Martis maturity for Havies

By Shamseer Jaleel

Sanath Martis the former Isipathana, CR & FC, National Pool and Under-24 player, who has more than 32 years of club and school coaching experience under his belt, will once again guide and support the Havelock Sports Club in their 2020/2021 rugby season.

Martis represented the Isipathana Under-19 outfit in 1983 and 1984 as a hooker. He started his club rugby with the red shirts from 1984 to 1988. Though he was selected for the Taiwan tour under Trinitian Ikram Odayar, he could not tour due to an injury. During his 5 year stint with CR & FC, one of his most remarkable acheivements came in 1987 as the Longdon Place club won the Clifford Cup knockout final, when they edged out Police 6-3 in a thriller, where Shah Dole made the difference with a beautiful drop goal with a distance of nearly 60 meters. During his short club career, he represented the national outfit at the Under-24 segment.

Coaching was the major strength of Sanath Martis, who identified this very early at the age of 24. Soon after he left school, he oversaw the Isipathana juniors. From 1988 to 1992 he looked after Isipathana. In 1989 under his coaching, Isipathana became the sevens champions and the knockout runner-up. In 1992, they became triple champions. 

Martis shifted his base from Colombo to Kurunegala for the next four years, where he was the Head Coach at St. Anne’s and Kurunegala Rugby Football Club. The remarkable achievement was that he enabled both teams from Kurunegala to reach their respective top divisions for the first time in their rugby history. 

A year later, he came back to Colombo and got the appointment at Wesley from 1997 to 2000. In 2001, he took CR & FC to the knockout championship. The next three years he was with his alma mater. 

In 2005, he got to his peak in school coaching when he took over the Peterite outfit. He coached the lads from Bambalapitiya from 2005 to 2011. Between the years of 2006 to 2008, they were league and knockout champions. In 2007, they remained unbeaten. He coached the Peterites to a triple championship in 2010. 

Martis was appointed as the National Development Coach at Sri Lanka Rugby Football Union (SLRFU).

He took over the Royal College team from 2014 to 2017. They became league champions in 2015 and 2016, while winning the Bradby Shield from 2015 to 2017. Then he crossed over to St. Peters yet again and was there for the last two years. He guided St. Peter’s to the knockout championship in 2018. Surprisingly, such a highly recognised coach did not make progress beyond the Junior National team as the Head Coach. He has guided them through several years and produced some outstanding players, who went on to represent their clubs and the Senior National team. He coached the Junior National outfit through 2006 to 2008 and then 2010 and 2015. In club rugby he was the technical advisor in 2008.

Even though he is such a highly talented coach with over three decades of coaching experience under his belt, he is yet to receive a coaching assignment from the governing body. In 2005, he went to the England and Wales on his personal expenses to complete a rugby course.