Rajith Abeygunawardena who made an indelible mark as a charismatic leader of St. Peter’s College rugby died early this week of a heart attack, a family spokesman said.
Abeygunawardena was credited with turning the 1985 team into a frontline force from almost nothing when the school found it extremely tough to field a competitive outfit.
In that year the Peterites under Abeygunawardena’s guidance beat Trinity College after 44 years and also knocked the day lights out of Royal College after 13 years in two shocking results. They also brought down the Thomians after eight years.
“Rajith was a player who did something very special for the team that had players who were playing for the first time and did not know much about the game.
“He went round the school and rallied the boys when we did not have a proper team,” said Mangala Dharmapriya the current head of St. Peter’s Rugby Foundation and a batch-mate of Abeygunawardena.
He was looking forward to celebrating his 54th birthday in May. The team in that year was coached by the legendary Peterite and Sri Lanka flanker Angelo Wickremaratne.
Abeygunawardena played as a Centre and some of his team mates during the period from 1983 to 1986 were Graham Raux who also played for Sri Lanka, the late Rovern Gunasekera, Rohan Paiva, Ramsay Dekker, Roger Shu, Crofton Joseph and Rohan Ekanayake. He captained the Peterite Legends team at this year’s old boys fiesta which is an annual event before the new school season. His funeral took place in Galle on Thursday.