The Sports Complex
The Peterite Sports Complex comprises the Swimming Pool and the Gymnasium that includes the Badminton Courts and Squash Courts.
The Swimming Pool
The swimming pool was blessed and opened by Rt. Rev. Dr. Oswald Gomis, Auxiliary Bishop of Colombo on 18th January 1991 for which the then Rector, Fr. Joe Wickremasinghe laboured much. It is a 331/3 metre pool, the standard size for a pool in the era it was constructed and fills a great void at St. Peter’s where aquatic sports is concerned. Members of the public also can obtain membership of the pool and enjoy the facilities available.
The Gym, Badminton Courts & Squash Courts
Fr. Felician R Perera as Rector decided that it was time for St. Peter’s sports to have another necessary facility added. This was in the form of a gymnasium with facilities for badminton and squash and he achieved his dream for St, Peter’s on 24th August 2002, when the Auditorium cum Gymnasium (which also had facilities for badminton courts and squash), was declared open by the Archbishop Emeritus, Rt. Rev. Dr. Nicholas Marcus Fernando. Similar to the pool, gym facilities are open to members of the public who obtain membership.
COLLEGE GROUNDS AND FACILITIES
The Grounds and Facilities consists of the Playing Field (for athletics, cricket, football, hockey and rugby), Basketball court and Tennis Courts complementing the Sports Complex which exists across the Duplication Road.
College Grounds
College has been blessed with many great sporting personalities in the different sports of their choice and such successes can be attributed to the availability of a large playing field which was expanded in 1930 and officially opened on 13th September 1930. In athletics some of whom have adorned the national arena and even performed at international level, at the Olympics. St. Peter’s has had a turf wicket from the earliest days and thus was able to maintain a high standard in cricket producing cricketers that are now household names in Sri Lanka. Rugby is another sport that benefited from the availability of the large Ground producing many championship teams and individuals who represented their Club and the Country. Football and Hockey have had their share of success in recent years.
The Basketball court situated within the College grounds was moved there when the old court had to yield its place to the R A de Mel Mawatha (Duplication Road) extension. Basketball has had its ups and downs but many an individual Cager who represented the country has been produced in these courts.
Tennis courts at St. Peter’s opened in 1929 and was located near the College Hall but was shifted close to the playing field (behind the pavilion) in 1949. It was brought back to its original location when the basketball court was moved in the late 1950s to behind the pavilion from its original location within the Grounds. The tennis court was moved again, in 1999, this time to where the College Farm originally stood and in its present location it stands testimony to a golden era, the period when champion teams were produced for ten years on the trot from 2003 to 2012 not to mention individual champions in other years also.
The Pavilions Old and New
The original pavilion which has stood the test of time was constructed and opened on 18th December 1948 by Senator, Sir John Tarbet during the Rectorship of Rev. Fr. Basil Wiratunga.
Everyone may have assumed that St. Peter’s now had all the facilities needed to continue its sports but that was until Fr. Trevor Martin (Rector 2014-2019), decided that a rugby pavilion was a necessity. Construction commenced in 2018 and was completed within a relatively short time to be declared open by His Eminence Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith on 1st February 2019. The new pavilion consists of the pavilion located in the northern end of the grounds, named after the Very Rev. Fr. Joe Wickremasinghe and two wings on the east and west of the ground connected to the Joe Wickremasinghe pavilion and these wings were named after two other great sporting personalities produced by St. Peter’s, All Ceylon cricketer Brig. Dr. H I K Fernando and the ever popular rugby player (All Ceylon and CR&FC) and coach, Mr. Archibald Perera. The pavilion is in fact a complex of its own right comprising a gym for sportsmen taking part in the College Grounds and indoor nets for cricket practice.
This magnificent pavilion, having been declared open on 1st February 2019, saw spectators hosted for the first time on 30th March 2019 for a rugby encounter with Royal College, played for the B C Angie trophy. Significantly, it was against Royal College that St. Peter’s played their first ever rugby match and with no other school boasting of such pavilion facilities on their school grounds, a senior Royalist who was seated in the special invitees box was heard to comment “with this pavilion St. Peter’s have one over Royal“.
Administrative Section
Better Studentship
