Rugby union in Sri Lanka is mainly played at a semi-professional and recreational level. It is a popular team sport with a history dating back to 1879. In 2012, according to International Rugby Board figures, there were over 160,000 registered rugby union players in Sri Lanka, making it the second largest rugby-playing nation in Asia, behind Japan.
Governing body
The Sri Lankan Rugby Football Union (SLRFU) is the governing body in the country. The Sri Lankan Football Union (as Ceylon Rugby Football Union) was founded in 1908, the first Rugby Union in Asia. The SLRFU joined the IRB in 1988. In March 2011 the IRB stripped the SLRFU of full member status after it failed to conduct board elections in accordance with the By-Laws, the SLRFU's full membership however was subsequently re-instated follows the successful completion of the Union’s Annual General Meeting and Board elections.
History
Early years: 1879-1945
Sri Lanka discovered the game of rugby at the same time as India, and the first rugby club, the Colombo Football Club, was founded in Sri Lanka in 1879 (in 1896 the Colombo Football Club amalgamated with the Colombo Hockey Club to become the Colombo Hockey and Football Club). The first rugby match played between two selected teams occurred on 30 June that year between Colombo and a 'World' Team.
The first ever club game to be played was on 7 September 1880 between Dickoya MCC and Dimbulla ACC at Darawella, with Dickoya winning the game by 9 points to 3.
In 1885 E. H. Joseph became the first Ceylonese to represent an English School in Cricket and Rugby.
In 1891 rugby was introduced to the country's high schools by L. E. Blaze, the first principal of Kingswood College, Kandy. Kingswood played the first high school rugby match in the country against their hometown rivals Trinity College in 1906. The match resulted in a draw, 6-all.
The nation's first 'national' match involved an All Ceylon team playing against the professional All Blacks (the New Zealand rugby league team) under rugby union rules on their 1907–1908 New Zealand rugby tour of Australia and Great Britain on 12 September 1907. The professional all blacks won the match 33-6. The professional All Blacks only played upon being guaranteed a fee of 50 pounds, this resulted in English Rugby Football Union banning its member countries from playing representative matches in Ceylon.
As a result, in 1908 the Australia national rugby union team passed through the Port of Colombo on their way to England via the Suez Canal, without playing a game in Ceylon. The only solution to ensure matches against foreign teams during their brief stopovers at the Colombo was the formation of a National Rugby Union, affiliated to the English Rugby Football Union. On 10 August 1908 an historic meeting of the Ceylon Rugby Football Union (Ceylon RFU) was held at the Grand Orient Hotel in Colombo, with the representatives from Colombo HC & FC, Uva Gymkhana Club, Kelani Valley Club, Kandy Rovers, Dickoya Maskeliya Cricket Club and Dimbula Athletic & Cricket Club. H. B. T. Bourcher (the representative from Uva) was elected as the first president of the Union with J. G. Cruickshank elected honorary secretary. Boucher held the chairman's position until 1914 but Cruickshank resigned from the post in 1910.
On 20 August 1910, an exhibition rugby match was held between a team from the 2nd Leicestershire Regiment and a combined Ceylon team.
In 1922 the first rugby club to include Ceylonese players, Ceylonese Rugby & Football Club, was formed.
The country's first involvement in a rugby tournament was in 1926 when Ceylon RFU sent an all-Ceylon team (composed entirely of Europeans) to compete in the All India Rugby tournament (originally known as the Madras Presidency Rugby tournament) held in Madras. It was also the maiden overseas tour by a rugby team from Sri Lanka. In 1928 the team tied for the championship and in 1929, under the captaincy of J. D. Farquharson, they won it outright defeating Madras by 11 points to 8. In 1932 they won the cup for the second time defeating Calcutta. At the 1938 tournament the Ceylon RFU fielded two teams one wholly comprising Europeans and the other Ceylonese. The Ceylonese team making history, when in their first match they defeated a combined Planters team by 16 points to nil. The Ceylon RFU ceased participating in the competition in the late 1960s.
During this time the game of rugby flourished in Ceylon mainly due to the plantations companies’ enthusiasm and commitment to promote rugby in the country.