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Pocket dynamo in the field of rugby – Japana

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19 December 2017 12:01 am - 0     - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

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On October 15, 2017 Brig. Japana (Jaupana) Jayawardena was presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award from Sri Lanka Rugby in recognition of his loyalty and dedication towards the game of rugby in Sri Lanka. A product of Trinity College, Kandy where sports is part and parcel of the Trinity lifestyle, rugby in particular runs through the veins of almost all who walk through the annals of this well known and loved school in the hills. Brig. Jayawardena was also taken up by the sport at a young age and then went on to have an illustrious career. Even today he strives to contribute towards the sport he so loves and the Daily Mirror had the pleasure of speaking to him on everything ‘rugby’...


Q : What is your full name and how did it become ‘Japana’?

My name is Jayadeva Prakrama Amarasekera Jayawardena.  
The main sounds of my name were J – P – A with N-A at the end as I am a ‘Jayawardena’ – I was small made in stature and very agile, and I was in the boarding house from Junior School and someone said, ‘You are like a Japan Bonikka’ so then it came down to ‘Japana’ – in fact it was Ranjan Edirisinghe from Trinity College who initiated the name ‘Japana’ from Japan Bonikka – it was shortened because they didn’t want to have two nicknames.

In school nicknames go a long way – generally we don’t call each other by first name, most of us in the boarding school had nicknames – we still call each other, our batch mates in particular, by their nickname and when I played rugby for school and then at club level and for Sri Lanka the name came along too and I was branded ‘Japana Jayawardena’ – only my immediate family knows me as Jayadeva – if you say Jayadeva Jayawardena no one will know who I am!


Q : Which year were you born?

I was born on October 25, 1947


Q : How did you end up at Trinity College?

My father was a government servant and we were based in a remote area in Anuradhapura.
I was born in Botale – Pahala Waluwa, Ambepussa.

My mother hailed from Botale and my father was from Keembiya, Baddegama in the South. He was proposed to my mother by D. S. Senanayake.

My mother’s parents did not want their daughter to live 100 miles away in Galle – in those days the roads were very narrow and it was very far off so they all got married to close relations and relatives so my mother was the only one who went out of the vicinity of the grandparents and eventually my father came and settled down in Botale. Seeing as he was a government servant he got transferred from place to place and that was why I was boarded at Trinity.

 

"It’s not only the referees that have to be educated – there are five links – the player-coaches-administrators/management-referees-spectators – if any of these break, there will be a breakdown in good rugby. You can play rugby but enjoyable rugby won’t happen if there’s a breakdown in the chain – this is how rugby can progress"


But before I was boarded at Trinity, I was in Grade One at Mahaillupallama Maha Vidyalaya.
My father gave English tuition and he wanted me to go to a school where English was spoken as he was from St. Aloysius’ College, Galle while my mother schooled at Kegalle Convent.

My admission fees were paid to S. Thomas’ College, Mt Lavinia but the admission test results came from Trinity College, Kandy saying that I had passed and it was my mother who decided that I go to Trinity because of the better climate and the Maligawa (my mother was a strong Buddhist so going to the Maligawa was important to her) plus both ways it was 35 miles (from Warakapola).

As my other relatives had gone to S. Thomas’ my mother said the setting would be better in the hills and that it was best I attended Trinity College and I remained at the Boarding at Trinity till I left school.


Q : What was boarding life like at Trinity?

It was very interesting in fact the main live wire at Trinity was the Boarding House – There were less Day Scholars and more Boarders I think!

It was a typical public school boarding house based on true English style as it is a missionary school of the Church of England – we had House Masters and House Monitors. And the Principal when I joined was Norman Walter, he was succeeded by CJ Oorloff – a public servant, the Commissioner of Prisons and the former Principal of Wesley College.

We had very strict masters and senior boarding house masters who guided us like Tudor Silva who was an Army Officer and Hillary Abeyratne who was a vice principal.


Q : How did your transition into sports come about?

