Royal’s bid to take the game forward
The much anticipated Blue and Gold Hockey Sevens 2013 organised and conducted by the Royal College Hockey Club (RCHC) will get underway next weekend at the Royal College ground in Reid Avenue, Colombo.
The organisers and conductors of the two-day event, the RCHC, boasts to be a contented entity after being able to snatch more than a victory through their brainchild, the Blue and Gold 7s.“When the RCHC was formed the standard of Royal College hockey was at rock bottom. Hockey was pretty good during the earlier days but due to various reasons the game deteriorated. At the request of the principal the RCHC was formed in 2002. The target was to organise ourselves and give a helping hand to Royal hockey,” Jayantha Senanayake, the Treasurer of RCHC told the Sunday Times.
Royal College Principal Upali Gunasekara receiving the Singer sponsorship - Pic by Hasitha Kulasekera
Though RCHC’s motive was clearly based on developing Royal’s hockey standards, the competition proved to be a popular event among schools as years went by.
By 2013, when the tournament is being conducted for the 11th year, the Blue and Gold 7s has become the most looked forward tournament among schools for many reasons. Senanayake explained on how the RCHC managed to gradually achieve a double through its flagship event. “After forming the RCHC we managed to transform hockey as the best performing sport at Royal. Having done that, we decided to extend our services to the society and in general to schools hockey. That was the humble beginning of the Blue and Gold Hockey 7s in 2003. At the beginning there were only 27 boy’s teams and the tournament was completed in a day. The following year we invited the girls. This year 59 teams have accepted our invitation and as usual the tournament will be held over two days. It’s a great development to achieve,” he added. Strangely the tournament made its baptism in 1992 but died a natural death due to reasons unknown. The tournament was revived 11 years after it was first played and as Senanayake revealed it takes a higher degree of dedication to run a successful tournament of this stature for years.
“It needs a lot of commitment and organising strength to make this type tournament a success. Probably that degree of commitment was not made in 1992 or there may be other reasons. Of course we knew how to conduct a tournament when we revived it in 2003. We knew the requirements and the structure. Our aim was to maximize the facilities of the participating members and students. With that in mind, we are not charging an entry fee, we provide other facilities such as stalls, meals and many others including accommodation for teams coming all the way from outstations. This was probably the reasons why the Blue and Gold 7s is still running strong,” Senanayake, a former Royal hockey player, who serves as the Treasurer of RCHC for eleven years, said.
To maintain the integrity and trust among top hockey playing schools in the country, the RCHC has managed to secure the assistance of some of the top leading private firms in Sri Lanka. Singer Sri Lanka has been the live wire as main sponsors of the event for many years and last year Esoft joined them as a co-sponsor. With the ever-growing popularity of the tournament, Singer Sri Lanka, the main sponsor took an initiative to foster some of the talented players that will shine at the tournament. This move will come to effect from this year. In addition the winning teams from each category will be given a cash award for the first time.
“There is a massive expenditure involved in this tournament. We facilitate nearly 60 teams and over 750 players and officials. It’s a massive operation. Despite that we will offer a cash award for the winning teams in both categories, on conditions that the money should be spent entirely to the development of hockey in their respective schools. It depicts the popularity of the competition while indicating the growth. We also know that this competition definitely was a catalyst to increase the standards at some schools. In general if we were able to contribute an effective return to schools hockey, that’s what makes us proud,” Senanayake stressed.
The tournament will be played on October 12 and 13, with the participation of 36 boy’s teams and 24 girls’ teams from all parts of the country. This year hosts Royal College will defend championship for the fourth year running. They will be surely challenged by last year’s runners-up Vijaya College Matale, the National Schools Games champions St. Thomas College Matale and the National Schools Games runners-up Christ Church College Matale. Other schools that are expected to be front runners are Wesley College, Zahira College Matale, Dharmaraja College Kandy and D.S. Senanayake College Colombo.
In the girls category defending champions Pushpadana Girls’ School Kandy will be up against last year’s runner-up President’s Girls’ School Nawala and 2013 National Schools Games champions Sri Sangamitta Girls School Matale. Others who are expected to be tough contenders are St. Anthony’s GS Kandy, Musaeus College and Seetha Devi GS Kandy.
The country’s top most umpires will officiate at this tournament which is played on three categories, the Cup, Plate and Bowl, with attractive trophies and medals on offer. Special awards for the most outstanding player of the tournament and the best goalkeeper too would be on offer on both categories.
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