The 131st Royal Thomian 'Big match' -

My Photo scholarship 2010 entry- The Royal Thomian Big Match (Colombo, Sri Lanka)

Worldwide | Monday, October 11, 2010 | 5 photos

If the Eaton Vs Harrow cricket match were a wedding full of pomp & circumstance the Royal-Thomian would be the drunken reception. For 131 years the two most prestigious schools in Sri Lanka have been playing each other in the oldest uninterrupted annual cricket match in the world. For both current & former students it’s more than a game, rather a cross-town rivalry that has carried on from generation to generation. For 3 days straight the schoolboys play before a boisterous crowd of 25,000+ spectators. Many alma mater now living abroad use the match as an opportunity to comeback to the island for a yearly class reunion & use the match as an excuse to behave like the school boys they once were. As copious amounts of the local Aarack is consumed, current & former students alike party to the sounds of the many ‘baila bands’ scattered around the stadium. The match itself is almost secondary to the party atmosphere in the stands, for the cricket loving nation, the 'Royal-Thomian big match' is one of the biggest if not the biggest events on the Sri Lankan social & sporting calendar. As someone who has attended many large sporting events, I challenge anyone to say cricket is boring after attending a "Roy-tho"
For me this was easily one of the most enjoyable photo essays i've constructed in my short career as an aspiring travel & editorial photographer. I graduated from my photographic studies in 2009 & have ever since been trying desperately to forge a career in the industry. Bhutan has always been a destination ive dreamt of going to but unable to do so due to the high visa costs, I even went all the way to Darjeeling in India to see if I could get into Bhutan through ‘other channels’ such was my desire to document one of the last true Kingdoms on earth.