Football, the world’s most popular sport and at one time Kandy’s main sport is on the decline today in Kandy which has a rich history. In the early days in the hill capital of Kandy men who mattered and ran the game did a splendid job. In the last few years in Kandy the game has received step motherly treatment,
In the early days the leading clubs 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 It was at that time Kandy District Amateur Football League was formed. It subsequently changed its name to Kandy Association Football League amd served football in Matale, Gampola,Nawalapitiya, Kurunegala and Kegalle, and as the years rolled by, these towns formed their own leagues.
The Kandy Association Football League (KAFL) is over ninety years old. Football lovers who served as officials, players and fans now bitterly regret that football is at present is not what it was at one time. Kandy at one time was one of the biggest leagues with over 40 teams, today you can’t find five teams.Kandy has produced top class soccerites of the calibre of Mahinda Aluvihare, Tom Ossen, Oscar Wijetunge, Col. C S Fernando, Tuan Amidon, S Nelson M. I. Fuard and Sunil Samarasinghe who brought honour and fame to the city with their deeds on the soccer field.
The KAFL was formed in 1925 and is one of the founder members of the Football governing body. A few years back the controlling body made a big show saying Kandy will get a modern football stadium at Dangolla. The world body FIFA laid the foundation stone and also funded it. Many years have lapsed but nothing has happened and only the foundation stone stands.
In the 1990’s Kandy won the All-Island Senior and Junior League championship for the first time under the presidency of BM Liyanage. When they won he was overseas and the acting president was M.H. Marikar with M. Nadaraja as the secretary and Kumala Mohamed as coach. With this win Kandy got a break to tour Nepal. It was the first ever Kandy team to go on an overseas tour and that was in the early 1990’s to play in an Asian tournament.
Kandy’s importance as a war hub grew so rapidly that seventy years ago in April, 1944, the South East Asia Command under Lord Mountbatten of Burma moved to Kandy from India making it the headquarters.
Kandy’s love for football and the role that Kandy has played to make the game popular in Sri Lanka can be traced back to the enthusiasm for the game of those servicemen who were stationed in Kandy during World War II.
Football flourished in Kandy during that time because the local football enthusiasts joined hands with the servicemen to play and support the game. At that time the most popular and the most looked forward to sport in Kandy was football. A handful of schools were involved in cricket. Only one school played rugby. Some of the men who played a leading role to popularize football at that time included GH Robins and TPC Roberts who were then stationed in Kandy and Kandy’s own MS Jainudeen.
Bogambara was the scene of intense football activity and there was scarcely an evening when the ground was not besieged by crowds who were thrilled by the displays given, particularly by service teams. Whether some like it or not, it has to be said that under the former football boss
Manilal Fernando, Kandy’s football maintained a high standard. Some of the people who gave a big hand for football in the early days were late Col. VHL Anthonisz, ACL Ratwatte, EL Senanayake, MS Jainudeen, Dr.CDL Fernando , Tom Ossen, Gunner Mohideen, and later BM
Bodi Liyanage, MH Marikar, S. Nadaraja, Kumala Moahmed, IMA Wahab.
When football flourished in Kandy, schools were the nursery of the clubs. Where St. Anthony's, Kingswood, Dharmaraja, Sri Rahula, St. Paul's (now known as Sri Sumangala), Berrawatts, Vidyartha and St. Sylvester's excelled. In 1963 the Kandy Schools Football Association was formed and it did an excellent job to promote the game. Zahira Gampola, Nugawela Central, Gampola Vidyalaya, Wickramabahu, Kathiresan from Nawalapitiya, Highlands from Hatton and Zahira Matale played under the Kandy Schools Association.
When will Kandy football recapture its past glory?
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