Peter Ranasinghe (; 1933 – 17 November 2022) was a Sri Lankan

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

player who primarily played as a

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

. He was captain of the Sri Lanka national team on numerous occasions.

Early life

Ranasinghe, an alumnus of St. Joseph's College,

Colombo Colombo, ( ; , ; , ), is the executive and judicial capital and largest city of Sri Lanka by population. The Colombo metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of 5.6 million, and 752,993 within the municipal limits. It is the ...

, excelled in soccer alongside his brother Christopher. Both eventually played for the Ceylon national team. Their father, also a soccer player, worked as a Forest Department officer and lived near the Government Service Ground. Peter participated in Inter-College Football Tournaments, playing as a center-forward.

Club career

Peter graduated from the University of Ceylon and began representing the Old Joes Sports Club, where he won the CFA Cup by defeating Cargills at the Colombo Oval in 1958. He played in midfield alongside national players like Durand Perera, Bagoos Saldin, K.M. Thomas, and Anton Mariyadasan. Eventually, he led Old Joes at the Gold Cup floodlit tournament final against

Saunders SC Saunders Sports Club is a Sri Lankan professional football club based in the Pettah district of Colombo. It is currently playing in the Sri Lanka Champions League. Achievements * Sri Lankan Premier League: 12 **Winner: 1985, 1986, 1987, 1989, ...

, which finished in a controversial draw. Earlier, he successfully led the Colombo Central Colours team to win the prestigious Inter-District Championship in 1955 and 1956, organized by the Ceylon Football Association. One of his final contributions to football came in the early 1970s when he led the Nugegoda League Team against a Combined XI during an exhibition match at the Mirihana Police Ground.

International career

Peter made his debut for the Ceylon national team during the

1953 Asian Quadrangular Football Tournament The 1953 Asian Quadrangular Football Tournament was the second edition of the Asian Quadrangular Football Tournament held in Rangoon, Burma. India won the cup for a second time by winning all thee matches. It was India's first outright win in an ...

Rangoon Yangon, formerly romanized as Rangoon, is the capital of the Yangon Region and the largest city of Myanmar. Yangon was the List of capitals of Myanmar, capital of Myanmar until 2005 and served as such until 2006, when the State Peace and Dev ...

, Burma, under the captaincy of T.H. Soono. He later captained the team during the

1954 Asian Quadrangular Football Tournament 1954 Asian Quadrangular Football Tournament was the third edition of the Asian Quadrangular Football Tournament held in Calcutta, India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries ...

Calcutta Kolkata, also known as Calcutta (List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern ba ...

, India, playing as a

central midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

. Ceylon tied 1–1 with eventual champions

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

and secured their first-ever international victory by defeating

Burma Myanmar, officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar; and also referred to as Burma (the official English name until 1989), is a country in northwest Southeast Asia. It is the largest country by area in Mainland Southeast Asia and ha ...

2–1, finishing as tournament runners-up. In the

1955 Asian Quadrangular Football Tournament The 1955 Asian Quadrangular Football Tournament was the last edition of the Asian Quadrangular Football Tournament to take place. It was held in Dhaka, East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) and won by India for a record 4th time. Points Table Matche ...

, Peter continued as captain, playing in a more advanced position. He scored two goals against India in a 3–4 defeat and a

free kick A free kick is an action used in several codes of football to restart play with the kicking of a ball into the field of play. Association football In association football, the free kick is a method of restarting the game following an offe ...

goal in a 1–2 loss to

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

, with Ceylon finishing at the bottom of the points table. Peter also led the Ceylon team in the 1964 Summer Olympics qualifiers against India over two legs.

Personal life

In 1956, he became an Assistant Lecturer at the

University of Ceylon The University of Ceylon was the only university in Sri Lanka (earlier Ceylon) from 1942 until 1972. It had several constituent campuses at various locations around Sri Lanka. The University of Ceylon Act No. 1 of 1972, replaced it with the Univ ...

, left for the UK on a Federation of British Industries Scholarship in February 1958, and returned in 1959. He represented the Colombo Commercial Company of the Mercantile League Football Tournament, the company he served as an engineer, later promoted to the rank of Director before he migrated to

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in 1961.

Death

On November 17, 2022, Peter died at his residence in Perth, Australia.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ranasinghe, Peter 1930s births 2022 deaths Sri Lankan men's footballers Sri Lanka men's international footballers Alumni of the University of Ceylon Alumni of Saint Joseph's College, Colombo Men's association football midfielders Men's association football forwards Sportspeople from Colombo