Bradby Shield Encounter
| The Bradby Shield | |
|---|---|
| Sport | Rugby Union |
| Timeline | 19451 – present |
| Tournament format | Annual two-legged encounter |
| Participants |
Royal College Trinity College |
| Current champion | 72nd encounter tied and shield shared (1 win each - Scores 35 all) |
| Most successful | Trinity: 39 wins Royal: 31 wins |
| Biggest winning margin | Royal: 83 - 0 (2002) Trinity: 70 - 31 (2012) |
| Most consecutive wins | Trinity: 6 wins (1952 - 1957) Royal: 4 wins (2001 - 2004) Trinity: 4 wins (2011 - 2014) |
The Bradby Shield Encounter - commonly known as "The Bradby" - is the blue ribbon of Sri Lanka's school rugby union season. It is played annually between two schools in the country and traditional rivals Royal College, Colombo, and Trinity College, Kandy. The encounter consists of two legs, one being played in the Royal College Sports Complex in Colombo, and the other in Trinity College Rugby Stadium in Pallekele. The winner is decided on the aggregate of the scores from these two matches, usually played a few weeks apart. The Bradby is generally played in late May or early June and is the most watched rugby match in the country, drawing more spectators than either inter-club or international fixtures.It is also an important social event of the Sri Lanka's elite drawing over 20,000 spectators and watched live on television by millions more.
Royal College and Trinity College were the first elite schools in Sri Lanka to take up the sport of rugby union, and the first historic match between these schools was played on the 31st of July, 1920. This was made a yearly encounter, with Trinity College winning for the first 21 years, until the Royalists recorded their first victory in 1941. In 1945, the principal of Royal College, E.L. Bradby, put forward the idea of playing an annual two-match series, to which the principal of Trinity College, Mr C. E. Simithraaratchy, readily agreed. To ensure the success of the series, Principal Bradby offered a shield which was to be held for a period of one year by the winner of the series. The series has been played annually and uninterrupted ever since.
The Shield, designed and made by Kandyan silversmiths was donated by Principal E.L. Bradby on his departure from Ceylon in 1945. It is a wooden disk decorated with intricate traditional Kandyan silver works.
On winning the series, the shield is presented to the winning team's captain at an award ceremony held on the playing field immediately following the end of the second leg. The winning team is then privileged to hand the shield over to their school, where it is kept on display until next year, where it will again be up for grabs.
One leg of the Bradby Shield Encounter is played in Colombo and the other in Kandy. The venue for the game in Colombo had been Sugathadasa Stadium until matches were transferred to the Royal College Rugby Ground in the early 2000s. The Kandy venue was the Bogambara Stadium, but the second leg of the 68th Bradby in 2012 was played in Trinity's home ground; Pallekelle Stadium
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