Matale District conspicuous by its absence
Matale District Hockey Association (MDHA) was a notable absentee at the inaugural Women’s Under (U)-21 National Hockey Championship 2019, organised and conducted by the Hockey Federation of Sri Lanka at the Astro Turf, Colombo 7 last week.
The Sunday Times spoke to the MDHA Secretary on their absence. He said that Hockey in Sri Lanka is closely linked with Matale, with the most number of National players coming from Matale- the cradle of Hockey.
He went on to say that soon after they were informed of the U-21 Women’s Hockey Nationals, the MHDA took every possible step to send their best team. They first appointed two coaches for the team and MDHA President Wasantha Aluwihare arranged their requirements such as food, lodging, playing kits etc..
Practices were conducted and a squad selected, leaving room for players from Sangamitta Balika Vidyalaya and Christ Church College, who did not turn up for practices. Letters were sent to the respective Principals, with written permission from the Matale Zone Deputy Director of Education, requesting them to send their players for this event, but the Principals did not send their children, although the MDHA waited till the last minute, to finalise the team including players from those two schools.
When the MDHA realised that players from Sangamitta BV and Christ Church College were not going to turn up, they decided that sending a team for the sake of sending, will not do any good for the game in Matale, and hence, kept away from the event. The main intention of forming a well balanced team became a failure, due to the non availability of players from Sangamitta and Christ Church College.