Mahesh Weerasinghe to continue as President at Kandy SC

Roshan Weeraratne with his players in front of the stand named after him at Nittawela Rugby Stadium

By Shamseer Jaleel

Mahesh Weerasinghe, the former Rajans Rugby player will once again (fourth year) continue to head the Kandy Sports Club as its President for 2022/2023 rugby season. Former Trinitian Sujeewa Liyanage will hold the Secretary position of the club. 

These appointments, plus the other Committee members were selected at their Annual General Meeting (AGM) which took place at their Club House on Saturday at Nittawela.

Roshan Weeraratne one of the best scrum half produced by Kingswood, Kandy SC and Sri Lanka, retired as he is leaving to Ireland with his spouse. Part of the pavilion was named in his name for the great service rendered by him to the club. 

Kandy SC won the League 22 times during the last 27 years and the Clifford Cup 21 times in 23 years of the Knock out. This is a tremendous achievement for the only club playing A division rugby out of Colombo. Discipline of the player, coaching staff and the rugby management played a vital part, along with their principal sponsor, Cargills. 

Another unique record for Kandy SC is that under Fazil Marija coaching and Nigel Ratwatte leadership from 2020 to 2022, Kandy SC never lost a single game home or away.

Speaking to Daily FT, Trustee of the club and former Royal Scrum half Malik Samarawickrema said: “We named a stand in honour of Roshan who did a yeoman service to our club since 2010. He has been an automatic choice for the national team both in sevens and XV a side. He is one of the best scrum half’s to represent Sri Lanka in the calibre of Tony Sirimanne, Denzil Kobbekaduwa and Roland Rodrigo. 

“Roshan will continue to play club rugby in Ireland. During this period, we have some outstanding players who retired such as Shehan Pathirana, Jason Dissanayake and Buvanaka Udangamuwa doing immense service for the club. We want to bring in young blood in to the Committee. Already we are working in this area and many will see new faces in the near future to take the club forward.”

Committee for 2022/2023

Patron                                 Ranjit Page

Trustees                             Malik Samarawickrema, Sarath Perera, Mahesh Weerasinghe

President                            Mahesh Weerasinghe

Senior Vice President       Lasantha Wijesuriya

Vice Presidents                 Janaka Pathirana, Anton Nanayakkara

Secretary                            Sujeewa Liyanage

Treasurer                            Upali Silva

Ground Secretary             Kapila Silva

Social Secretary                 Arfath Abdeen

Bar Secretary                     Anuruddha Ranansinghe

Legal Consultant               Mohamed Jiffry

Committee Members:     Abdul Rasheed, C Marasinghe, S. Malarselvam, Dr. Anura Welikala, Hemantha Yatawara, Ashan Ratwatte, Saliya Kumara, Fazil Marija, Nogel Ratwatte, Hafiz Marrikar

Sri Lanka Rugby Rep       Ashan Ratwatte

Central Province Rep      Kapila Silva