54th Annual Saints Quadrangular Tournament

• Event will kick off on 29, 30 September

By Althaf Nawaz

The 54th Annual Saints Quadrangular sports event – the most popular sporting event among four prominent saints’ schools in the country – will be hosted by St. Benedict’s, Kotahena this year. The inaugural event was also hosted by St. Benedict’s way back in 1963. St. Joseph’s, Colombo, St. Peter’s, Bambalapitiya and St. Anthony’s, Kandy are the other three teams that will add glamour to the event.

The event will kick off on 29 and 30 September at three venues – Bambalapitiya, Maradana and Kotahena – and will involve three sporting disciplines.

This year the organisers have included a quadrangular cricket tournament, an over-40 cricket tournament, basketball and a Sevens rugby tournament. The cricket matches will be played in Kotahena and Darley Road, and the final is scheduled to be played in Kotahena.

The rugby matches will scrum down in Bambalapitiya, while all basketball matches will be worked off in Kotahena at the Bens courts.

The Annual Saints quadrangular tournament was the brainchild of the Old Benedictines (OBSC). They came up with the idea to host a cricket tournament among Old Boys of various schools for their OBU Diamond Jubilee celebrations in 1963.

Many schools were invited but only three schools responded, namely St. Anthony's College, Kandy, St. Joseph's College, Colombo and St. Peter's College, Bambalapitiya.

After successfully hosting the tournament as a ‘Quadrangular’, the Saints gathered around to make this an annual event under the name ‘Saints Quadrangular Tournament’. Old Antonian (late) Ranjith Samarasekera was a pillar of strength of the Saints Quadrangular and was instrumental in merging the OBUs of the four Catholic schools. Subsequent to the inaugural event this was transformed into an annual event where each OBU (and their sports body) undertook to host this event in turn.

Samarasekara was part of the tournament since its inception representing the Old Antonian cricket team, and also as a member of the organising committees till 2016. A trophy was inaugurated for the overall winner of the tournament in his memory in 2017.

This successful annual tournament is the longest-running Schools Old Boys’ tournament now being played around the world, with annual tournaments being held in the United Kingdom, Australia, and Canada. Further, there is a Saints Quadrangular Athletics meet involving present students and Old Boys which has been held since the 1980s.

The 50th Saints Quadrangular was held amidst so many celebrations in Kandy hosted by St. Anthony’s College OBA Colombo Branch along with their parent body in 2017. In the same year, officially the Saints Quadrangular Association was formed and the host School (Sports Clubs, OBU/ OBA) took over the chair of the organising committee.

In 2019, after the Easter Bombing, as a mark of respect, the organisers and host Old Joe's Sports Club decided to curtail the tournament into a T20 Cricket tournament which was played at St. Joseph’s College Grounds. The tournament could not be held due to the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021. 

The 53rd Saints Quadrangular Tournament held on 26 and 27 November 2022 at St. Peter’s College Sports Complex hosted by the Old Peterites (OPSC) saw the hosts winning the main cricket and the Over 40s version, with both tournaments being played under the T10 format. The Rev. Fr. Joe E. Wickremasinghe Trophy for Basketball was won by Old Peterites, the Ranjith Samarasekera Challenge Trophy' for Rugby 7's was won by Old Joes and the overall Championship Trophy was won by Old Peterites. 

All events will be conducted on par with International standards and will be officiated by officials attached to the respective governing bodies. St. Peter's heads the medals tally with St. Benedict's in second place. St. Joseph's and St. Anthony's are slated at third and fourth respectively. The overall champions will win the Ranjith Samarasekara Memorial Trophy. Ranjan Nadeshapillai (Distinguished Old Ben, Chartered Architect and double coloursman) will grace the occasion as Chief Guest along with two legendary Old Bens Damodharan Chandrasiri and Joy Bernard as Guests of Honour.