It is with profound sadness that the rugby clubs will have to accept the postponement of the oldest and prestigious rugby tournament, the Clifford Cup knockout due to the corona virus pandemic.
This cup was donated by Lady Elizabeth Clifford at the time the Governors wife, on her birthday to be awarded to the winners of the game between All Ceylon and Kandy United Services. That was way back in 1911.
In 1914 the Army regiment from which many of the Kandy United Services players were drawn was transferred from Ceylon following the outbreak of World War I and the competition was suspended until 1926.
The tournament was then converted into a quadrangular with four teams, Low Country, Up Country, the Ceylonese and United Services fighting for supremacy. Once again the competition was disturbed in 1938 due to the Second World War. In 1950 a new strategy was planned and worked out and was introduced to clubs, for the first ever inter-club championship in 1950. The teams that took part were Kandy SC Dimbulla A & CC, Dickoya MCC, Uva Gymkhana Club, Kelani Valley, Havelocks, CR & FC, and CH & FC.
In 1961 five ‘affiliated’ rugby clubs, Police, Army, University, Air Force and Navy from ‘B’ Division were invited to join the tournament and play against the ‘constituent clubs’, forming a thirteen team competition.
The format of the competition was also changed, whereby all 13 clubs had to play each other once on a home and away basis in alternate years and at the end of the league season the best eight teams competed in a knock-out tournament for the Clifford Cup. In 1985 the rugby league competition was renamed the John Player “Gold Leaf” Rugby championships and the SLRFU decided to award the Clifford Cup to the winners of a separate knock-out tournament, conducted among the ‘A’ Division Clubs, held at the end of the regular season.
In 1992 the Clifford Cup final was played at Nittawella. It was after 45 years the Cup final was played out of Colombo since 1957 and for the first time Kandy SC won the cup defeating Police by 22-9. That year both CR & FC and CH & FC boycotted the competition in protest.
Since 1992 Kandy SC has won the Clifford Cup a record 20 times, including a consecutive period of ten years between 1995 and 2005 (the competition was not held in 1998). In 2006 Kandy SC and Navy SC both withdrew from the tournament (Kandy SC due to dispute over the allocation of the ground and Navy SC as their members were called up for national service duty).
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