Martis back at St. Peter’s College Bamba

By Shamseer Jaleel

Former Isipathana and CR & FC player and past National Junior Head Coach Sanath Martis will cross over to Bambalapitiya to take over the coaching reins at St. Peter’s College for 2018/2019. 

Martis will be shifting gears after his previous stint at Royal College, where he guided the Reid Avenue outfit for a few successful seasons. Now Martis will have more freedom when he will be allowed to coach a club side as well in the coming season.

Martis represented the Green Shirts from 1983-1984 before representing the Junior Asiad outfit the following year. In the same year he donned the Red Jersey at Longdon Place.

He began coaching at Isipathana’s junior level before taking over the Under-19 outfit in 1987. During the last two decades of school coaching he displayed his deep knowledge of the game, guiding St. Anne’s, Wesley, St. Peter’s and Royal College to many famous wins. Further, he ended the Bradby drought for Royal College during his time there, winning it for three consecutive years from 2015-2017. 

In early 2000 he took the Bambalapitiya outfit to many famous wins plus a league win which was a formality for the Peterites during this time.

Martis produced some outstanding players, picking them at a very young age. Some of these players are Dhanushka Ranjan, Sayuru Anthony, Sandun Herath, Dulaj Perera and Sharo Fernando. If not for Martis these youngsters, plus a few more players, would have given up rugby. 

Further, Martis guided Sri Lanka to many wins at the Junior Asiad level. One of his best achievements was a third place finish in South Korea in 2008. Unfortunately he did not get an opportunity at the club level but he is assured to take over one of the leading clubs in the top division in the coming year.

The last few seasons have been disappointing for the Peterites as they finished sixth in 2017, fifth in 2016 and sixth in 2015, showing that they need a restructuring of their system.

Speaking to Daily FT earlier in the day, Martis said that he wanted to take on a new challenge and take on something that would challenge him. Martis also added that he planned to take on coaching in both the club and schools arena, hinting that he is set to take over at one of the Colombo clubs in the Dialog Club Rugby League as well.