A Senior
student reminisces on
THE BATTLE OF THE BLUES.
BOY!!!..............Oh
BOY!!!
THE BATTLE OF THE
BLUES is here again. Wow !!!
The big match fever is
catching on.
Come March of every
year, all Thomians - big and small - wait eargerly and look
forward to this annual three day'event of Fun and festivity
and............why not???
For a full 11 months,
we look forward to the month of March as window of opportunity
to release our bottled-up feelings with a little bit of fun,
mischief and entertainment - like dressing up in fancy Thomian
coloured kits, participating in the Cycle parade, trucking
-hiring of trucks and arranging little groups of "papare" bands
- which belt out loud sounds/music to the annoyance of
passers-by and at times being chased by the law enforcing
authorities.
Trucking' is a very
important ~and not to be missed 'tradition' which every senior
Thomian student will not fail to be a party to. When going
'trucking', students hire trucks and arrange little groups of "papare"
bands and head off to the many destinations. No matter, how much
we are warned by our parents, school and the law authorities,
the temptation to stop and vault over the parapet walls of some
of the leading girls's schools is an excitement that is looked
forward to and relished over the years. Not to mention the
narrow escapes we have, when the law enforcement authorities
(who had been summoned by the head of the school in desperation
when gangs of so called 'gentlemen type boys' indulge themselves
in running round the various classes that are in session) start
chasing us and sometimes managing to catch and beat up quite a
few of us.
The encounters are
called by many names, like the battle of the blues, the
Royal-Thomian cricket match, the biggest school match, the Big
match. But, by
whatever names it is called by, this is game of cricket played
over a period of three days by two leading Colombo Schools, S.
Thomas' College and Royal College; with the accompanying great
expectations and hopes, competitiveness and rivalry, amidst an
atmosphere of fun and entertainment.
I will dwell briefly
into a little bit of history of the game.
The big match started
way back in 1879 when S. Thomas' was still the College of 'St.
Thomas the Apostle' in Mutwal, while Royal College was the
'Colombo Academy'. Cricket was introduced to S. Thomas' College
in 1851 by Dr. James Chapman (founder), who was the
firstAnglican Bishop of Colombo. In 1878, a Royal-Thomian big
match was arranged, where the wardens and the masters also
participated in both teams. But from 1880 onwards it was only
the boys from the two schools who played the matches. So the
first official Big match was played in 1880 at the Fort Cricket
Club grounds with F.W. Me Donald captaining our Thomian team.
Sad to say we lost this first match as well as the second in
1881. The Golden Jubilee Royal-Thomian cricket match was played
at the SSC grounds in 1929, and unfortunately it was won by
Royal College. In 1979, to celebrate 100 years of the Battle of
the Blues, the usual two day game was extended to a three day
game and this match ended in a thrilling drawn, which is now
even talked about by all and sundry. There have been only three
hat-tricks through the. series of matches. The first hat-trick
was recorded by a Royalist, G P. Keuneman, whilst the second
and third hat-tricks had been achieved by our Thomians Eddie
Elapatha and Roshan Mahapatuna respectively.
The Royal-Thomian is
probably the oldest cricket fixture between two schools. It is
also acknowledged as the longest running unbroken cricket
encounter in the world. This is more so when we consider the
fact that even two World Wars and our own internal crises in Sri
Lanka had not interrupted the holding of these annual cricket
matches So both S. Thomas' and Royal have continued to preserve
the spirit and traditions of the games.
Of course, the
enjoyment and fun of a big match to a Thomian student will vary
according to his age, grade levels and the amount of freedom he
is allowed to, to participate in the event. This means that a
small boy in the lower graded experiences a different kind of
exposure and enjoyment, in comparison to a student in a higher
grade who has more freedom to go about on his own, and is
therefore able to derive more thrills and spills.
In my own experience,
as far as I can remember, I will try to describe the fun and
enjoyment I relished in this even over the Years.
As a lower school
student-There was no way I could have gone unescorted as my
parents used to take me with them. And I had to be satisfied
being 'firmly' seated in the 'Philips' tent with my parents and
not allowed to move about like the other big 'aiyyas'. Of
course, whenever those around me started shouting/ screaming (a
form of cheering) when one of our players in the middle had been
able to achieve something I used to grab this opportunity to
stand on top of my seat and in my earlier years to invariably
perch onto my father's shoulders and do a little screaming
myself, while waving a high Thora' flag. The ensuing excitement
also makes my father, who is also an old Thomian, to get up with
me on front of me because all the time my view had been blocked
by the uncles and auntys. This vantage point enabled me also to
see the various colored gas bombs being exploded in the
grounds. Looking around I also notice that most of the uncles in
my tent "were either fully or half drunk', singing songs and
even hugging each other - who I am sure, they hadn't known
before they had drunk.
As a middle school
student-
1 still had to be
escorted by my parents to the venue of the matches out once
there, I was allowed to go on my own to the 'boys' tent. Here we
had a little freedom being away from our parent's eyes, so
mischief making was the order of the day - forming ourselves
into small groups, sneaking into the 'Royal' boys tent and
flicking flags of little 'Royalists' and thereafter being chased
and running back to the
safety and cover of
our boys tent. Every 15 to 30 minutes or so, I used to run with
the gang to buy some hotdogs, or other eatables and drinks,
running around in groups cheering with 'prefect aiyyas' whilst
waving huge flags, and also shouting names at the Royalists.
Oh............and of course watching the match in between all
this for a
few minutes.
As an upper school
student and Coll Former-
The big match becomes
a really big event to look forward to in our school life. This
is the time to have creative fun and improvise new experiences
like trucking -' this is where we get into groups and hire buses
and 'papare bands' where we go around creating a big din, making
hat collections from each and sundry, invading the peace and
calm in most of the leading girls schools and international
schools by climbing over the walls and getting into the school
proper, thereafter trying to get into the classes and appealing
for collections - all the time noticing that the girls in the
classes were really enjoying the intrusion which could clearly
be seen by their giggling, though it is clear that they try
their best to hide it from their teachers. When inside a class
to inform their school heads, who in turn will try to summon the
authorities - this is the time where we have to make a run for
it and get back to our trucks before the police come to the
scene, which can result in a chase, and being caught at times.
It is also at this level., that many seize the opportunity to
make social contacts with the sisters, cousins and friends of
the students of both schools who have made it a practice to come
along with their parents to watch the match. The big match is
"yet another chance for us boys to show off - with anything and
everything - engaging in various antics [some really foolish and
silly when we think about it afterwards] all with the intention
of capturing the admiration of the shy but beautiful girls, who
we feel are watching every move of ours and secretly enjoying
the parade of the good, the bad and maybe the ugly. It is now
well known and also accepted, that many a match has blossomed at
these cricket matches.
It is our fervent wish
that the authorities will tolerate and turn a blind eye to the
little, little mischief making that takes place at these big
matches and allow them to continue in the spirit of the game
where 'boys will be boys'.... What they should know is that S.
Thomas' is all
about tradition and
traditions must and will continue no matter what. Good luck to
both teams and let the 128th battle begin.......
Estp Perpetua.
M D A T