Everybody at Trinity had to go to the grounds after school at 3 pm – all the boarders had to go whether they liked it or not and we were allowed to play whichever sport we liked – rugby, athletics, cricket – after school unlike today where children are sent for tuition, we were sent out to play a sport.
In those days we were reluctant to go for tuition because if you did you were considered a dud! If you did not study you were put on report – and you had to report to the vice principal every Friday with the class teacher’s remarks.


Q : So how did you choose rugby?

Unlike today in the Junior School there was no rugby but soccer. We had to play soccer up to Grade Five – I was selected for the Under 12 team.

I remember scoring the first goal against St. Paul’s – that encouraged me sports-wise.
Unlike today our parents or guardian never came to the grounds or spoke to a coach or the administrators – we were an unknown entity – whoever excelled was in the team – it was based on performance. They never said ‘This is the son of an Old Boy’ – there was no favouritism.

When we came to the Upper School – we were exposed to Under 15 rugby. I was selected to play for the Under 15 team from Grade 6 for Ryde House.

I played for the Under 15 team and it was our senior monitor/prefect – Chulika De Silva who later became the CEO of Reckitt & Colman who selected us into the positions for the rugby team and we ended up playing Sri Lanka in the same positions as well.

In the Under 15 team we had the third row of the pack – Sajith Abeyratha – he played as number eight, Sundaralingam – played wing forward, ‘Gogi’ Thilakaratne played wing forward and then myself as scrum half and Glen Van Langenberg as fly half – all five of us played in those positions for the Trinity College team and the Club and for Sri Lanka – which was a unique thing.

 

"Unlike today our parents or guardian never came to the grounds or spoke to a coach or the administrators – we were an unknown entity – whoever excelled was in the team – it was based on performance. They never said ‘This is the son of an Old Boy’ – there was no favouritism"


Q : Your parents?

My mother was Seela Kulathilaka Senanayake Amarasekera and my father was Peter Jayawardena.


Q : Take us through your school rugby years

At the time (1965/’66) we (Ryde House) won all the sports shields – hockey, rugby, basketball, cross country and athletics.

We were very limited in our studies so we couldn’t win the studies shield –we were the last in the studies shield but first in sports so we lost the all round shield – The all round shield was given to encourage people to balance sports and studies.


Q : What was most noteworthy in your school sporting career?

I played Under 17 rugby and the team was captained by a colleague of mine, Prasanna Jayawardena –we had the same sort of set up and there was a Maldivian who played wing three quarter – Rasheed. We were coached by our vice principal, Hillary Abeyratne and we were unbeaten.

I also played hockey for school and for the Kandy District.

When I wanted to play rugby – my position was taken by the Trinity College captain at the time (1965) , MTM Zarook who played as scrum half and as I could not find a place – you can’t oust the captain – I represented my school in hockey.

In 1966 as Zarook left – I was selected to play scrum half and I paired off with my Under 15 fly half Glen Van Langenberg – we played together till Sri Lanka.

In 1966 three Lions were awarded to Glen Van Langenberg, Sundaralingam and myself. I was the newcomer to the side – so first year I played I got the Lion – a unique achievement.


Q : Who won the Bradby that year?

We won it and Trinity was captained by Glen Van Langenberg that year and the First XV Coach at Trinity was Percy Madugalle.

When we played the Bradby we had three points each for the penalty and the try, unlike today. Jaimon playing for Royal, put over a penalty in the first half and in the dying stages of the second half we were losing the game – Archibald Perera from St. Peter’s was blowing the match – and I think with the whistle – as I scored the try in the five metre scrum – I crept though and scored the try – that try was awarded and the match was over. We drew in the corner flag side, there was a scrum and I scored off that and the first leg ended as a three all draw.

The second leg they came to Kandy and we beat them – 12-03.   


Q : What happened after you played school rugby?

