Former rugby star Lionel Almeida dies
The death occurred yesterday of former Sri Lanka ruggerite, ex-SLRFU President and leading rugby referee Lionel Almeida. Lionel Almeida started his illustrious rugby career at Royal College, Colombo for whom he turned out for three years from 1954 to 1956 captaining in his final year and went onto represent the Combined Schools. He joined CR and FC in 1957 and turned out for the Longden Place club till the early 1960s before moving over to Dickoya Maskeliya Cricket Club. He first donned the Sri Lanka Jersey in 1959 and turned out for the national team till 1967. The finest moment of his rugby career was in 1959 when he scored a scintillating try for Sri Lanka against the visiting Cambridge-Oxford rugby team. Read more:www.dailynews.lk/2010/12/14/spo12.asp