CR & FC ~ Golden Memories

I,m glad you asked about the CR, my old club, in which I played for the 1st XV from 1936, the year I joined and played for the University which I captained and played for till I left in 1940. I played for the CR Ceylon until I was injured in the Semifinal of the All India Tournament in 1949, which Ceylon won. I was the full back, No 1 as it used to be then. It is now No 15! and did all the kicking of conversions and penalties of which there must have been dozens, but we did not keep a tally in those days. We played for the love of the game.

In 1936 the Club sides were dominated by the Europeans, with only the Ceylonese CR and Havelocks included in the Ranfurly Shield, but we won it in 1936 and kept winning it. When the All Ceylon team was chosen for the All India Internationals in 1938, though we were the Club Champions, we were not included, so the public of Colombo entered a Ceylonese team in the Tournament and financed us to go to Madras to play there. We were beaten in the Semifinals, but were selected to play against the rest on the day before the final, and we won that too.

The war intervened, and we were ready to go for the All India as a Ceylonese XV to Calcutta in 1939, but it was called off as war broke out. During the war we played several army and Navy and Air Force XVs and beat them all. Ranfurly Shield matches resumed I think in 1945, and the next All India was in 1949 in Colombo . By then there were Ceylonese playing in all the district teams for the Shield. I started refereeing Ranfurly Shield, and was Secy of the Rugby refs Association till we emigrated in 1958 (possibly 1952-56, (not 42-46 as stated in the Ceylon Observer report of august 58), and did my last game in Badulla in March 1958. I have been a paid up life member of the CR since about 1947 or 48, but have never heard from them since we left in 1958.

I have visited the Club several times since then between 1979 and 2002, whenever I was in SL, which must have been 8 times in all, and the Club Boy and a few old team mates remembered me. I stayed with Dr Willie Ratnavale who captained the famous 1938 Ceylonese team to Madras , and visited the club with him before he died. Most of the team members are dead. I still have pictures of the team, and our annual clash with The Rest, and with the Australians on their way to UK , which I will send you. The only survivor I believe is my lifelong friend Dr Percy De Zilwa who was with me in Varsity days when he was at Medical College , and in CR with me from 1936. He was an inside 3/4 and a very good one too. He lives in Melbourne , and we have met often, and ring each other frequently.

I look forward to having regular mail from the Club with the Club news in the future. In NZ I coached school teams, and refereed in Palmerston North and Feilding while I was working in Feilding 1959-70, and was a member of the Manawatu District Rugby Referees assn.

Ray De Zylva