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Some
food for thought from the saints’ scrum down
By Supun
Perera
St. Peter’s College Bambalapitiya had
to overcome many a hurdle and obstacle to beat their
traditional rivals St. Joseph’s College Colombo
last Tuesday at the Peterite grounds Bambalapitiya in
front of a large crowd.
It was true that this was no doubt the stiffest of oppositions
that Joes encountered this season after being crowned
as the division one group B champions.
On their way to this success they inflicted a shock
defeat on the much fancied Thomians a fortnight ago.
However, last Tuesday both Joes and Petes dished out
some fast and scintillating rugby where there was no
quarter asked or given. Truly it was a match where both
teams did not disappoint their fans who thronged to
Bambalapitiya. However, the Peterites deserved to retain
the shield for yet another year when they played better
and cohesive rugby which sent the unbeaten Josephian’s
back-peddling.
Though every Joe and Pete enjoyed a nerve tingling game,
there is one issue which puzzled them and went unanswerable.
It is why a match of such importance was played on a
weekday and not on a weekend? Unfortunately most of
the fans could not make it to the venue since it was
a weekday.
I personally noticed the amount of calls which disturbed
the focus of the spectators where their mobiles had
a busy evening. It is an injustice to many when you
play during a weekday rather than on a weekend. Apparently
both these institutions may be having unavoidable circumstances
and valid reasons why the match was not played on a
weekend. However, my fervent wish and hope is that this
game would become an eye-opener for authorities of both
the schools to fix a more convenient date next year
since both Josephians and Peterites will be vying for
honours in the division one ‘A’ segment of
the school’s rugby championship.
Further the importance of a neutral venue is desirable.
In a rugby encounter which has a proud history dating
back to 1955, a neutral venue would be an identical
location in the future when the saints’ scrum down.
It was evident in the late afternoon when the heavens
opened and spectators were running in search of shelter.
This is a debatable issue and one might argue that many
top schools utilise their home facility when they are
the hosts. But there is no doubt that better facilities
should be available for a fixture of this importance.
This is only a constructive criticism and bears no disparagement
to any of these two institutions.
Finally it is up to both the St. Joseph’s and St.
Peter’s school authorities to make the saints’
scrum down a more thrilling and spectator interest-filled
game in the years to come.
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