Golden Jubilee of ‘The Saints’ Quadrangular Sports Tournament’ to be held in Kandy

The annual Saints’ Quadrangular Sports Tournament is a premier event on the calendar of the four leading Catholic boys’ schools in Sri Lanka, namely St. Anthony’s College, Kandy, St. Benedict’s College, Colombo, St. Joseph’s College, Colombo and St. Peter’s College, Bambalapitiya. 

This tournament is open for the old boys of these four catholic schools, having been started in 1963. The first tournament was organised as an initiative of the Old Boys Association of St. Benedict’s College Colombo, as a part of their Diamond Jubilee celebrations. 

The organisation of the tournament is being done by the Old Boys associations or sport clubs of the respective schools. This year the tournament celebrates its 50th anniversary. The golden jubilee tournament is being organised and hosted by the Old Antonians in their hometown of Kandy on 26 and 27 August. The tournament initially started as a cricket competition but eventually extended to basketball and rugby as well. A press briefing was held at the Old Bens Sports Club recently regarding the golden jubilee celebration.

History of The Saints’ Quadrangular Tournament

In 1963, during the Diamond Jubilee of St. Benedict’s College, all schools in the country were invited for a cricket tournament, but coincidently it was only the above three leading Catholic schools that were present for the contest. Old Antonian the late Ranjith Samarasekara was instrumental in convincing the four schools to continue this tournament as an annual event, thus establishing the Saints’ Quadrangular Tournament. 

Since then, this tournament has been a flagship event of the four premier Catholic schools in Sri Lanka. Old Boys and sports teams gather once a year as a tradition for camaraderie and fellowship and to relive their glory days. Originally the tournament was played as a two-day encounter but as the years progressed it was decided to convert this into a more exciting limited over encounter. Since then, for 49 years this tradition has continued and the tournament has seen some big names representing Sri Lanka playing for their alma mater.

In 2002, the organisers introduced a 25-over tournament for players above the age of 40, which enhanced the true spirit of the Saints’ Quadrangular as many yesteryear cricketers got an opportunity to represent their beloved school. 

In 2004, basketball was introduced to the quadrangular fraternity. This too is a keenly contested tournament as these schools do enjoy a rich tradition of producing highly-skilled basketball players in Sri Lanka. 

A tournament which started with cricket has now grown into a sports carnival with the introduction of the seven-a-side rugby tournament in 2014. Today the Saint’s Quadrangular tournament sees leading national and club players produced by these four great institutions representing their alma mater in three major sports across four tournaments. 

The four schools take great pride in organising this event as every year one school takes a turn in hosting the event. The quadrangular weekend, as it is known now, is a much looked forward to event filled with great sportsmanship, entertainment and fellowship. 

The Quadrangular Trophy is presented to the winners of the two cricket tournaments while the ‘Very Rev. Fr. Joe E. Wickramasinghe Trophy is presented to the basketball winners and a ‘Challenge Trophy’ is presented to the rugby winners. This year will see the 50th quadrangular tournament taking place. 

The Saints Quadrangular committee has decided to introduce the ‘Ranjith Samarasekara Memorial Trophy’ for the overall winners of the tournament from this year onwards.

This year’s tournament will be hosted by the St. Anthony’s College, Kandy Old Boys Association Colombo branch and will be worked off on 26 and 27 August in Kandy.