Fifty four girls and boys teams in the fray
The 12th edition of the Blue and Gold Hockey Sevens 2014 organised and conducted by the Royal College Hockey Club (RCHC) will get underway next weekend at the Royal College ground in Reid Avenue, Colombo. This competition has gained immense popularity among top hockey-playing schools in the country that schools highly look forward to confirm a place in it. The event will be played on October 11 and 12 at the Reid Avenue in Colombo.
Wesley won the Boys Cup title last year
As the hosting school Royal College along with the RCHC has so far opened doors to 54 girls’ and boys’ schools around the country, including Jaffna. The inaugurators 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 not at a satisfactory state. Since its formation in 2002, the RCHC’s target was to organise ourselves and give a helping hand to Royal hockey. Thus after all these years we have come a long way with this tournament,” said Nadith Kudagama, the Secretary of RCHC.
Though RCHC’s motive was clearly based on developing Royal’s hockey standards, the competition proved to be a popular hit among schools as years went by. By 2013, when the tournament was conducted for the 11th year, the Blue and Gold 7s was the most looked forward for hockey tournament among schools for many reasons.
“By today the RCHC has managed to transform hockey as the best performing sport at Royal. In addition to that, we have also extended our services to the society and in general to schools hockey after introducing the Blue and Gold Hockey 7s in 2003. As usual the start was not so impressive but it has gradually improved from a one-day competition to a two-dayer and from a handful of teams to over a half a century. This year 54 teams have accepted our invitation and it will be held over two days. As it happens annually, the tournament is improving,” he added.
Strangely the tournament originally made its baptism in 1992 but died a natural death for unknown reasons. After a pause of over a decade it
Presidents GS are the defending Girls Cup title holders
was revived in 2003 and as Kudagama says it takes a higher degree of dedication to run a successful tournament of this stature for years.
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 Metro Campus joined them as a co-sponsor.
“To conduct a tournament of this nature as organisers we will have to bare a massive expenditure. If you fail to meet the demands then you are cutting short the possibility of growth of the competition. We facilitate nearly 60 teams and over 750 players and officials and the groundwork involved is massive. Despite that we offer cash awards 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 shows the popularity of the competition while also indicating its future development. We also know that this competition definitely was a channel to increase the standards of hockey at some schools,” Kudagama stressed.
The tournament will be played on October 11 and 12, with the participation of 36 boy’s teams and 24 girls’ teams from all parts of the country. 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. The tournament is supervised by 18 professional umpires nominated by the Sri Lanka Hockey Federation and the panel includes three international umpires.Last year Wesley College beat Vijaya College Matale to win the Cup championship of the boys’ segment while President’s Girls’ School Nawala beat Musaeus College to win the girls’ category Cup title. Ananda College beat Christ Church College Matale in the third place playoff while hosts Royal College beat St. Thomas’ College Matale to win the Plate championship. St. Sylvester’s College Kandy beat St. Aloysius College Galle to snatch the Bowl championship.
From the girls’ segment Southland College Galle beat Ladies College in the third place playoff. Seethadevi Girls’ School Kandy beat Sri Sumangala Balika Vidyalaya Panadura to bag the Plate title while Pushpadana Girls’ School Kandy won the Bowl championship beating Sirimavo Bandaranaike Girls School.
The opening ceremony will be held on the first day, October 11 at 8.00am while the semi-finals of the boys and girls categories will commence at 2.30pm followed by the finals at 3.45pm on the second day. The tournament will culminate with the awards ceremony to be held later on the final day.
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