Approaching the Peterite Centenary- Origins and Significant Early Historical Milestones of Sports at St. Peter’s-by Algi Wijewickrema
in alphabetical order)
– 1927
1927 – The first Athletics Meet had been held on 2nd July 1927 with the Archbishop of Colombo, Rev. Dr. Anthony Coudert as Chief Guest. Mrs. Macrae, wife of the Director of Education, had distributed the prizes.
Records show that D Weerasinghe had won the senior championship while Vyvil Paternott, a younger brother of Norman Paternott – who had been appointed cricket captain and Head Prefect that year – had annexed the junior prize. Norman Paternott himself had won the 100 and 220 yard races. Interestingly Shirley de Silva Illesinghe, who later proved to be a versatile sportsman for St. Peter’s captaining athletics, cricket and rugby had, as an under 14 athlete, won the 100 and 220 yard races and the high jump event.
1930 – Playground is opened and a sports meet is held on 30th Sept 1930.
1934 – The first known Athletics captain is Shirley de S Illesinghe and he had led the team to the Tarbet cup and Jefferson cup wins in that year.
– 1953
Badminton had commenced under skipper V Kulanayagam in 1953 and the team had won the schools championship in the very year the game was introduced at St. Peter’s.
– 1955
Sam Chandrasena had been appointed captain when basketball was introduced in 1955 and in that first year St. Peter’s had beaten Royal, St. Joseph’s and St. Benedicts, ending the season as runners up to Royal College. Chandrasena had also captained the Badminton team in 1955.
– 1945
Fr. Alex Ranasinghe had been the Prefect of Games at the time boxing was introduced at St. Peter’s but no details of dates, performances or names of boxers are available.
– 1999
Carrom had been introduced relatively recently, in 1999 to be more accurate. This had been under the guidance of Rev. Fr. Camillus Fernando, Sport Coordinator but no other details are available.
– 1980
The Chess Club had been formed in 1980 and Michael Elias had been appointed captain of the Peterite Chess team. Michael also captained athletics (1979), cricket (1981), hockey (1979/80) and table tennis (1979 – Schools champions).
– 1927
1927 – The first cricket team had been formed and Norman Paternott had been appointed captain. He continued to captain the Peterites from 1927 to 1930.
1932 – George Jayaweera who was appointed captain in 1931 was captain of the first team to play an official match in 1932. Two official matches were played that year, the first being against St. Benedict’s College and the second against St. Anthony’s, both of which St. Peter’s had won.
1933 – The first Josephian-Peterite Big Match was played on 23rd and 24th February 1933 at the St. Peter’s College grounds with George Jayaweera as the Peterite captain.
1946 – St. Peter’s, under Dion Walles, beat St. Joseph’s for the first time since Big Match rivalry commenced in 1933. The match was played at the SSC.
1975 – The first limited overs Josephian-Peterite match was played on 16th March 1975. Bernard Wijetunga Jr. was the Peterite captain and St. Peter’s won this inaugural limited overs match played at the St. Joseph’s College grounds
– 1925
Football had been the first sport to be introduced at St. Peter’s which had been on 15th June 1925. Fr. E Morrel had been Prefect of Sports at the time.
Regrettably football had taken a backseat or had altogether disappeared as a sport at St. Peter’s until reintroduced in 1979 under Mr. Bernard Fernando
– 1955
Hockey had commenced in 1955 and Sri Wignesvara Rajah had been the appointed captain. The boys had performed creditably in that inaugural season winning 4 out of the 6 matches played. Gone into oblivion later, hockey had been revived at College in the 1979/80 season under Michael Elias.
– 1934
A Rifle Club had been formed in 1934 with the participation of Cadets. Peterite rifle shooters had won awards for shooting and even a shooting range had existed. However with cadetting disallowed after St. Peter’s opted to remain a private non-fee-levying school with the takeover of schools in 1960, rifle shooting had also had to be given up.
– 1959
With rowing introduced in 1959, St. Peter’s had been the 2nd school to gain membership in the Colombo Rowing Club. This sport has now been revived after a lapse of many decades.
– 1932
Rugby had commenced in St. Peter’s in 1932 when Mr. H E Wittahatchy was the Prefect of Games and Lim Bilimoria had been appointed captain. St. Peter’s became the 4th school in the country to play rugby and though losing their first game, going by the current standards achieved by the Peterite ruggerites there is ample justification of that decision to introduce rugby at College.
– 2003
During the Rectorship of Rev. Fr. Felician R Perera squash had been introduced with Mrs. Shiromalee Rajapaksa as the first Teacher in Charge. No other details are available for now.
– 1930 –
Swimming had been introduced in 1930 with the formation of an Aquatic Sports Club on 6th February 1930. Though no swimming pool existed then, with the opening of the swimming pool on 18th January 1991 the Peterite swimmers have been an improved lot producing champion teams on more than one year and even producing a champion swimmer.
– 1929
Tennis had begun with the formation of a Tennis Club in February 1929 and the opening of tennis courts subsequently. Renaissance of Tennis at College was in 1988 during the Rectorship of Fr. Felician R Perera with Mr. K D Y Pathirajah as coach, who continues as coach to date.
The present tennis court complex was built in the year 2000 and with such facilities available and enthusiasm of the coach, master in charge and the administrators, Peterites have been All Island overall Inter School Tennis Champions in 9 out of 11 years from 2005 to 2015.
– 1932
Although 1932 is the earliest year for which a record is available that volleyball existed at St. Peter’s there is no documentary evidence of when the sport commenced. The record spoken of here is in the form of a photo of the team of 1932.
N.B.
The following sports though currently existing at College, the writer has not been able to find out dates/years of start for them:
Gymnastics
Karate
Table Tennis
Taekwondo
With records being sketchy, to say the least, I hope those who could shed light on the beginnings of different sports at St. Peter’s will not hesitate to help by sending any information in their possession.
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