Wesley, Kingswood to battle for L.E. Blaze trophy on 14 May

With distinct Methodist and Wesleyan relations, Kingswood and Wesley are still acknowledged as brother schools. Wesley College, Colombo founded on 2 March 1874 by Rev. Daniel Henry Pereira with Rev. Samuel Rose Wilkin as its founder principal, is an educational institution which embraces a rich heritage of values and traditions. 

Wesley College bears a proud history with great contributions to the nation by producing men of honour, grit and industry. There are many great statesmen and sportsmen who represented the nation and prominent personalities who are the products of this great institution. Wesley started rugby in 1955 with its first captain being Eddie Buell.

 With the two schools sharing a rich history, Kingswood was never of Methodist origins as it was founded by Louis Blaze as a private boys’ school and was not handed over to the Methodist mission in spite of repeated entreaties (until much later when a Board of Directors appointed by the mission was admitted as patrons of the school) — though later ties only strengthened Kingswood’s profile in the transformative 1940s and 1950s.

The cultural ties between the two schools are more readily acknowledged in the field of sports, where the rugby big match of the school calendar is fixed between Wesley and Kingswood. This fixture, inaugurated in 1986, is played for the L.E. Blaze Trophy and has been a regular event until the mid-2000s, when the series was interrupted by unsportsmanlike behavior on the part of some spectators and was subsequently called off. 

The mid- to late-2000s also marked a downward slide in Wesley’s rugby fortunes, which resulted in a series of one sided games which, in turn, reduced spectator interest. However, the resumption of the Blaze encounter during 2013 is an admirable  and positive step, not only in the name of rugby in the two schools, but also as a strengthening of a historical bond which, with years and many changes in the country’s education, has become insignificant and isolate.

The two brother schools, Wesley College Colombo and Kingswood College Kandy, are yet again set to showcase their prowess in rugby when they scrum down on 14  May at the Royal Sports Complex for the coveted L.E. Blaze Trophy.

Founded by Sir L.E. Blaze on 4 May 1891 in Kandy, Kingswood College is also an educational institution of excellence with a history of great traditions providing contributions to Sri Lankan society in many avenues. But to the rugby loving public, Kingwood College is known as the school which introduced rugby to Sri Lanka. Kingswood started playing rugby from the year it was founded in 1891. In 1906 the first school rugby encounter in Sri Lanka was played between Kingswood and Trinity College.

 Sir L.E. Blaze is honoured by Sri Lankans as the forefather of Sri Lankan school rugby, but there were many other contributions made by him to Kingswood College. Under the aegis of the Wesleyan mission, Sir Blaze left an indelible mark on the school. From the outset Sir Blaze, modelled Kingswood on an English public school. 

He endeavoured to give meaning and substance to that oft-repeated phrase ‘Gentlemen of Kingswood’. He chose a motto for the school in Latin, ‘Fide et Virtute’ as was customary at the time. He then chose the distinctive school colours maroon and dark blue, and wrote the words of the Kingswood College school song.

 In honour of this great gentleman, brother schools Kingwood College Kandy and Wesley College Colombo set out to play an annual encounter of rugby. The first L.E. Blaze Trophy game was played on 17 July 1986. The game was won by Kingswood College that year. Kingswood was captained by Ronnie Ibrahim and Wesley by Sumedha Kuruppu.

The trophy was donated by Roy De Silva, a prominent gentleman of Kingswood and former Chairman of the Asian Olympic Committee.