Mohan Sahayam was one of the finest sportsmen to come out of Trinity College, he was a rugby player who, also excelled at cricket and athletics , and had the privilege of leading the rugger team in 1964. He was well known for his dummies and most of the time he sold these dummies like he was selling' Kadala.’ Fly half Mohan can be rated as the best dummy specialist.
He first played for Trinity College in 1962 under Noel. Brohier, in 1963 under Aaanda. Piyasena and in 1964 he led the team and some of the players in his team were Gotabaya Dissanayake, .Gamini. Piyasena, J.T. Labrooy, M.T.M. Zarook, George Carson, C.S. Jayasinghe, N.V. Perera, Sam Canagasabai, Ifthikar Hamid, Gavin Rodie, Dathusena Senanayake.
He won his rugby colours in 1962 along with R.G. Geddes, L. Karunatilake, Asoka.Kehelpanala, .Ananda. Piyasena and the ‘Lion’ in 1963. Having won the ‘Bradby’ in his first two years, it was surprising that Trinity lost in the year of his captaincy, even with thoroughbreds like M.T.M. Zarook, Sam Canagasabai, Gotabaya Dissanayake, Brian Munaweera, Henry Dullewa, Gavin Rodie, Marlin Goonetilleke, Eardley Wadugodapitiya, I. R. Hamid, B.K. Jeerasinghe and C.S.Jayasinghe. They lost both matches to Royal in the Bradby Shield by 0-3 and 6-14 that year.
Straight from school he joined CR and FC and played for a long spell and led the side in 1969, the year Kandy Sports Club led by Denzil Kobbekaduwa entered the Clifford Cup final after 14 long years and this match went in favoor of CR & FC.
He also played for Colombo Clubs and Sri Lanka as a top fly half. The 1969 CR & FC team which won the Clifford Cup by beating Kandy Sports Club were made out of Hadji Omar, ‘Bumpy’ Jayasekara, Dushantha Samarasekera, Junie Cader, Kamal Ratnapala, Indrajith Coomaraswamy, Ajith Abeyratne, Tony de Silva, Tony Srimanne and Mohan Sahayam (Capt), Ronnie Schokman, Hasitha Kannangara, Reggie Batholomeusz, Hamzi Hameed, Iqbal Jumar. Kandy Sports Club team was Y.C. Chang, Mohan Balasuriya, Gavin. Stevens, Rohan Abeysundara, Dr. D. Makuloluwa, Jadi Dissanayake,Deepal de Zoysa, Gamini Udugama, Denzil Kobbekaduwa (Capt) and Jayantissa Ratwatte, Lakshman Samarawijaya, Chang Faa Ching, George Jayasena, Fredrick Prins, Shafie Jainudeen. when the final whistle was blown by Referee Commander. Darley Ingelton the scoreboard read 12-6 in favour of the Longden Place Club.
Mohan Sahayam received the Clifford Cup from then president of the Union Dr. K.B.Sangakkara. When Mohan gave up playing, he became a referee and a coach. It is gratifying to think that his last match as a referee was between Sri Lanka Army and Sri Lanka Police at Galle Face. Mohan was a fine thinker of the game and made rugby a favourite sport. He aso coached the Police rugby team in 1975 and 1976
He first played cricket in 1963,under the captaincy of Sunil Perera but played only three games including the big match, in 1964 played the full season under M.T.M. Zarook and his team mates were S. Galagama, Eardley Wadugodapitiya, Harindra Dunuwille, Anil Ratwatte, Hemendra Ranaweera, David Ondatje, Brian Munaweera, Glen Vanlangenberg, I.R.Hamid, A.H. Jayawaradene, T. Dissanayake, G. Rodie. He was a hard-hitting left hand batsman that year He was awarded colours along with R.B.J. Munaweera, D.C.Ondatje, Hemendra Ranaweera, Anil Ratwatte and Glen Vanlangenberg.
In athletics Mohan was in the 400 metres relay team with Gotabaya Dissanayake, M. S.Jayasinghe and Sarath Weerasinghe. He won the A.H.R. Joseph Challenge Cup for all round excellence in games in 1964 and in the same year he was a School Prefect with G.T. Garson, W.F. Furlong, C.S.Jayasinghe, J.T. Labrooy, D. Periyasamy, R.T. Siriwardene, E.K.B.Wadugodapitiya, A.C.S. Walgampaya and M.T.M. Zarook.
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