Army take on Renown in a show of grit
Army SC
Curtains comes down on June 11 of the Cargills Food City FA Cup when Sri Lanka Army lock horns with Renown SC in the final at Race Course Grounds, commencing at 4.00 p.m.
Conducted by the Sri Lanka Football Federation this year’s edition was participated by 509 teams island-wide and in the 1st semi-final Sri Lanka Army defeated defending champions Colombo FC 1-0 while Renown SC beat Saunders SC 4-2 on penalty shootouts.
The notable incidents that took place in this year’s tournament was the exit of last year’s champs Colombo FC and runner-up Blue Stars, Kalutara in the semi-finals and quarter-finals respectively.
With a proud record of 68 years with the inauguration in 1948, Sunrise emerged the maiden champions scoring a 2-1 win over Ceylon Police SC known as Ceylon FA Cup before the declaration of the Democratic Republic Sri Lanka. The tournament was played in the names of Bristol FA Cup, Sharp FA Cup, Holcim FA Cup in the earlier years and it is known as the Cargills FA Cup presently.
The oldest soccer club in the island Saunders leading the tally with 15 wins. The FA Cup was not staged in the years from 1973 to 1983 due to unavoidable circumstances and again it was not held in 1997. Colombo football clubs had being dominating in winning the FA Cup and it had gone to the outstations only once when Gampola National United SC won the championship in 1982.
This year’s finalist Renown too was in the forefront in the competition by winning the tournament on six occasions with the first win in 1986-87 followed by wins in 88-89, 89-90, 93-94,94-95 and the last was win in 2002-03 defeating Sri Lanka Air Force 1-0. The other finalist Sri Lanka Army with a long history in football had won the trophy in only three occasions in 1960, 2011 and the last occasion being 2013-14.
Renown SC
The opinion of the soccer enthusiasts was that the standard of the game dropped to a low level as 30 to 40 walk-overs given and the main reason was that according to the critics was that most clubs enter the competitions that were not in a position to field a playing XI. This is the first time in the history of Sri Lanka FA Cup that a large number of walk-overs were awarded. The main reason for this pathetic situation was that the Football administration enroll a large number of clubs to participate by name just to satisfy the sponsors.
Another reason for the standard to be dropped was the recruitment of foreign players by leading clubs which closed the window to prove their talent for local talented players. Three armed forces maintained their standard through their own players without importing from overseas.
- SP