Kandy Sports Club is the most successful team in the history of Sri Lanka rugby, and has won the league title the most number of times, This club team has created an unique record in the annals of local rugby by winning the league title for the sixth successive year and 21 times since 1994. Most of the clubs did all they could to lay their hands on the league title but the proud Kandy SC side prevented them from snatching it away from their custody with some superb rugby.
The Kandy Sports Club rugby team is nothing short of a sporting phenomenon. In a history spanning over 146 years,the Kandy SC side have won titles more than all the other clubs. What then has allowed Kandy SC rugby to be so successful for so long? The identified crucial elements, which when combined have helped to create the all-conquering Kandy SC.
The Kandy SC rugby team,is more than just a band of brothers on the field, they are also very tangibly the representatives of their Club. That gives the side an added spirit and togetherness which is hard for any opposing side to match, let alone overcome. They first won it in1994, under the captaincy of Indrajith Bandaranayke. In the last season’s tournament Kandy SC played as a very well organized team and never squandered possession as they always endeavoured to put it to good use. They played to a plan and pattern and every player knew his job well and that is what separated them from the rest of the other teams.All that was due to the good knowledge of the players.
It was in 1992 for the first time Kandy SC won a tournament and that was the Clifford cup Knock-out beating Police by 22 points to 9, under the captaincy of Maurice Joachim who took over the captaincy from Ananda Kasthuriarachchi who led in the league to take the second place. Ananda, a Kingswoodian had a stiff task with the president of that time, who wanted to play two players who had never come for practices and he had to give way for Maurice to lead the Kandy Sports Club to win the Clifford Cup.
The Club was established in 1874 as the Kandy Athletic, Boating,Cricket, Football and Dancing Club. In 1888, 14 years later, the name was changed to Kandy Sports Club when the club also started playing rugby, hockey and polo. The home ground was Bogambara until 1939 when the British Colonial army took over during the Second World War the Club continued to exist in difficult circumstances until the municipal property at Nittawela became the permanent home of the Kandy Sports Club.
The shift to Nittawela was no easy task and was made possible through the untiring efforts of some eminent personalities.
In Kandy rugby is today the number one glamour sport at club level and whenever Kandy Sports Club is involved fans flock to the venues in their thousands to enjoy the thrills and spills that the players provide.Rugby is the main sporf in Kandy’s sports calendar.
Kandy Sports Club’s rugby maintains an iron- grip on the game at all levels. Their system was all about sharing information at different levels. They have proved they are the best and kept winning through determination, discipline, dedication and believing in themselves which are the characteristics needed by a team to reach the top.
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