Thushara Jayalath -the cager turned ruggerite-by Althaf Nawaz

Thushara Jayalath

There was an era when the game of rugby football was listed as one of the prominent sports in the country, with schools engaged in handling the oval shaped ball producing some outstanding players who had the distinction of making their ‘Alma Mater’ proud. Thushara Jayalath was one of them who represented St. Peter’s College, Colombo, with a sound academic and sporting career and ended up by donning the National jersey .

Thushara who is in 50’s hails from a family that had no previous involvement in sports. He was not actively encouraged to pursue or participate in sporting activities. However, as an over-enthusiastic child, he often found much joy in participating in a wide range of sports. His father was a civil servant, and mother was a housewife. His illustrious academic career was at St Peter’s College, Colombo, where he joined his first sports discipline, which was basketball and played as a Centre forward.

While being a member of the team, he succeeded in winning the under-19 schools Basketball Championship in 1987, under the coaching of Ajith Kuruppu, one of the renowned basketball coaches in Sri Lanka. During that year, he also went on a tour of Maldives winning the ‘Ali Jinnah Trophy’. The year 1988 was another productive year for him where he managed to clinch the title by defeating Dharmasoka Ambalangoda in the finals with a score of 53-46,That team was coached by Sohan Wimalaratne (a past Peterite and National Basketball player). While he was dribbling the ball for his college basketball team, he was selected for the National schools team. Gradually maturing as a sportsman, he had shown interest in rugby, often playing tag rugby with his friends for fun. Two of his close friends in school-Manoj Bakshani and Harin Perera motivated him to take up rugby, where he finally wore the College jersey representing the school under-19 rugby team in 1989 under the captaincy of Colin Denish. While concentrating on studies, the rugby team was coached by a former rugby referee and coach, S.W. Chang. Under his watchful eyes and guidance, he was able to hone his rugby skills and improvise his techniques, which led the way to a long and successful career in rugby.

While competing in school rugby, he had an opportunity to join the Havelocks under-20 Rugby Squad in 1989, after which his school rugby career came to an end. In 1990, he completed his Advanced Level examination and joined Peterson Rugby Club. During his tenure as a player Petersons went on to win many matches by overcoming several big names in the fray in that era.

Subsequently, in 1991 he rejoined Havelocks and played until 1998 occupying the position of second row forward. He opted to cross over to another club to see whether his fortunes will change and on a request made by Asanga Seneviratne and Rizly Illyas he joined CH and FC from 1999 and went on to play until 2002 as a second row forward.

Upon receiving his A/Level results, he decided to apply to Kotelawala Defence University with the hope of joining the Sri Lanka Army. Following his acceptance into this academy in 1991, he was offered a job at ANZ Grindlays Bank, which was organized by his club Havelocks, affirming that he will continue playing for them. Same year, while playing for Havelocks, he was selected to represent Sri Lanka in a match against Hong Kong as part of the under-24 rugby team led by Imthi Marikkar. Then he played in the 1994 R. Premadasa Trophy Final which they lost to CH. In 1995, he was entrusted as the captain of Havelocks under Ana Saranapala’s coaching. In1996, he was a part of the rugby team representing Sri Lanka in the Asian Rugby Football Tournament led by Priyantha Ekanayake. In 1997, he was selected to represent Asian Barbarians along with Priyantha Ekanayake and Harin Perera. In the same year he represented the winning team in Asian Quadrangular Tournament under Priyantha Ekanayke’s leadership.

During the 2000 rugby season, Nazeem Mohamed (the captain of CH) suffered an injury which sidelined him until the end of the season. During his absence, he was made a makeshift captain until Nazim returned after recovery. After leading the Gymkhana club in two matches, he decided to step down from that position feeling uncomfortable due to various reasons.

One of the achievements at CH was winning the Caltex Rugby League in 2000, which was one of the fondest memories of his rugby career whilst demonstrating his rugby skills. In 2000, he represented the Sri Lanka team in Japan under the coaching of Nimal Lewke. In his illustrious rugby career, he was extremely fortunate to be associated with some of the best

coaches in rugby circles like Ana Saranapala, Nimal Lewke, Ajith Abeyratne, Tony Amith and S.W. Chang. He paid a glowing tribute to the late George Simpkin for recognizing the potential in him and improving Sri Lanka’s rugby standards.

Rugby has taught him many valuable lessons in life which he was able to take into account not just on the field but also in day to day life. He was transformed to a good human being due to his sportsmanship. At present he is living in London as an entrepreneur with his wife and 16-year-old