Kandy had its baptism in football in the late 1930’s during World War I when British units were stationed in Kandy, with the one-time Commander-in-Chief of the Allied Forces stationed in South East Asia, Admiral Lord Louis Mountbatten having his headquarters in the hill capital. Several top British footballers displayed their versatility, representing the Kingstown and Queenstown regiments, the Royal Artillery and also the West African Rifles, which had quite a few negro stars in it. Football was the main sport at that time in the hills.
The game increased in popularity day by day, because it was played with great interest. Some of the clubs which took to the game were, Old Antonians SC, Old Kingswoodians SC, Police SC, Kandy YMCA, Greenfield SC, Kandy Sports Club, Phoenix SC, St. Michael’s SC, Gampola Chums, Rovers SC, Kandy YMMA, and Red Stars SC.
The sport with a foreign flavour was getting popular and it was played everywhere. Some were seen playing in the streets since at that time traffic congestion was not like today. Also where any space was available, football was played. The late doyen of sports M. S. Jainudeen was the kingpin and the man behind the formation of the Kandy Amateur Football league (KAFL) with support from the foreign military personnel and some other keen people of Kandy in the early ’40’s.
The KAFL subsequently changed its name to Kandy District Football League (KDFL) and also served football in Matale, Nawalapitiya, Gampola, Kurunegala and Kegalle. And as the years rolled by, these cities formed their own leagues.
Then came the Kandy Football Referees Association. In the late ’40’s with pioneers like Philip Buultjens, Kingsley Abeyasinghe, R. Jaymon, S.A.C. ‘Gunner’ Mohideen as active referees and later A.J.M. Yusuf, M.E. Marikar, Tom Ossen, B.D. Alfred, Jinadasa, T. Kumala Mohamed, M. Jamaldeen, handled the whistle.
During that time Col. V.H.L. Anthonis, A.C.L. Ratwatte and E.L. Senanayake, a former Kandy Mayor and Minister gave a big hand, with M.S. Jainudeen as the secretary. In mid-1970’s Dr. C.D.L. Fernando took over the presidency and held it till his death in the mid-1980’s. William Premaratne took over thereafter, while L.P. Wijeratne, W.B Abeyasinghe, and M. Mohamed continued the good work.
In the 1990’s, football was almost dying and this writer brought in Police officer B.M. Bodi Liyanage and once again football hit the top spot, by winning the Everyday trophy for the first time. During his absence, this writer acted as its President and that is the time the Kandy Football League won a title for the first time. It was the inter-league plum by beating the strong Police SC at Ratnapura in 1992 with M. Nadaraja as Secretary and T. Kumala Mohamed as a coach which earned them a tour to Nepal, with the support of Manilal Fernando.
Later through the Kandy league, B.M. Liyanage became the president of the FFSL and this writer was one time, Secretary Administration, Team Manager and Secretary General - both were firsts from Kandy to hold these positions.
Till the year 2001, the keen football lovers kept the game going strong and the sport flourished with Manilal Fernando at the helm of FFSL.
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