After a lapse of two years Trinity College and Royal College will oblige their followers when they meet in the traditional Bradby Shield rugby match first leg scheduled for August 20 at the Royal Sports Complex.
The second leg will be played on September 3 at the Pallekele ground. This year Trinity is celebrating their 150th year and their Bradby Shield encounter is one of the most looked forward to rugby games. This time both sides are equally balanced and two good games are expected.
Royal and Trinity were among the first schools to take up rugby and continued meeting since they first met in July 1920. From this game it was a yearly encounter with Trinity College winning the first 21 games. Royal’s first win came in 1941.
In 1945, the principal of Royal College, Edward Lawrence Bradby, put forward the idea of a trophy, to which the principal of Trinity College C.E. Simithraaratchy gave the fullest backing.
The Royal College principal offered a wooden Shield designed and made by Kandyan silversmiths that was to be presented to the winning team’s captain soon after the final whistle of the second leg.
Today the under-18 game is played for the C.E. Simithraaratchy Cup, which was donated by an old boy, George Hemachandra. Thus the two principals who went all out for the Bradby have two trophies named in their memory.
The first Bradby game was in 1945 when Royal led by C.D.L. Fernando beat Trinity led by Robert Sourjah 3-0 in the first leg in Colombo. However in the game played in Kandy the Trinitians won 6-0 and in this game S.B. Pilapitya led the side and clinched the shield in the inaugural year on the basis of aggregate.