My Father Felix Reginald Sirimanne – Yashwanth Dahanayake

Sirimanne

My Father Felix Reginald Sirimanne may have been born about the year 1902 or 3, and schooled in Trinity College, Kandy. My close friends have been telling me that I should be proud of the achievements of my Dad in school in excelling in the sports field in Boxing and Rugby, which my dad had never spoken about other than my seeing few cups displayed on a cupboard at home in Nugegoda.

One thing that I still remember is that he had tattooed the Trinity College crest with lion on the left upper arm- quite a large one.

As I was so keen to find out my Dad’s sports achievements in School, this year (2017) I had the opportunity to visit the school during our annual winter-escape holiday from Sydney- to Kandy, Sri Lanka

We did make an appointment to see school Chaplin father Sarath who opened the doors for us to meet the Principal Andrew Fowler-Watt, and other member Ravi Amarasekera-general manager, who received us warmly and were all willing to assist and cooperate in my inquisitive venture.

The Librarian Mrs. Thilini Dias Sumanasekera, took all the trouble to check on my Dad ‘sports records from the archives, and I was lucky for the first time to read my father’s sports achievements in College, with a tear on my face.

My husband and I were so impressed to see how well the buildings and gardens were maintained in the College premises, and that alone made me so proud that my Daddy attended this College.

The records reveal that “The United Services Boxing Association” (USBA) held its boxing championship meet in Colombo, in November 1917. The College sent a large contingent of students to represent the school, but there is special mention that the school was proud to my father F.R. Sirimanne’s team.

Out of the eight cups awarded to the champions of the different weights the school had secured five. An additional cup for the best all-round man, presented by Mr. Leigh Smith, was also won for the school by S.V.Mallawaratchy. Further, the record shows that out of forty points, twenty eight points were achieved and the school was considered the second best team by 14 points and was declared Champions of 1917 and winners of the Stubbs Boxing Shield. It was my father Felix Sirimanne as caption led the team and the records said, “F.R.Sirimanne, the Captain, is to be congratulated on the success of his team”

My father’s team was ably trained by Mr. J.N. Thomas. He had taken a great deal of trouble in bringing the members of the team to the splendid condition they were in on the night of the tournament, and a great deal of success of my Daddy’s team was due to him.

The Trinity College Magazine of the day further stated that my father was the Boxing captain of the school from 1916 to 1918. He won “Lion “for boxing in 1918.

My dream come true, my quest to find out my daddy’s achievements became a reality in my mind, and I am the proud daughter of that sports icon

My grateful thanks to the principal and staff that assisted.

Written by Mrs. Irangani Gunatillake- only daughter of Felix Reginald Sirimanne

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BOXING HISTORY OF TRINITY COLLEGE, KANDY, SRI LANKA

Written by Chronicling the history of a sport which has a rich tradition at Trinity has been an ‘On, off’ sport. Boxing was introduced at Trinity in 1907 for the small boys and became a serious school sport in 1913 for the boys who were physically fit. Mr. Mulgrue of the staff was the first coach and he was assisted by R. V. Routledge, Sgt. Maj. Jobson and Rignell of the Army regiment stationed in Kandy. An inter-house meet was held in the very first year and Trinity won the Stubbs Shield in the inaugural meet in 1914.

Trinity’s ascendency was maintained in 1915, ’17, ’18, ’21, ’22, ’23, ’26, ’49, ’51, and in 1983 by being the winners of the coveted Stubbs Shield. Only Royal and St. Sylvester’s have won the Stubbs Shield on more occasions. The first death-knell to Trinity boxing was in 1962, but, like the phoenix, it sprang back to life in 1978 with the trainers being Bobby Jayaweera, S. B. Kiridena, Leslie Handunge and Sarath Jayasinghe and culminated with winning the Stubbs in 1983.

Sadly the second death-knell was dealt to Trinity boxing in 1984 and was again revived in 2005. Now that a professional boxing Ring has been donated by Dian Gomes, Trinity boxing may once again be on the fast track. Since 2005, Trinity College boxers have managed to show their colours in the ring. They have fared exceptionally well in all meets in which they participated over the years.

In Trinity history, the ‘Lions’ for boxing have been awarded to:

P. Kellora, F. R. Sirimanne, George Wells, Sydney Ratwatte, L. de Sliva, Henry Young, M. S. Daniel, E. C. Godleib, D. L. Y. Paktsun, L. K. L. de Silva, Rajah Sumanasekera, Ikram Odeyar, Udeni Kiridena and Sajith Egodage.

The only Olympian boxer produced by Trinity was Leslie Handunge who represented the country at the London Olympics in 1948 and captained the contingent at the Helsinki Olympics in 1952.

Udeni Kiridena was the only Trinitian to qualify as an A.I.B.A Referee/Judge