Royal vs. Mahinda annual football encounter on Sunday

By Ruzaik Farook 

The annual football encounter between Royal College Colombo and Mahinda College Galle for the prestigious Albert Edirisinghe Challenge Trophy will be played for the 25th time this year at the Race Course Grounds, Colombo 7 on 28 October from 3 p.m. onwards with the participation of parents, distinguished old boys, students and football lovers.

The tournament was inaugurated in 1984 by Albert Edirisinghe of Albert Edirisinghe Opticians Ltd., an old boy of Mahinda College, and his sons Gamini Edirisinghe and Janaka Edirisinghe who are old boys of Royal College. 

During that year, C.T.M. Fernando was the Principal of Royal College and C.K. Waidyaratne was the Principal of Mahinda College. The Royalists were led by Darshana Perera while the Mahindians were captained by Priyantha Kumara with S.J. Maranthota and B.P. Kiringoda being the Masters-in-Charge of the two schools respectively.

The defending champions Royal College lead the tally by winning this prestigious trophy 21 times, while Mahinda College has won once.

The football team of Royal College will be led by Sakun Divyanga while the Mahinda College will be captained by D.L.P.P Dalugoda. 

The Chief Guest for the event will be Darshana Perera who captained the Royal College Team at the inaugural Albert Edirisinghe Trophy match in 1984.

Pradeep Vittanachchi, Chairman of the Royal College Union Football Advisory and Management Committee, who took the initiative to restart this memorable encounter after a lack of play in 2014, cordially invite all the Royal and Mahinda Soccer fraternity to come to witness the event.