Summa (97) still going strong coaching rugby

By A Special Sports Correspondent

Former Royal College sportsman and Sri Lanka rugby star Summa Navaratnam is going strong at the age of 97 and is still involved in the Rugby Academy he formed in 2009.He makes it a point to visit the academy and goes there on most days, after lunch, around 2.30 pm. The Sunday Island caught up with Navaratnam for a chat at his home at Kynsey Road, Colombo-8 recently. The nonagenarian happily rattled away recalling fond memories in the sports he took part and the milestones passed in his career as a sportsman and as an administrator,

He is the fifth in a family of eight and certainly was not the child to be attracted to books and education. His focus as a schoolboy was on sports; athletics, boxing and rugby union- all for which he received due recognition in school. He remembers the days when the Royal Primary was called the Training College. “I remember winning the lime and spoon race there,” is how he began unfolding old and fond memories of the initial stages of school life.

Then in 1937 he joined Royal College and excelled in sports; also at the same time barely managing to scrape through his exams. “There was much recognition for sports at Royal and I was looked upon as a demigod by junior students of the school. I say this because a junior student had written something to this effect about me in the college magazine,” recalled Navaratnam.

Life really opened up opportunities for him after he left school and joined CR&FC; thanks to a stalwart in the Police called Sydney de Zoysa. A large number of clubs was playing rugby then and the sport was pursued with great camaraderie among institutes and players, according to Navaratnam.

“No one was heard of going to courts to settle a dispute in sports,” he said underscoring the lofty position and respect everyone gave to maintain the spirit of the game. He was not inclined towards joining any club in particular, but joining CR&FC happened quite by accident. It happened when de Zoysa stopped the vehicle Summa was driving for a ‘no head lights’ offence. They had ended up that evening at the CR&FC with Navaratnam taking membership at the Longden Place club.

According to him players were not paid for their services to the club back then. “Players had to in fact pay the club for the jersey and a fee for being selected for each match they represented the club. We were taught to be independent from our young days,” said Navaratnam.

After leaving school his dream of joining the Royal Air Force was shattered despite being selected because his father withdrew his consent given earlier for this adventure. He ended up joining the Army Volunteer Force. He later served the State Trading Corporation (Consolexpo) too.

Despite having a hectic work schedule he continued his interest in sport. Athletics is close to his heart as is rugby. He has fond memories of running the race of his life against Lavy Pinto at the athletics nationals where both athletes returned timings of 11 seconds in the 100 metre sprint event. What’s memorable for him was that after running the race he had gone to the CR&FC that same evening and represented the club at a Division 1 rugby match.

Navaratnam married twice and as he recalled he met both his wives within the rugby community. He was first married to Rosemary Rogers, the bestselling author, with whom he raised two children. His second marriage was to Romaine de Zilwa. His present wife lives in Australia where Navaratnam has citizenship.

When his playing days came to an end he took to rugby administration. He became the president of the Ceylon Rugby Football Union and was also the first president of Sri Lanka’s rugby controlling body when this sports body was renamed as the Sri Lanka Rugby Football Union (SLRFU).

Navaratnam stood for principles and ensured that all clubs at the time showed that they really existed. According to him, all clubs had to have a ground, conduct their own annual general meetings and submit accounts of the club to the rugby union. “We got along very well and the players accepted the decision of the referee without batting an eyelid,” said Navaratnam.

But there was a sour moment waiting to spoil his tenure as president of the SLRFU. Before a tour was to be made by the Sri Lanka side for the Hong Kong sevens a representative team was selected with Navaratnam approving selections. He had then gone overseas for a work related assignment and when he arrived back home he came to know that some changes had been made to the team without his knowledge. He had shown disapproval and in the end he forwarded his resignation as SLRFU president.

Navaratnam was involved with Royal College rugby for many years as a coach and gave away his services for free. But the Reid Avenue school, in later years, brought in a policy to employ only professional coaches for rugby. That rule technically took him out of being involved in rugby coaching at Royal. Undeterred he met the Royal principal and proposed that he be allowed to start a sports academy which would help students at Royal take baby steps in the field of sport. That marked the birth of the Royal Junior Rugby Academy. “Students from grades one to six are entertained at the academy and they are given an introduction to physical sports. These training sessions help to improve hand-eye co-ordination of players. The sessions will also help them work on speed and stamina,” said Navaratnam.

As much as Navaratnam talks about his fondness for rugby he also speaks about the people he met and the friendships he made, thanks to rugby. “I met a wide variety of people from different walks of life,” he said. He had all the time to enjoy rugby and absorb other cultures because he accommodates everybody who comes to him as students, players and officials. Navaratnam affirms that in a multi-cultural country like Sri Lanka students must be taught all three languages spoken in the country and the philosophies of all five religions that are practised here at a very young age.

His parting words at the interview were, “Don’t make playing rugby be hard on you. Forget winning and losing and make sure to enjoy the game”.