Rugby stalwart Summa passes away 

By A Special Sports Correspondent 

Former Royal College and CR&FC rugby player and two time president of rugby’s local controlling body Summa Navaratnam passed away on October 19, rugby sources revealed to The Island. He was 98 years old at the time of his death.

Navaratnam joined Royal College in 1937 and played in all age group teams before graduating to the First XV side. Later in life he joined CR&FC where he continued his passion for rugby.

After retiring from playing he was elected as president of Ceylon Rugby Football Union and also the Sri Lanka Rugby Football Union.

He served in the Army Voluntary Force and the State Trading Corporation (Consolexpo). He was married twice; first to Rosemary Rogers and the then to Romaine de Zilwa. He had dual citizenship, here and in Australia.

Summa, as he was fondly known, coached Royal juniors at rugby for many years. But later when that opportunity was no longer available for him he started his own rugby academy at the school which functioned under the name ‘Royal Junior Rugby Academy’.

Last year Navaratnam gave an interview to the writer and his message at the end of the meeting was “Don’t make playing rugby be hard on you. Forget winning and losing and make sure to enjoy the game”. The details about his funeral were not available at the time of going to press. He will be missed by the rugby fraternity of Sri Lanka.