LEST WE FORGET – ROYDEN DE SILVA PETERITE SPORT’S STAR OF THE 1960’S AND 1970’S
Source : ST PETER’S COLLEGE OBSC Melbourne Summer Newsletter – 2023 / 2023
Royden de Silva, a gentleman to his fingertips who passed away on December 19, 2021, could be considered one of Sri Lanka’s outstanding sportsmen having represented the country in rugby and basketball, two sports that demand the utmost endurance.
He started his sporting career as a 16-year-old at St Peter’s College in the two sports and was spotted by Dr. Hubert Aloysius, a Havelocks captain in the ’60s who invited him to join the club offering him a place and position in the team. In a seven-year period from 1966, he was a key member of the Havelocks rugby
team which won two Clifford Cups. During that period he represented Orient’s Basketball Club and was a member of the National team. He captained Havelocks Sports Club in 1973 before leaving Sri Lanka to further his career in shipping in West Asia.
A particular incident that is worthy of mention was when he represented the Havelocks in a game against
their traditional rivals the C.R. & F.C. which was a rugby cup final and then immediately left to play for
Orient’s in a basketball final the same day! An unassuming and popular figure, he played hard but
clean in the best traditions of the game. He took early retirement to care for his ailing mother. Sadly shortly before her demise fate dealt him a cruel blow with a debilitating illness. He bore it with his characteristic charming smile that tamed many an opponent on the playing field.
The only son of late Mr. and Mrs. Wilson de Silva, he lived in his childhood home in Wellawatte, then a leafy suburb. Gone to a better place but not forgotten.
