Thurstan Rugby set to reach new heights

Thurstan who celebrated their Rugby Golden Jubilee in 2007 will kick off their 2009 Rugby calendar when they relaunch the Thurstan Rugby Football Club at a Rugby Fellowship scheduled for Friday the 6th February at the California Grill, Hotel Galadari. Thurstan Rugby Club (TRC) was initiated in 1997 under the chairmanship of Suren Abeygunasekera and they met with immediate success when they won the prestigious Presidents Trophy in 1998 and in the process also beat Isipathana after 35 years.

The new look TRFC is headed by DIG Upali Hewage who was involved with Thurstan Rugby for nearly 25 years and teamed up with Suren to build a successful Rugby structure in TRC.

This year Thurstan has been fortunate to receive the block of land adjacent to their cricket grounds at the “Thurstan Park” in the old Racecourse thanks to the untiring efforts of President Mahinda Rajapaksa distinguished alumni of Thurstan who excelled as an athlete of repute at Thurstan sacrificing a promising career in Rugby.

Development of the Rugby ground is now underway under the watchful eyes of DIG Upali Hewage who is optimistic of completion of the Ground around the end 2009.

Despite a colourful Rugby background with such illustrious players like Archt Surath Wickramasinghe, T.M.K. Samat, Jeff Ratnam, late Deepal de Zoysa, Dushyantha Samarasekera, Vernon Caldera, Sunil Jayakody, Rear. Admiral Harsha Mayadunne, Chula Dharmadasa etc who represented Thurstan and also excelled at club and national level, in recent time they have not been able to maintain consistency. DIG Upali Hewage is confident that with his team of past Rugby Stalwarts Thurstan Rugby will reach greater heights in the near future.