Bid to recapture the glory days
For years the Colombo Gymkhana Club’s magnificent façade has dominated the cityscape at Maitland Crescent. The ancient walls, welcoming doorways and artful décor conjure up an image of elegance and grandeur fitting for an establishment long considered a bastion of sporting endeavour and social interaction.
This year the Colombo Gymkhana marks its 150th anniversary and the club is looking to evoke all the essential elements that have contributed to its uniqueness and popularity, dating back to its inception in 1863.
The legendary club house of Colombo Gymkhana Club. - Pix by Mangala Weerasekara
As part of this move, work is progressing at a rapid rate to change the club’s interior into an exact replica of how it appeared during its glorious colonial era, with tastefully-crafted furniture and other fittings being added.
However, even in its present state, the Gymkhana is filled with vestiges of its rich past and tradition. The pavilion holds two huge paintings of England’s bodyline immortals, the great Douglas Jardine and Harold Larwood, who visited the club 1934 and 1928 as part of touring MCC teams. There is also a palpable sense of having stepped through a portal to the past, even without all the throwback paraphernalia.
This feature is one which the Gymkhana’s present Chairman, Shiran Anthony, wants to bank on in order to present the club to a new generation of visitors.
“We want to make it a kind of heritage site in addition to it being a place where people come to enjoy themselves. A place where British tourists can come and sip a beer and relive what their forefathers enjoyed in this country,” Shiran says.
“I would say that the reason the Gymkhana has lasted this long is because of its sports and social element. If you look at any civilization, the most important aspects of it are what kind of competitions they had and what they did for recreation.”Undeniably the Colombo Gymkhana has often been touted as a preeminent force in the country’s club sporting landscape. Consisting of the Colombo Hockey and Football Club (CH&FC), the Colombo Cricket Club (CCC) and the Queen’s Club, the Gymkhana has produced a pantheon of champions throughout its 150-year existence.
Of late though, this has not been the case, with its once famous rugby unit now lagging far behind the club competition’s top talent.
However, a spirit of resurgence is thick in the club’s air due to its current sesquicentennial milestone and Shiran is confident that brighter sporting days lay ahead for CH.
Shiran Anthony
“Last year was very bad for our team but we are looking at improving. The Cup can’t be won overnight especially considering that other clubs are spending so much money on their rugby. It is difficult to get sponsors but we want to make an impact in the sport and within three to five years we want to be the champs again.”
The state of cricket is much less precarious with CCC swiftly surging back into the upper rung of the club game after a brief spell in the wilderness, says Shiran.
The Gymkhana also plans to inject fresh impetus into its other sports- hockey, squash and tennis- by opening up participation to women in the not too distant future.
The anniversary celebrations will also herald a year-long lineup of tournaments that will look to perpetuate the club’s image and historic association with sport.
“In addition to upgrading the club infrastructure to how it was in 1863, we are also going to have a gymkhana tournament with cricket, rugger, hockey and tennis. The competitions will see other clubs in Sri Lanka as well as gymkhana clubs from around the world.”
With these ambitions resting on a nearing horizon, the Colombo Gymkhana Club is by no means struggling for the recognition and reputation it possessed during a bygone era of Sri Lanka. If anything the club seems determined to eclipse its former glory, and with a raft of initiatives already outlined to accomplish this objective, this prestigious sporting and social fortress is well on its way to doing so.