Royal boxers regain the Stubbs after 30 years at 100th Stubbs Shield Meet

Royal College regained school boxing’s Stubbs Shield after 30 years at the 100th Stubbs Shield Meet, which took place from 7-10 October at the MAS Arena of Royal College, Colombo. 

From the eight-member team, six boxers qualified for the finals. In the finals four boxers won their weight classes and ended up with gold medals while the other two ended up with silver medals. The team was trained by Head Coach Ibunu Abdulla. Royal College Principal B.A. Abeyrathna was invited to hand over the shield.

The following are the medal winners:

• 52 Kg Weight Class – M.M.A. Ahamed won a gold medal 
• 56 Kg Weight Class – U.M.B.  Niranjana won a gold medal
• 56 Kg Weight Class - H.V.D. Hettiarachchi won a gold medal (Youth)
• 75 Kg Weight Class - P. Samarasinghe won a gold medal (Youth)
• 60 Kg Weight Class - M.A.M. Aseen won a silver medal (Youth)
• 64 Kg weight Class - V. Attygalle won a silver medal (Youth)
• 49 Kg Weight Class - R.A. Altaf won a bronze medal (Youth)
• 52Kg Weight Class – M.I.M. Ishaq won a bronze medal (Youth)

The 2016 Royal College Captain U.M.B. Niranjana was judged the best boxer of the meet. The teachers in charge of boxing, Janaka Atulugama and A.D.S. De Silva, and Senior Games Master Riyaz Aluher were also present along with the members of the Royal College Union – Boxing Advisory and Management Committee members.

Team Captain M.A. Ahamed thanked the event organisers, referees and judges, the principal of Royal College, Senior Games Master, the teachers in charge, ABA President Dian Gomes, all ABA Ex-Co members, the Secretary and members of the Royal College Union, the RCU Boxing Advisory and Management Committee, the members of the Royal Boxing Club, past and present students of Royal College who supported the team and all the academic staff at Royal College. Ahamed said that if not for all these individuals this achievement would not have been possible after a hiatus of 30 years. 

Priantha Malavi, the Immediate Past Chairman of the RCU Boxing Advisory and Management Committee, offered the following brief summary of the history of boxing at Royal College.

The first Ceylonese and first Royalist to make headway in boxing overseas was Donald Obeyesekere. He fought his way to victory at Cambridge way back in 1898. Upon his return to Ceylon, his set resolve was to further the cause of boxing as an art of self defence in schools, and Royal became one of the chief beneficiaries. To remedy the dearth of organised sports, boxing was introduced to Royal in 1913. 

The Principal at the time was Charles Hartley. A challenge shield was presented for inter-house boxing in 1919 by Donald Obeyesekere, and this gave Royal a head start over most other schools. L. Mac D. Robison, a Director of Education, also assisted in training the boys. The son of the Bishop of Oxford, Sir R.E. Stubbs, when serving as the Colonial Secretary of Ceylon, bestowed a thrust to boxing that is still very much alive by presenting the Stubbs Shield for competition among schools in 1914, making them veritable nurseries of the noble art. It could be said of Donald Obeyesekere, that he lit the torch of boxing at Royal, which was ably carried on by his son, Danton, for 55 years.

This is best illustrated by the fact that Royal has participated in every Stubbs Shield meet since its inception in 1914, except in 1999 and 2010.

Danton Obeyesekere was the first Royalist to win the Best Boxer’s Cup at the Stubbs Shield in 1925 and later became the first Asian to captain Cambridge University in any sport, in 1928. The other Cambridge ‘Blues’ were Steve Dassanayake, Frederick Obeyesekere, Cedric de Soysa and Ponnambalam Rajendram, whilst Chris de Saram captained Oxford University.

A.W. Henricus won a gold medal for the country at the Empire Games in Sydney, Australia in 1938, whilst A.I. Obeyesekere won a bronze medal at the Empire Games in Auckland, New Zealand in 1948.

E.I. Gray and A.I. Obeyesekere represented the country at the Olympic Games in London, England in 1948, while B.C. Henricus represented the country at the Olympic Games in Helsinki, Finland in 1952.

M.A. Jayalath represented Sri Lanka at the Asian Games in New Delhi, India in 1982.

Danton Obeyesekere, Eddie Gray and Maj. Gen. Jagath Jayasuriya have had the distinction of qualifying as AIBA referees and judges. Royal emerged champions at the Stubbs Shield meet for the first time in 1935 during the centenary year, two years after Danton Obeyesekere had begun coaching the Royal team. Royal’s boxing struck a purple patch during the 1940s (1944-47) and the 1980s (1984-87), to set up a series record of four consecutive wins. This record was subsequently broken by Vidyartha College, Kandy, who had seven consecutive wins (1991-97).

Royal still holds the record for the most number of wins in the Stubbs Shield series with 18 (now 19) wins. The most number of individual wins recorded in the Stubbs Shield series were by A.B. Henricus (7), F.I.T. Labrooy (6), H. Bandara (6), S.B. Samaratunge (5), H. Ousman (5) and M.M.A. Nisthar (5).

Royal has also won the Phelps Memorial Trophy at the A.B.A. Junior Championships on four occasions, the T. B. Jayah Memorial Challenge Cup for Novices on six occasions and the L.V. Jayaweera Challenge Cup for Freshers once.

D.V. Boderagama has been the only Royalist to win a national title as a schoolboy, when he won the flyweight category in 1946 at the age of 17.