In those days we had Colombo Schools versus Outstation Schools. Outstation Schools included S. Thomas’ (because Mount Lavinia was considered ‘outstation’), Trinity and the other schools in the outstations – schools like Dharmaraja hadn’t started rugby so it was mainly Trinity and S. Thomas’ that got together in the Outstation Schools.

The Colombo Schools were Royal, Thurstan, Isipathana and Zahira.

The Outstation Schools played against Colombo Schools – out of that we were selected for a team called the Sri Lanka Schools Team and they played against the University of Colombo.
In all those games I paired off with Glen and all five of us played in the same positions – it was a good combination. This was how we progressed into the Sri Lanka side – there was clear progression thanks to how the sport was structured then.


Q : When did this structure change?

Those days schools rugby was under command to the Sri Lanka Rugby Football Union (SLRFU).
After we played they wanted to have their own association and they broke away from the rugby union.
In our time we had two representatives from the schools that were in the SLRFU as committee members so there was a good rapport between the schools and the clubs. Now, schools are doing their thing and rugby union are doing theirs.

In those days the rugby union was responsible for the development of rugby in Sri Lanka – school and club so maybe due to economic, political and other reasons, these changes occurred. 

The economic state – the nationalisation of the plantations/tea plantation sector affected the game too as it was foreigners who kept rugby going in the hills and it was the foreigners who were into planting.
I remember Dimbulla won the Clifford Cup – it was either 1953 or 1955 – and they had foreigners playing while Colombo CH&FC had foreigners too.

There were foreign players I met and played with like John Borrows (CH&FC), he was a full back. We participated together in the Asiad Rugby Tournaments. Then there was Maurice Marrinon who played for CH with the exception of Lorenz Perera.


Q : You think the standard was different then because of the foreign influence?

Yes and with my stature playing against foreigners – they were waiting to catch me because I used to run around, they weren’t pleased – by the time they had moved I had run! – These were our jokes on and off the field.


Q : Take us through your time playing club rugby

So the five of us decided to play for clubs and we all came to Havelocks except for Ajith Abeyratne – because his father, uncle etc had played for CR&FC he went there and I came along with Glen, Gogi Tillekaratne and Sunderalingam, to Havelocks and we gradually played for Sri Lanka.

There was an All India tournament where we travelled to India to play in 1968/69.
At that time the rivalry was between Havelocks and CR, and CR had a very good scrum half in Tony Sirimanne with Mohan Sahayam as fly half. They also had Azain – who captained CR and was the inside three quarter. Then there was Didacus De Almeida, Sari De Silva and EDK Roles.

EDK Roles was a senior who played with Denzil (Kobbekaduwa) for College. Mohan Sahayam was a Trinitian as was Azain – they were senior to me but we opposed each other on the field – Tony Sirimanne was a Thomian.

Then in our side we had famous people like – Holden Bottle, Caven Gauder, Royden de Silva and Chellaiah – he was a second row, while Gamini Fernando was my first captain. We also had guys like Noel Brohier, Ifthikar Hameed but he was replaced by Sundaralingam, Dan Rutnam and Geoff Rutnam.

Havies was coached by Dr Larry Fernando and Darling Ingleton and captained by Gamini Fernando.  


Q : What was refereeing like at the time?

Unlike today the referees were of a high standard – they were CEO’s, Managing Directors or Managers.

Take the Bradby Shield – Air Force Commander Harry Goonetilleke was a Royalist – he blew the Bradby. Then Archibald Perera, he was a Trinitian, he blew the Bradby – Denzil was a Trinitian, he blew the Bradby. Berty Dias was a Trinitian, he blew the Bradby – they were more strict on us than the opponents. But when Harry Goonetilleke would blow we were happy because he used to be strict on the Royalists!

Today it is a different game. It is not just about knowing the rules – you have to manage 30 people on the ground – you need charisma and a commanding position – I keep telling people from prominent schools and Sri Lankan players when they leave that they must take on the whistle and take on to coaching but they go into oblivion – It’s sad for the game but if they can contribute, they will develop the game.


