trinity) played better than us. In a strange coincidence the two captains of this inaugural Bradby, C.D.L Fernando and R.G. Sourjah, went on to become doctors by profession.
In that year the Royal team comprised C.D.L. Fernando (Capt),T. Mukherjee, S.V. Edirimanasinghe, F.D. Schoorman, D. de Moor, L. Kumarasinghe, J.M. Cumaraswamy, D.R. Amerasinghe, Mahes Rodrigo, R. Rajaratnam, U. Amarasinghe, N.W. Karunaratne, A.C.M. Nizar, R.M.S de Silva, M. Kassipillai. Trinity - W. Thurairatnam, R.V. Mottram, K.A. Gunawardene, H. Ranaisnghe, G. Sanmugam, R. Vancuylenberg, H. Jones, Robert Sourjah (Capt 1st leg), S.B. Pilapitiya (Capt 2nd leg), T.B. Madugalle, P.S. Dedigama, J. Kuruwita, A. Yatawara, S. Mediwke, A. Ratwatte.
Royal’s first win in the Bradby came in 1948 under the captaincy of Ashroff ‘Ashey’ Cader, Royal with four fresher’s won both legs - 6/3 and 8/6. Royal had players like A. Goonawardene, G.C.Weinmen, A.E. Bartholomeusz, D.A. Van Twest, D.R. Perera, S.D.N. Hapugalle, D.D. Samarsinghe, Trevor Anghie, T. ‘Muggy’ Vargunam, E.D. Fonseka, B. Sivaratnam, D. Raymond, G.T. Perinpanayagam, A.J.B. Anghie, Sidney G de Zoysa (Coach).
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