Dr. C.D.L. Fernando, a multifaceted sports personality

Kandy will never forget the sports promoters who did a their best. One of them is ‘Dr. C.D.L. Fernando, the man who helped Kandy sports a great deal. This former Thomian and Royalist all round sportsman Dr. C.D.L. Fernando’s help for sports in Kandy can be weighed in gold. Dr. C.D.L. Fernando, was a versatile sportsman, benefactor, philanthropist and above all a gentleman. ‘CDL’, as he was known, was one of the finest sportsman to come out of Royal College, during E.L. Bradby’s era. He started his schooling at S. Thomas’ College and later crossed over to Royal College where he excelled as a top class all-round sportsman. He played cricket, rugger, football and also was a boxer. He played rugger from 1943 to 1945 and had the privilege of leading the first Bradby team.

In the ‘first leg’ of the Bradby played in Colombo. He led the side to win by 3 points to nil and in the ‘second leg’ in Kandy, Royal ended on the losing side, where Trinity won 6-nil. After leaving school he played rugger for CR and FC as a ‘Prop’ forward. At cricket, he was a fine all-rounder, an aggressive batsman, a medium pace bowler and a fine close in fielder. He played for Royal in 1944 and ended in 1946. In his last game in 1946, against his former school S. Thomas’, CDL had a match bag of 9 wickets for 54 runs in 23.2 over’s, out of which seven were maidens. He pocketed five wickets in the first innings and four in the second innings which helped the Royalists to gain a 83-run win.

Some of his team mates at cricket were Chris de Saram, Nihal Wickremasuriya, M. Kasipillai, Hugh Aldons, Tissa Kapukotuwa, Willie de Saram, K.C. de Fonseka, Raja Cooke, R.M.S. de Silva, T. Pararathaligam, P.K.D. Gunwardane, Jommy Rajaratnam. Later at the University as an undergraduate, doing medicine, he excelled in Cricket and played for the University of Ceylon in the Inter-University tournament with distinction. He also toured India with the University team, that was his one and only overseas tour.

In 1949, he led the Medical College in their annual game against Law College led by George Rajapakse which was the 25th encounter the Law-Medical Silver Jubilee. The match was played on 11th and 12th of February 1949 at the University Grounds. ‘CDL’ also played for SSC in his spare time, also for the Health Department in the Government services tournament. He came up to Kandy as a young Doctor after practising in Negombo, on a invitation of Dr. T.A. Frewin and earned a name through sports and was a household name in Kandy and it was Kandy he chose to live his entire life.

As a young doctor, he played cricket for Kandy United Sports Club and also led the Up-Country XI against visiting teams. As an administrator, he gave his best for sports like Cricket, Rugger, Football, Hockey, Volleyball, Lawn Tennis, Cue Sport (Billiards and Snooker), Boxing, Softball Cricket and ‘Iron’ Sport (Body Building and Weightlifting).

He became president of all these sporting bodies over here in Kandy and promoted the game in the best way. He was a fine cueist, played along with great M.J.M. Lafir the first World title holder of the country, he had a big hand for the sports. Dr. ‘C.D.L.’ gave a lease of life for football and was president for well over a decade and football thrived in Kandy, It has gone down now. He gave his best for Volleyball, a sport which was played by mostly Government servants, and in the good old days, there was court in front of the Kandy Fire Brigade. Hockey too, was one of his favourite sports, along with boxing, ‘Iron Sport’, all he did was alongside his busy medical set up.

Dr. ‘C.D.L.’ was a live wire in cricket. He was with the Central Province Cricket Association Committee for many years and alter with Kandy District Cricket Association. Under his leadership, several Test and one-day games were played in Kandy at the Trinity College Cricket Stadium at Asgiriya. His biggest ‘break’ came in cricket after the Test status came to Sri Lanka when Sri Lanka’s great cricket promoter late Abu Fuard took leave from the Sri Lanka cricket Manager ship. CDL was invited and given the task by then President of Cricket Board, Gamini Dissanayake, and was the Manger when Duleep Mendis was the captain.

Ruger took pride of a place in ‘Dr. C.D.L.’ career and he did much for the promotion of Kandy rugger, and it was under his presidency that Kandy entered the Clifford Cup finals in 1978, after the last in 1969 under Denzil Kobbekaduwa. That year the Kandy Sports Club team was led by Irwin Howie and lost to Havelock Sports Club led by Anton Benedict by 4 points to 10 in the final.

He joined the Kandy Sports Club in 1974, when Kandy Lake Club later known as (Kandy RFC) amalgamated with Kandy Sports Club due to the request made by Dr. K.B. Sangakkara, so the authorities agreed to play under one banner, that is Kandy Sports Club’s Jersey and shorts with Kandy Lake Clubs stockings. Dr. C.D.L.’, gave a big hand for E.W. Balasuriya’s Kandy Lake Club, when it was founded, which club went great strides in club rugby.

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