The beginning of Lovers’ Quarrel | Page 2 | Daily News

The beginning of Lovers’ Quarrel

Richmond-Mahinda

The two schools, under the leadership of their principals, recommenced the tradition which was started ten years before. On that occasion A.L. Wijesinghe captained Mahinda and Richmond was lead by C.W.W. Kannangara (a teacher at Richmond in 1904 and former Education Minister) with Frank Lee Woodward (1903-19) and Rev. James Horne Darrell (1894-1906) officiating as umpires. The practice continued for a couple of seasons until Rev. James Darrell retired from the post of Principal of Richmond in 1906. Woodward continued to stand in these games until his retirement. Rev. W.J. T. Small took over as Principal of Richmond and stood in all the major matches as umpire since 1907.

However, this year, the teams have been drawn from the teachers and pupils thus not counted as an inter-school cricket match between students.

The Inaugural Match 1894

Although there is sufficient evidence that the two schools were playing cricket within the schools, and against other local schools, the first game between Richmond College and Mahinda College took place in 1894 with Abraham Silva Adhihetty leading Richmond and K.T.S. Gurusinghe leading Mahinda. Alas, there are no records of that game or what cricket was played between the two schools for the next ten years.

Games 1 to 5 (1905-1909)

The records of these games are sketchy. The three games between 1905 and 1907 were won by Richmond with Mahinda winning the matches in 1908 and 1909. Much of the material published during the early part of the century suffers from a sprinkling of inaccuracies and contradictions. 


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