Hockey to ‘Bully Off’ again in Kandy
Hockey needs more attention - File pic
Kandy, the hill country capital, is where Hockey was first played, with a proud record of producing some of the top National Hockey players and captains in men and women.
Once again, plans are afoot to revive Hockey in Kandy, which dates far back to 1907, when the Indian Rajput Regiments occupied the Kandy Military Barracks, presently known as Police Barracks.
At that time, St. Anthony’s College, Katugatota (SACK), was housed at the present St. Sylvester’s College premises, and they used the barracks square for all their sports. Schoolboys at that time were drawn to the game, and tried their hand at knocking the ball about with a borrowed stick. Gradually, more boys found the glamour of the game irresistible and, in a matter of few months, threw down the gauntlet themselves and soon found themselves at grips with the Indian Military men.
Glancing through some old records, the first “Bully Off” in Kandy was in 1907 at the Bogambara grounds, when the Kandy Sports Club (KSC) and the Industrial School Team met. The leaders of these two pioneer clubs were Europeans, S.R. Hamer and R. Sparks. These two clubs played regularly and had opposition from the Regiments stationed in Kandy.
The KSC, packed with European planters, also met Dimbulla ACC and Dickoya MCC.
Somewhere in 1910, a new club was formed, the Kandy Rovers. They had the Vanlangenberg brothers Hugh and Lloyd, Wicky and Percy, all first class players. In addition, they had Edwin Boulton, a teacher at Kingswood College, and H. John Gaye a teacher at SACK.
Hockey ‘died’ in 1909 with Charlie’s death
Charlie Hamilton was a little 10-year-old prodigy from SACK, who played at centre-half.
This lionhearted midget had learned the game the hard way, in the company of the Indian stalwarts.
That year, a team from Kandy travelled down to Colombo to play against Colombo Municipal Council and Bloomfield C & AC. The first match was 1-1 draw. The hero of these two games was Charlie Hamilton, whose display had evoked repeated rounds of applause. The anti-climax of this was that, following the teams return from Colombo, Charlie suddenly took ill and died on Nov.5, 1909. After which, the game too, died a natural death.
Once again in 1926, KSC, with Europeans, started a tournament. Special mention must be made of the KSC Secretary John Jackson Smale, some stalwarts such as Hamer, Trailm Mclaughlanm, the Bengan brothers, B. and R., Trinity teacher K.R. Pilcher (Oxford Blue), and Strefield (English County player). There was a Big Match between the Upcountry and Low Country in August, with the teams composed of all Europeans.
- Hockey revived -
Records show there was a person keenly interested in Hockey, the late P.T. Rajan, who was a well-known educationist, versatile sportsman, sports benefactor and a gentleman Hockey administrator ambitious to produce Hockey in a big way in Kandy. It was in the mid-1930s that the game earned its right place, when Rajan reintroduced the game to schools and clubs, through League and Knockout tourneys. Rajan gave his fullest support, along with M.S. Jainudeen. By 1940 Hockey in Kandy was well organised with tournaments in full swing.
He was a great promoter of the game, with Kandy’s oldest Hockey tournament known as the “PT Rajan Cup” tournament. The teams during that period were the Indian Students Hostel, SACK known as “Hotspurs”, Trinity College known as “Rabbits”, Kingswood College, Kandy Rovers SC and Imperial Motor Garage Hockey Club.
As years rolled by Hockey flourished in Kandy with several schools in and around Kandy taking to the game. During World War II, large number of clubs and schools, including foreign teams, played in Kandy. And for the good work the late Rajan did, the Wewalpitiya grounds, popularly known as Rakade grounds, was renamed PT Rajan grounds, which most have forgotten now.
There is an old Antonian who was involved in Hockey, P. Thangavelu, who was on the staff of St. Sylvester’s. He is in his 90s now, and knows the entire history of Kandy Hockey. He says, during that era, the high standard of Hockey was because it had tournaments, such as PT Rajan Trophy, MS Jainudeen Cup for the League runners-up, 7-a-Side Tournament for the KPMM Seyed Ahamed Challenge Cup and the VHL Anthonisz Challenge Cup for the Knockout tournament. Some of the people who kept the game going were Rev Fr Robert M. Perera, S.R. Hamer, G.H. Robinson, K. de Lanerolle, P.T. Rajan, Dr. V.H.L. Anthonisz, George de Saram, Fr. Dom George, Dr. Samad Ismail, R.B. Wijekoon, P. Thangavelu, Leslie Handunge, I.M. Anwer, Roy de Silva, Rohan Wijenayake, M.D. Rupasinghe, Lakshman Senevirathne DIG, Hafiz Marikar, Aroos Salimdeen and Malcolm Perera.