| Full name | Old Zahirians Sport Club |
|---|---|
| Union | Sri Lanka Rugby Football Union |
| Founded | 1990 |
| Location | Sri Lanka |
| League(s) | Dialog Rugby League Clifford Cup Dialog Club Rugby Sevens |
Old Zahirians Sports Club was the first rugby club to be formed by old boys of a school in Sri Lanka.
Old Zahirians SC was established in 1990 when a keen group of ex-school boys of Zahira College formed a team to play in the Sri Lanka Rugby Football Union (SLRFU) 'B' Division Inter-club rugby tournament. The team's training sessions were held at the Zahira College and Colombo University grounds.
In 2000 they won the Lahore International Ten-A-side Rugby Tournament.
Although Old Zahirians received a invitation to join the Caltex Rugby League 'A' Division in 1998, they didn't formally compete in Division A competition until 2001. In their debut match they lost to Kandy SC 65 points to 7. At the end of their first season they had only a single win against Air Force SC and had conceded 571 points in 12 matches, an average of just under 50 points per game whilst only scoring a total of 149 points, the competition's lowest.
In 2003 Old Zahirians first five matches were losses against CR and FC (8-91), Army (0-145), Kandy SC (0-141), Havelock SC (0-102) and CH and FC (25-82), a total of 561 points scored against them whilst only scoring 33 points in response.
In 2005 Navy SC withdrew halfway through the season, as the sailors were called for national duty. They were among the top five teams at that time and were given the assurance that when they returned to competition rugby they would be put back into the same division in the tournament. We have to respect the fact that they withdrew from the tournament due to the security situation in the country at that time.
In 2007 the Caltex Rugby League was expanded to a twelve team competion with the introduction of Dimbulla/Dickoya from the Central Province, Jawatte Lions from the Western Province and the Galle RFC from the Southern Province. In 2007 a further three teams were added to the Caltex 'A' Division League Rugby Championships: Petersons, Kandy Youth, Kurunegala RFU and Combined Universities. As a result of the changed format and the introduction of the new teams to the competition Old Zahirians recorded victories against Kurunegala RFU, Jawatte Lions, Petersons SC and Dimbulla/Dickoya, entering the finals for the Plate championship but losing to Air Force SC. In 2008 Old Zahirians again lost to Air Force SC in the Plate championship. Normally that would have qualified the team a spot in the Clifford Cup however as both Old Zahirians and Kurunegala RFU (who finished third in the second tier) fielded a player that played for both clubs on different dates that season they were ruled out of competing in the Clifford Cup.
In 2009 Navy SC officially informed the SLRFU that they would be back in the league and since the top division could accommodate only eight teams, the tournament committee decided to have an eighth place play-off between the Navy SC and the bottom-seeded Old Zahirians SC team. However, only Navy SC turned up for the play-off which was scheduled for 7 May 2009 at Longdon Place as Old Zahirians SC refused to feature in the match and did not turn up for the game. Navy SC was awarded a walkover and qualified to feature in the upcoming Caltex League ‘A’ division tournament.
Category:Rugby union teams in Sri Lanka Category:Rugby clubs established in 1990 Category:Sports clubs and teams established in 1990
presidents trophy
editThe President's Trophy was inaugurated in 1977 when CR and FC led by Shiraz Fernando won the trophy with a convincing 22-6 win over Sri Lanka Army. In the following year Havelocks under the captaincy of Anton Benedict snatched the trophy with a hard fought 10-4 win over Kandy SC while in 1979 Army captained by Daya Ratnayake bagged the trophy with a smashing 18-0 win over Havelocks in the final.
The Park Club regained the trophy in 1980 by overcoming arch rivals CR and SC by 12-7 in the final and made it two in a row by edging out Police by 8-6 in the 1981 final. In 1982 Army under the leadership of John Senaweera bagged the President's Trophy with a sensational 13-3 win over league champions CH and FC in the final, but surrendered the trophy to CR and FC in the following year by going down fighting by 9-12 in the final.
The match turned out to be a kicking duel between Hafeel Marso (who turned out for CR with the Police withdrawing from the tournament) and Army's S.P. de Silva with Marso firing across four penalties and S.P. de Silva putting over three penalties.
In 1984 Havelocks clinched the President's Trophy helped by an injury time try by Beverly de Kauwe with skipper M.P.F. Sallay making a spectacular conversion from near the corner flag which gave them a 12-6 win over Police in the final. In the same year the SLRFU conducted the Premadasa Trophy knock-out Rugby Tournament in honour of then Prime Minister Ranasinghe Premadasa and CR and FC bagged the trophy with a thrilling 16-13 win over CH and FC in the final.
In 1985 the Rugby Union decided to rename the President's Trophy as the Premadasa Trophy Knock-out Tournament and CH and FC helped by the heroics of Englishman Simon Hunter who fired across six penalties clinched the trophy with a smashing 28-9 win over Army in the final and made it two in-a row by edging out Police by 7-4 in the 1986 final.
The Policemen bagged the Premadasa Trophy for the first time with a resounding 31-12 win over Havelocks in the 1987 final propelled by a hat-trick of tries by No.8 Hector Gunatilleke but surrendered the trophy to CH and FC in 1988 by going down fighting 4-7 in the final. In 1989 Hafeel Marso's Policemen regained the Premadasa Trophy by overcoming CR by 12-4 in the final.
CH and FC reigned supreme from 1990 to 1994 by clinching the trophy for five consecutive years. In 1990 Imran Sallay's team won the Premadasa Trophy by beating CR and FC by 12-3 in the final and made it five-in-a row with a resounding 31-16 win over Havelocks in the 1994 final having registered a 16-0 win in the 1993 final against the formidable Kandy SC.