Second row forward Gayan Fernando shone for CR and Sri Lanka-by Althaf Nawaz

Gayan Fernando

Source:Dailynews

A coach plays a pivotal role in identifying the talents and teaching the basics of the game while transforming him to a valuable player in any sporting discipline. The game of rugby too has similar circumstances and Gayan Fernando was no stranger to this as he was influenced and motivated by late Kamal Jayawardena who was instrumental in producing several outstanding players who later represented Sri Lanka.

Gayan was born in 1987 in Colombo and was called ‘Gayya’ in rugby circles. His father is Ravindra Fernando a former basketball player of Ananda College and was also a bodybuilder of YMCA, Colombo. He worked in Doha Qatar for quite some time. His mother is Nayana Ranasinghe a housewife. He has one sister Gayani. He started his school career at

Asoka Vidyalaya, Colombo from 1992 and continued his studies till 2002 and in 2003, he moved to Ananda College, Colombo for further studies which concluded in 2006. He was a six footer and had a playing weight of 105 kilogrammes. Gayan from his teenage years had a liking for sports on par with academic studies. He was involved in athletics and cricket apart from rugby at school.

It was one of his friends from Isipathana College who encouraged him to play rugby even though he didn’t have any idea about the game. He forcefully arranged a meeting with Sanath Martis who was the Coach at Isipathana at that time (2001). Martis wanted him to join Isipathana to play rugby. However, he decided to learn the basics of rugby while being at Asoka until he completed the GCE O/L exams as per his father’s advice. In 2001, he embarked on his rugby career at Asoka at the age of 14 under the coaching of late Kamal Jayawardena who was the pivotal character of Asoka College Rugby. Jayawardena identified him as an ideal second row forward for the under-15 team which played in a 10-a-side tournament. At the age of 15, he

played for the Asoka first XV team as a permanent second rower along with the senior players which provided him the necessary confidence to continue his rugby career. He was an extremely mobile player on the field due to the speed and agility skills which he gained as an athlete at school. 2002 was a remarkable year in his rugby career as he was selected to represent the

Sri Lanka under-16 team under the captaincy of Namal Rajapaksa the present Sports Minister. That team which played in the Asiad held in Chinese Taipei won the ‘Plate Championship’ with a remarkable performance. This tournament was an eye opener for rugby in Sri Lanka as most of the rugby greats in the country such as Fazil Marija, Achala Perera, Eranda Weerakkody were members of this team. Apart from the National level, he captained Asoka under-15

XV-a-side team. During this time, they beat the high riding Isipathana for the first time in the history of Asoka at the inter school Western Province Tournament.

In 2003, he joined Ananda at the age of 16 soon after O/L’s to continue his studies in Maths stream. However, Rugby being the main reason for him to join Ananda, who were competing in “A” Division Rugby arena. From 2003 to 2005, he established a permanent place in the Ananda first XV team under the captaincy of Mindika Jayasinghe, Anuradha Fonseka and Sumith Dahanayake respectively. He was appointed captain of the college first XV team in 2006 which managed to remain in the ‘A’ Division even though they lost a few matches. He would like to extend a big thank you to his coaches Hisham Abdeen,G B Gunadasa, Shashika Cooray and Yugantha Karunaratne who coached them to remain as one of the skilled teams in the fray. He won the Ananda colours three times, the Prestigious Ananda “PADMA” Award and National

Schools Colours three times for his performances during the school days.

In 2004, he represented the under-19 National Rugby team under the captaincy of Namal Rajapaksa which was held in Kunming, China. They concluded the tournament as the fourth placed team losing to host China at the play off. In 2005, he was selected to play for Sri Lanka National team under the captaincy of Late Sajith Mallikarachchi and continued playing in several

tournaments including World Cup Qualifiers in Kazakhstan, where his National Rugby career extended till 2010.

This was another golden opportunity for him to play with some of the greats of the game in that era like Sanjeewa Jayasinghe, Chamara Withanage, Amjad Buksh, Asanga Rodrigo, Pavithra Fernando few to be named, despite being a school boy. He occupied the second row berth along with another old Anandian Dinesh Sanjeewa. With the experience of training with the National team, he was identified as the Junior Rugby Captain to lead the under-19 National Rugby team in 2005 for Asian Rugby Tournament which was held in Lahore, Pakistan.

After his productive school rugby career, he resumed his club rugby in 2007 with CR and FC under the captaincy of Shamil Mohamed and coached by Tavita Tulagaese affectionately called Laga. which won the Caltex President’s Trophy by beating CH and FC 22-11 in the final. It was a promising year for CR Rugby. It was a pleasure for him to play with some big names in Sri Lanka Rugby at that juncture such as Pavithra Fernando, Dushanth Lewke, Ashen Karthelis (Kara), Anuja Perera, Danushka Boteju , Radhika Hettiachachi, Mohamed Sheriff, Viraj Prasantha, Amjad Buksh, de Costa Brothers (Ashan and Lasintha) during his tenure at CR. While representing CR, he was selected for the National Rugby Squad which played at the Asia Five Nations tournament under the captaincy of Dushanth Lewke.

However, it was unfortunate that he had to withdraw from the team at the last minute due to a severe back injury. But he bounced back in 2010 and played for Sri Lanka Police as a second row forward for two consecutive years. In 2011 he hung up his boots.

In 2012 he joined Nations Trust Bank as a Banking Assistant and played Mercantile Sevens for three consecutive years. He led the Sevens team in 2014 to reach the Bowl semi-finals under the guidance of Lakala Perera who was their coach.

Currently he is working at DFCC Bank PLC in the capacity of Corporate Communications and Brand Engagement Manager. He is a passionate cyclist and an ardent Toastmaster who has excelled in Public Speaking. He holds a MBA with a commendation specialized in Marketing from the University of Bedfordshire, UK, a postgraduate diploma in Marketing from the University of Kelaniya and a Professional Certificate from Chartered Institute of Marketing, UK. His wife Lakmini works for an Engineering firm in the capacity of accounts assistant and has a child Devsith.