The curtain came down on the life of yet another sporting personality in Sri Lanka when former Ananda College and Air Force cricketer and rugby player Channa Gunaratne passed away this week after a brief illness.
Gunaratne was not just a sportsman who played a part and moved on, but also a rare breed of coach and administrator who got into the mindset of everyone who came under his guidance.
He became a household name when he played as a fullback with the Air Force team in the early and mid 1970s and later as a coach turned a band of mere average players into a collective frontline force that bagged the coveted Clifford Cup rugby trophy in 1986.
Two of the players in that champion team were the inimitable duo of Nalin de Silva and Tikiri Marambe both of whom went on to don the Elephant jersey with the Sri Lanka team.
“He was a shrewd tactician and when any other coach would have dropped me for playing badly, he insisted that I should be innovative and he was correct. That is what made Channa Gunaratne special,” said Marambe.
Marambe said he will remember Gunaratne as a solid fullback player who was good against the high-ball and who deserved to wear the Sri Lanka jersey that eluded him. Gunaratne also belonged to that rare breed of Officer and a Gentleman category who made every effort to live up to expectations whether it was in facing the Media, wearing the Service uniform or in playing boots.
At Ananda College he won colours in both cricket and rugby whose team he also captained before joining the flying force.
- Callistus Davy