North and East active again in football
Football in the Northern and Eastern peninsula is as old as football in Sri Lanka and always remained active and vibrant until the outbreak of ethnic violence in 1983.
A football coaching camp in the North and East
Almost at the same time when the British planters, technocrats and civil servicemen were spreading the gospel of football in the Western, Central and Southern provinces, the North and East too came under their spell with a flourish of football activity amongst the local populace.
St. Patrick’s College Jaffna was introduced football in 1881 by Rev. Fr. J.A.R. Smythe. Later Jaffna College Vaddukoddai who played serious football from 1914 until the mid nineteen seventies, followed by Jaffna Central, Skandavorodaya, St. Henry to name a few were in the frontline in promoting football in a big way.
Pioneers who fashioned the destines of football at school level in the North Mr. A.S. Alagaratnam in (1936) Mr. B.R. Motha (1942) and there after Mr. R. Satchithanandam, Mr. C.S. Swampillai, Rev. Fr J.A.J. Muthuranayagam, Rev. Fr. G.A. Francis Joseph and Rev. J. Francis continued their patronage until 1976, from which point the game gradually drifted downhill.
Some of the devoted and dedicated men who contributed to the growth and development of football in the North during the period 1960s – 1970s were the late V.K. Arumugam, Dr. J.P.C. Phillips , E. Kumariah, T. Sabalingam, E. Canagalingam, A.S. Gunaratnam and M. Jeevaratnam to name a few. The late Mr. V.K. Arumugam and Dr. J.P.C. Phillips were gluttons for work and spent both their wealth and energy for the cause of football. Some of the bright stars of the North who won national recognition in the last quarter century were S. Anothypillai, M. Francis, R. Siritharan, M. Sivaratnam, S. Vadiveswaran, Gonsales, M. Dasan and T. Mariyadas.
For many years due to ethnic battle this great game in the North went off the beam and nothing was heard of it. However, in recent time, some enthusiastic lovers of football seem to resurrect the game and see them seriously taking part in School, Club, League football competitions. While it is a fine effort indeed to have brought back the old war horses to life, it has quite a long way to go to recapture its old glamour and glitter.
It is evident from the recently concluded All- Island Under-19 Football Cup final by the school football Association in Anuradhapura, St. Henry’s College Jaffna beat St. Peter’s College Colombo by 2-0 to clinched the championship, also Point Pedro winning the Inter-League Championship beating the Sri Lanka Navy in the League Tournament conducted by the Football Federation of Sri Lanka. This is indeed a good sign to witness that football gradually raising its head once again in the North and East.
In the East, Trincomalee League and Batticaloa League did not play second fiddle to other leagues in technical and administrative excellence. In fact the years 1950 – 1970 would show a strong representation from these vibrant leagues in both the Senior and Youth National teams. National caps produced by Trincomalee and Batticaloa had always been of fine grain. Some of the early caps were Leo Coernelis, Podi Appuhamy, S.M. Noor, Jainudeen, Nizam Hajireen, Harold Antony, Clement de Silva, Shanmugarajah and Rajasingam. Amongst the galaxy of Eastern Province players S.M. Noor, Nizam Hajireen, Harold Anthony and Clement de Silva were like the moon amongst the stars, while S.M. Noor was a picture of sheer brilliance. His explosive volley kicks have baffled the best goalkeepers here and abroad.
Nizam Hajireen emerged from Hindu College Trincomalee and was the first player to represent the Ceylon Youth team at the 1st Asian Youth Soccer tournament in Malaysia in 1959 and later represented the Ceylon team in 1966 along with S.M. Noor and Harold, Anthony at the Aga Khan gold Cup tournament held in Dacca East Pakistan (then) in 1966. I had the privilege of playing in this tournament besides these top class footballers. Some of the prominent clubs from the East which gave a good run to the Colombo clubs were, Trinco Olympic S.C, Sunrise S.C and St. Anthony’s F.C from Trincomalee. From Batticaloa Singing fish and Michaelmen S.C. It must be recorded with utmost gratitude the late Mr. P.M.S. Wijeyasundaram who emerged from the East as a legislator, gave a selfless sacrifice to our football in the era when the sports was in full bloom in our country.
After witnessing the World Cup football finals held in Brazil very recently, most of our kids and youth have shown interest in playing football, particularly in areas like Jaffna, Trincomalee, Batticaloa, Point Pedro, Killinochchi, Mulativu, Pudukudurrippu, Kinya, Kalmunai, Samanthurai to name a few, where there is hope for the game of football in the years ahead.
Under such circumstances it is a paramount duty and responsibility of the Controlling Body to introduce and implement a sensible plan and programme to promote football in schools islandwide. However, if this programme is to make any significant headway, it must and should receive the support of the Sri Lanka Schools Football League.