There is an indefinable quality about the three day cricket extravaganza that is so much more than just a cricket match.

While defeat has become unpalatable for those who wield great power, the Royal Thomian has never been about victory or loss.

There will be no powerful papas arriving on the scene to bail people out; in fact such an eventuality will result in more derision from the crowd and embarrassment for the youths in question, because it is considered a defining quality of Thomians and Royalists that they fight their own battles.

For three days, as two school cricket teams battle it out in the middle, a Royalist or a Thomian is all you are and all you need to be.

It is up to Royalists and Thomians, young and old to ensure that this great tradition remains a-political in a social culture where political tentacles are breaching every social institution and aspect of life.

If it was the Royalists and the Thomians that blazed the trail for the Big Match culture in the Sri Lankan school system, there is no reason why we should not continue to lead in areas where others might still follow.

The passing of years will later force a move into the Old Boys to the Colts tent, the Stallions, the Stables, the Thoroughbreds and of course the Mustangs, wherein the unchanging spirit of the Big Match, that great encounter that happens outside the boundary line, is embraced with untrammeled joy.