Renown President’s Trophy Inter-Schools U-18 Football Tourney ends in success
The finals of the Renown President’s Trophy All-Island Schools Under-18 Football Championship where Hameed Al Husseinie College emerged victorious beating Zahira College 4-2 amidst a large crowd thronging the Sugathadasa Stadium.
Hameed Al Husseinie, avenging their 0-6 loss against Zahira last season, recorded an emphatic win after leading 4-1 at half time. More than 5000 spectators turned to witness the finals as the two giants of schools football -- Hameed Al Husseinie and Zahira clashed in the boy’s finals. St. Patrick’s College, Jaffna finished overall third after beating St. Joseph’s College 5-2.
Hameed Al Husseinie footballers grabbed most honours, claiming three out of four individuals’ awards on offer. The Player of the Final award went to S. M. Hussain of Hameed Al Husseinie while his team mates A.F.M. Arham pocketed the Golden Boot award with a tally of 13 goals, alongside M.A.A. Zacky, who was named the Best Goalkeeper. However the Most Valuable Player of the Tournament went to M.N.M. Abdullah of losing finalists, Zahira College.
Perennial powerhouse Mahajana College, Tellippalai, Jaffna won the Girls championship beating St. John’s College, Kalutara 3-0 while last year’s champions Bendiwewa College, Polonnaruwa finished third after beating Kavisigamuwa Central College, Kurunegala 2-0.
Two players from Mahajana College, Jaffna, were recipients of individual awards as T. Sasmi was aptly named the Player of the Final. Her team mate T. Tharanika won the Most Valuable Player of the Tournament award for her stupendous performance throughout the tournament. The Best Goalkeeper award went to D. Tharushika Dilshani of St. John College, Kalutara.
The tournament was organised and conducted by the Sri Lanka Schools Football Association.
Sri Lanka’s leading Club and Football Academy, Renown has been sponsoring this tournament since 2016 as part of their programme to develop football in schools.
Renown first got involved in sponsoring this tournament in 2016 when it was held as the Under-19 Championship, the main tournament in schools football circle, but due to lack of sponsors the tournament could not be completed on time. As a result Renown came forward to complete the 2016 tournament before taking further steps to promote the tournament. The 2017 finals were held at Racecourse Ground and the 2018 finals which is now revised as the Under-18 Championship at Sugathadasa Stadium. Due to a combination of Covid-19 and financial crisis most school football tournaments were not held from 2019 to 2021.
“When school football resumed again in 2022, Renown sponsored or co-sponsored almost all of the school football tournaments including the All-Island Boys Under-14, 16 and 18 Championships, the All-Island Girls Under-14, 16, 18 and 20 Championships as well as the National School Games Football Championships for Boys Under-16, 18 and 20 and Girls Under18
and 20. We are humbly proud that Renown could play a responsible part in the successful completions of these tournaments,” stated Sritharan Peeris, the President of Renown Football Academy.
In 2022 and 2023 Renown took steps to play all matches from quarter-finals onwards at the Sugathadasa Stadium with both the finals bringing in large crowds which bodes well for schools football. Their next goal is to make sure there is a proper calendar so that the school tournaments are held on scheduled months every year.
It should be pointed out that the chief guest Sritharan Peeris captained the St. Joseph’s College team which won the Milo Super League All-Island Championship and was a member of the Josephian team which won the National School Games Football Championship and The Brazil Cup in the 1995/96 season. It was one of the most successful school teams in schools football history. Another remarkable feature is that Sritharan Peeris scored in the finals of all three tournaments, which was also matched by Lakshan Hettiarachchi from the same team, as well as scoring in the Joe-Pete and Joe-Ben Big Matches in the same season.
The chief guest for the boy’s final was Sritharan Peeris, the President of Renown Football Academy, the sponsors of the tournament. The guests of honour were Upali Amaratunga (Deputy Director of Sports of the Ministry of Education), Thilanga Dacshitha Sumathipala (President - Anuradhapura Football League) and Ruwan Pathirana (Assistant Director of Sports of the Ministry of Education). The chief guest for the girls’ final was Rachel Angelina Peeris, the Director of Renown Women.