Q : So from Havelocks it was to Army – How did that happen?

Yes – and that is a nice story – at Havelocks there were two members, Albert Perera – his brother-in-law was a brigadier – Brigadier Ramanayake who was in the Army and he was a sports enthusiast – I didn’t know at the time, but he used to come and watch us play and he convinced me to join the Army.
He told me that if I wanted to progress in sports I should join the Army and at that time they were recruiting people in all types of sports even from remote areas like Wimaladasa who ran the Asian tournament and SP De Silva who was our full back and played soccer – he was a double international – we also had SLB Rosa all these people were recruited by the Army and developed as sportsmen.

At that time as I was playing for Havies and whilst playing I was looking out for jobs – I was involved in  tea tasting (training) at Freudenberg and Company but I didn’t get a break in any of the leading tea tasting companies – I also applied for planting and the Army – I got an interview at George Stewarts and the Army –but I decided to join the Army.

Initially I was reluctant because of my stature as there was a minimum height requirement but as an officer if you excel in sports they don’t consider height – I was convinced by Brigadier Ramanayake to join the Army however his word wasn’t enough – so he suggested I meet the Army Commander, Sepala Artigala and he convinced me to join. He told me my height won’t be a barrier and that was all I needed to make my decision to join the Army.

Another person (who convinced me) was a Chinese friend – Chung – when I was tea tasting, at Don Carolis’ during the lunch break I would head to his Dental Clinic – he was my classmate and he ran his father’s clinic in Pettah – this was around 1968/69 when I used to play for Havies.

 

"The main sounds of my name were J – P – A with N-A at the end as I am a ‘Jayawardena’ – I was small made in stature and very agile, and I was in the boarding house from Junior School and someone said, ‘You are like a Japan Bonikka’ so then it came down to ‘Japana’"


My father would also come to Chung’s place – when he would wait to take the train, so he spoke to him about me joining the Army and my father also spoke to me but said it was up to me to decide what I wanted to do – my mother was adamant that I don’t join – and that I stick with the corporate sector –as she was frightened of the Army service.

Then one intake before – I joined in 1969 so in ’68 when the interview was on I applied and I told my mother I was joining – I was selected and they wanted me to come in – but my mother had spoken to the Prime Minister at that time, Dudley Senanayake and told him not to recruit me into the Army.
Everything I achieved was through my own merit – so my father told her not to interfere again and I applied again after six months.

My father was serving in Polonnaruwa at that time as a District Land Officer and the Army Commander and Brigadier Ramanayake told the GA at that time in Polonnaruwa, who was Ivan Samarawickrama, to convince my mother to allow me to join the Army – Ivan Samarawickrama is Malik Samarawickrama’s father.

So Malik and I used to come from the boarding and we would bring our friends over during the holidays – as we were residing in government quarters, we used to meet up and go through the jungles to Valaichchenai, Pasikuda, Polonnaruwa, Maduru Oya, Gallala etc to watch elephants and we would stay in Circuit Bungalows.

Mrs. Samarawickrama was a very good organiser and because we were in a remote area – with no entertainment – she would organised a party every weekend at the Government Services Club – especially during school holidays as we were all there – the Trinitians and Malik’s Royalists – they were good times.

We would play rugby at the Parakrama Samudraya when the water levels were down as it was like playing beach rugby – this was how our holidays were spent.

Eventually my mother was convinced and I joined the Army – I would have been one batch senior and I would have either ended up in a better position or higher rank or maybe I would have been dead and gone – because the war was on – you never know.  


Q : More about your time at the Army?

I joined the Army and played in the same position and as I joined Musafer was captain. There were eight of us in our intake who were sportsmen – Haren Malwatte (fly half), Saliya Udugama and then Athuraliya from Trinity (hooker). Except for Athuraliya all three of us played for Defence Services.

