“One of my main priorities will be establishing a Rugby Academy for youngsters at the club, which is a must if we are to retain our players to form a formidable side in the future to play in the domestic tournaments.”said Thusitha Peiris speaking to Daily News, soon after being elected as the President of Havelock Sports Club at their 105th Annual General Meeting held at the club house last Saturday.after serving the club for an un interrupted 28 years as player coach and administrator,
Thusitha clinched a thumping victory with 54 majority votes, proving to his critics that he still has the blessings, trust and confidence of their fellow club members to take the box seat and serve the club for another two years. He obtained 148 votes while his opponent Tyronne Coonghe managed to collect 96 votes. The 48 year old Thusitha is a product of D.S.Senanayake College, Colombo who became the first old boy of that school to be elected as the President of Havelock Sports Club. He also occupied the General Secretary position for over two years at the Sri Lanka Rugby(SLC). After leaving school in 1991 he was very keen on playing club rugby and sought his father’s assistance to enrol him in a good club to play the game, where he was later posted to the park Club.
In the year 1992, Thusitha donned the jersey for Havelock’s “Bambaras” in the ‘B’ division tournament and got promoted to play in the next season for ‘A’ division side. He shifted his playing position as hooker on the advice of Yu Cey .Chang. He represented the senior team for eight years before he hung up his boots
In the year 2004 he was entrusted to take over the under-21 club team as coach which he ultimately guided to the finals. Two years later he got into the administration and played the dual role of the Vice President and coach. In the 2007/8 season he left for Australia to complete his level-two coaching stint. After his return he opted to coach St.Peters and D.S.Senanayake Colleges for a few years.
He was later entrusted with the herculean task in 2010 with the Park Club which was under relegation winning only a single match in the previous season. He devoted his precious time for four continuous years for the betterment and the uplift of the rugby standard of the club, under several capacities shared with some other coaches.
Then he changed gears in 2015 to get into the club administration and served as the Treasurer for them until he got elected as the President. He also served in the same capacity for the Western Province Rugby Football
Union from 2013 to 2017 and later in 2018 got elected to serve as the General Secretary at the SLR from 2018/19.
According to him running a club is a huge task for anyone in the last few years due to the Easter Sunday attack followed by the Covid-19 pandemic The park which has limited resources to generate income has a huge budget to conduct the Rugby season, which is becoming more money oriented. With the present scenario getting sponsorship is also going to be challenging but he is confident that they can turn tables with the support of the members and the stakeholders.
“We have some tough times in the coming months where we feel that all sports can rise up only with the dawn of next year. My idea is to transform this club to a family rugby club which has a long history of 105 years.
Retaining the players soon after a season has become a mounting task due the involvement of money these days. Some of the clubs are deploying this strategy to hunt for the best from other clubs, which is exactly a disastrous situation for the game. In the good old days it was the other way round as the players played for the love and the passion of the game. Most of the clubs have urged the SLR to formulate a system to at least contract a player for three years with a club without destroying the strength of the pool.
We hope the governing body will adhere to this seriously and executive a plan for the future of the game, which has a seen a tremendous decrease in the spectator turn up. By and large I hope to rejuvenate and raise the standard of the club and the game of rugby at the club to recapture its past glory.” concluded Thusitha.
Anuja Premaratne PC and Rajeev Perera were elected as Vice Presidents while former Thomian Nirupan Wijrratne is the new General Secretary while former Thomian ruggerite Sammy Akbar takes over as the Treasurer
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