Abdeen’s incredible journey in rugby spans a decade  

By a Special Sports Correspondent

Sri Lanka’s legendary rugby player Hisham Abdeen has been actively involved with the sport played with the oval shaped ball for over five decades. That could be something to celebrate given all the gloom and the doom brought to us sportsmen and sports lovers via the pandemic.

In an interview with ‘The Island’ newspaper done at his second home-Havelocks Sports Club- the 61 year old recalled his heydays on the field and what he felt about the future of rugby union in Sri Lanka.

Abdeen said that it’s of prime importance to get the players mentally ready after the pandemic because the ‘break’ from the game was forced on the players and wasn’t voluntary. “They have missed so much and some couldn’t play for their schools in the final year of academic studies. It’s good if Sri Lanka Rugby can arrange an under 21 tournament for the benefit of all those players who missed the last year of school rugby,” said Abdeen who has again started running his academy called Hisham Abdeen Rugby Football Academy (HARFA). As many as 75 players from this academy have represented the First XV teams of their schools and around 10 players have represented the country.

There was a time when the trend of bulking up using power training and loading on supplements made rugby a brutally contact game. But then despite the doors being opened up for spectators after the third wave of Covid patrons are not very keen on witnessing games; this is probably because of the predictable nature of matches. “There are too many hits and players lack individual skills. Very rarely do we see today a player being able to kick with both legs, punt the ball or kick a grubber,” said Abdeen. According him players of his era invested much time on personal training to lift their skills and the game.

Despite having so much credentials in the game Abdeen has stuck with schoolboy players and university undergraduates when choosing his assignments as a coach. This could be because he pays special attention and emphasis on making the players grasp the basics of the game. The other factor he focuses is on fitness. “Fit players rarely get injured,” underscored Abdeen.

We can remember how Abdeen shone for his schools-initially for Zahira and then for Isipathana College. He played for Havelocks SC as a schoolboy in 1979 and the following season (1980) he stamped his class in the school season by scoring 25 tries wearing the green jersey. This type of achievement where a schoolboy plays for a club while still being in school is rarely heard of. When Abdeen made it to the Havelocks SC side he had to play as a second row forward because the Park Club’s third row was occupied by dazzling players in the likes of Jeff de Jong, Anjelo Wickremaratne and Geoffrey Yu. There were days when he was a marked man. But on a day where he had everything coming right for him he scored eight fabulous tries. That performance came against Army SC at Longden Place. That performance was equaled by Army’s Sithara Fernando in an A Division club rugby game many years later.

Abdeen’s power came probably through the training he did and thanks to his favourite meal-rice and curry. He was a fitness fanatic and trained beyond the capacity of the average club rugby player. As for the rice he ate there are so many interesting stories associated with this aspect of his life. “Once at the Hong Kong Sevens in 1983 the BBC journalist, knowing that there were riots in my country, asked me what the problem was and I replied saying that the problem I have right now is that there is no place in Australia where I’m staying where I can have a decent rice and curry meal”. During Abdeen’s time the players were not remunerated for their availability. But he used to tell at least this much, “No rice, No game”.

Abdeen was a freak. He ate what he wanted and trained the way he wished. He never did weights for strength training purposes. He believed in natural fitness, solid technique and perfect timing when bringing down a player twice his size. Players feared Abdeen and when he tackled you just stayed ‘put’ for a while. Several players tried to imitate his walk and copy his playing style but all that proved to be a waste of time. The Abdeen we saw was ‘one and only’ and he could only be appreciated, not copied.

There were other reasons to say that he was a freak. He represented the country in three sports; rugby union (Last tour in 1993), Soccer (last tour in 1986) and sepak takraw (the last tour in the 1990s ). At present sportsmen and women cannot even think doing a second sport because of the demands in any one of the chosen disciplines are so high.

He also had his share of successes as a coach with the national side. He rates the island’s appearance at the Hong Kong Sevens in 2009 as memorable for him as a coach. “Radeeka Hettiarachchi scored twice in the match against Australia and we had a grand tournament that year. There were many new comers to the side during that tour and I was able to guide them to play at the top level,” he said. He was also a national selector for more than ten years. He is also a life member of Sri Lanka Rugby.

Abdeen now concentrates on his academy and serving the game which has given him a tremendous identity. That old saying which underscores the fact that there is a strong woman behind every successful man is fitting to Abdeen’s life story. According to him his wife ‘Jeni’ has been his source of strength and plays a major role in the academy when it comes to handling player registrations at HARFA and parents of players.

Abdeen had so much of successes, but no achievement could make him too big for his boots. Even today he remains humble and available for those who need him. He still enjoys sitting on the bench as a coach and contributing to the game he loves so much. Because individuals like Abdeen know that there is no set amount to give a signal to a player to indicate that he has given back enough to the game.