Army was coached by Colonel Berty Dias, Sena Silva and Colonel Denzil Kobbekaduwa – Silva and  Kobbekaduwa ended up as Major General and Lieutenant General, respectively. Kobbekaduwa was also a very good referee. And he was the secretary of the Referees’ Society – this was in the‘70’s.
I played for three Clifford Cup finals namely Havies – Police which we won, and we (Army) drew against Police and beat Air Force.  


Q : Is there anything you would like to say about the state of injuries in the sport here at the moment?

There was no fixture for Isipathana during our year but they beat all the schools in Colombo and they challenged Trinity so we said we can’t come to Colombo and they came to Kandy.

We played on a Wednesday and Isipathana was riding high as they had beaten all the schools in Colombo so we had to give them a fixture but it was not in the fixture card as we did not play Isipathana. We only played our traditional games.

There were huge crowds as the ‘Giant Killers had come to Kandy’ and in the first five minutes their fly half kicked to the corner and they scored but we went on to win the game 26-03 and in that game, I got concussed. It was because of this head injury that I couldn’t play the S. Thomas’ game – which may be why we lost (08-03) – otherwise S. Thomas’ was an easy game. I am not saying we lost because I did not play I might have made a difference.

The attitude of playing at any cost was not there in our time – even when playing amateur games we should not risk the lives of children.

Even though I was an outstanding player – if they wanted they could have got me to play in the S. Thomas’ game ignoring my injury but the principal insisted that I should not play.

The change is the attitude of winning at any cost while discipline between schools and spectators has all deteriorated so has the awareness on the rules and regulations – Every year the rules change and people are not educated.

Unlike in our days the electronic media gives a lot of exposure into international rugby – we have Cable TV, Skype, Social Media, YouTube etc but with all that – they all want to have instant wins and be champions instantly – not through hard work but with quick results – not just in the sphere of sports but in all areas –a whole this attitude is contributed through the schools, coaches, the masters in charge, administrators, who provoke players to play and win at any cost while the rugby season is too long for students.


Q : Talk us through being recognised by the SLR this year, what you think about it and its significance?

The administrators should evaluate the steady progress of a person before awarding something so this is the ultimate award which I feel I have achieved in my sporting career, being a player for school, national, international (level) and being an administrator – secretary, chairman (SLRFU), president of the Referee’s Society, Head, National Selectors etc, so in all spheres I feel I’ve achieved it through my sheer dedication and commitment.


Q : What does the future look like for the sport?

In rugby like in cricket we have a ‘CEO–Director’ set up to run the policies of the council – they have a high performance coach, foreign coach – which has resulted in the improvement of developing the sport and we have achieved a lot in the last few years, which is a good thing.

We’ve got women to play rugby, of which I take the credit for introducing rugby to the Army Women’s Corps – I commanded the Women’s Corps of the Sri Lanka Army.


What happened after you finished playing for Army?

After finishing I took up coaching and I was Secretary, Army Rugby and we got coaches like Ajith Abeyratne, SW Chang and Asanga Seneviratne.

When I was Chairman I brought in a Welsh coach – Wayne Hall. At that time we were allowed to bring in players from outside – two players were allowed to play – Garreth Hurley – a Welsh youth player and a Fijian player.

I also brought in a Staff Sergeant from the British High Commission and an American Football Player from the US Embassy as well as two Fijians (1994) who were kept in the Army Camp (Panagoda) – this was during the LTTE period so they were heavily guarded.
I also brought Kelvin Farington from Australia (1998).  

I currently assist the Navy development side – this helps keep me fit and impart my knowledge without staying back at home.


Q : Anything else you would like to add?

During my period I sent referees to the Welsh, Singapore, Australia rugby unions to develop their knowledge in the sport so we can have a better standard in refereeing – When referees developed so will the game.

It’s not only the referees that have to be educated – there are five links – the player-coaches-administrators/management-referees-spectators – if any of these break, there will be a breakdown in good rugby. You can play rugby but enjoyable rugby won’t happen if there’s a breakdown in the chain – this is how rugby can progress.


Pic by Damith Wickramasinghe


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