22nd league championship for Kandy SC

Nigel Ratwatte had a grand season as skipper 

By Shamseer Jaleel in Kandy

Defending League Champions, Kandy Sports Club under Nigel Ratwatte was awarded as the Nippon Paint Inter Club League champions for 2022 after the tournament came to a full stop due to the current situation in the country.  This was the 22nd time Kandy SC won the league, having lost only five times in their 27 years of appearance after 1994. The 100 plus years old club first won the league in 1994 under Indrajith Bandaranayake.

Kandy SC backed by their premier sponsor Cargills Ltd., stamped their class with a clean sheet with eight wins out of eight matches this season ending on 45 points. Havies won seven games losing out only to Kandy at 40 points. Awarding of league to Kandy SC was made at the recently concluded Council emergency meeting.

Understandably, Havies objected to this decision as they thought they are always within a chance for the Cup had they played Kandy SC in their last game at home. The Park Club played their heart out under the watchful eyes of their Head Coach Sanath Martis who groomed the youngsters in to a winning outfit. But in the end, they were a yard slower. Now all sealed for the Up-Country Club, the Park Club will have to wait for yet another year to have a go at the trophy.

Kandy SC and their continued professionalism is due to their structure and high level of discipline among their players and the coaching staff. They were led by top class national player, Nigel Ratwatte who leading from the front, always gave a very good display of leadership qualities. He was well backed up by his senior players such as Tharinda Ratwatte, Kavindu Perera, Jason Dissanayake, Buddhima Piyaratne and Roshan Weeraratne to name a few.

They were coached by Fazil Marija who was a magnificent player. Later he matured in his coaching skills to become a top-class notch in the country. He was well assisted by Buddhima Thalagampola. Former Isipathana player Kapila Silva was their Team Manager for the last two decades doing a yeoman service for the club with Lasantha Wijesuriya handling the Chairman of Rugby position.

The former Royal scrum-half Malik Samarawickrema was always the backbone of the club with support and guidance for them, plus finding the sponsors. It has always been a tough job for Kandy SC as they had to travel a majority of the time to Colombo for their games incurring huge expenditure for travel and accommodation a day before the game. Further, Kandy SC is the only outstation club to play for the A division for a long time.

Kandy SC lived up to the standard of Cargills who came in as their Premier sponsors and will be happy with their success and should continue for a few more years with the winning outfit. The team got good support from its President Mahesh Weerasinghe and its Committee who will go for their Annual General Meeting in July 2022 to elect the new President.

Speaking to Daily FT, their Head Coach Fazil Marija said: “I am very happy and proud of the boys as we end the season unbeaten. We had a very disciplined unit and the support I got from the Committee was immense. I would like to thank the Premier sponsors, Cargills and Malik Samarawickrema for their continued support for the club. Many forwards left the club but with limited resources we proved we are not push overs as the freshers ended the season on a top note.”

Kandy Squad for 2022: Charles Praveen, Lasitha Attanagoda, Yakoob Ali, Malitha Rashmika, S. Monishan, Milan Weerasinghe, Damith Dissanayake, Kavishka Bandara, Heshan Silva, K. Bandara, W. Soysa, Tharindu Chathuranga, Sanushka Abeywickrama, Bawantha Udangamuwa, 

Tharaka De Silva, Roshan Weeraratne, Srinath Sooriyabandara, Heshan Jansen, Nigel Ratwatte, 

Asiri Senevirathne, T Ranaweera, Tharinda Ratwatte, Oshan Perera, Lavanga Perera, Heshan Perera, Danusha Dayan, Dinal Ekanayake, N. Priyarathna, Kavindu Perera, Diluksha Dange, Nimesh Premathilaka, Rumesh Premathilake, Sahan Wijesinghe, Shehan Pathirana and 

Bawantha Dharmapala.

 Kandy SC Officials: Chairman Rugby and Lasantha Wijesuriya 

Team Manager Kapila Silva

Head Coach Fazil Marija

Asst. Coach Buddhika Thalagampola

Trainer -Tharaka Algama 

Physio Charith Vithanage and Lakshitha Seneviratne