Poor man’s soccer has no place in Sri Jayewardenepura
Sri Jayewardenepura Kotte Football League with a history of over 60 years served the people and the sports loving public of Kotte in various ways in sports, social and welfare activities with distinction.
The football league was the brainchild of late DIG D.N. Van Twest the then ASP of Mirihana Division. An ardent soccer fan and an administrator, called all the youngsters to a meeting along with their elders from every ward in the Kotte electorate to form football clubs and enroll them as members of the Nugegoda District Football League. This league was later refined and reformed by the late Mayor of Kotte Municipal Council late Chandra Silva and renamed it as the Sri Jayewardenepura Kotte Football League in 1999.
From the inauguration of the new league it conducted football competitions which were taken part by every football club of the area as requested by the late DIG at the biggest playground of Kotte at the time named after the “Lion of Kotte’ the late E.W. Perera in the heart of the city at Welikada. SJKFL went on smoothly winning the hearts of every sports fan. But with the proposed construction of the new parliament and widening of the road to the parliament, the E.W. Perera Park was destroyed by putting the road through the playing area.
In the year of 1978 the Kotte Football League received the first blow when the pavilion had to be handed over to the Welikada Police thus retarded the progress of the young footballers.
In 1998 Chandra Silva the Mayor resurrected the ailing football league by building a beautiful stadium at Rajagiriya naming ‘Chandra Silva Stadium’ and became the president and introduced cash prizes for the winners and losers of tournaments, found sponsors and the league flourished to take giant strides.
Disaster struck again to the league and the people of Kotte as the Chandra Silva Stadium was taken over by the then government to build the Mahapola Complex and the stadium was demolished completely in 2003 and this
ac- tion resulted the league to be high and dry with no place to conduct its activities and practices.
Later a plot of land was reserved with a grant of Rs. 300 Lakhs was released for a new playground by the government in 2005 adjoining the HSBC building. But regret to state upto date no signs of a new playground construction took place and the plot of land left neglected and nobody knows what happened to the bid grant allocated. The foundation stone still stand alone surrounded by stray cattle and a scrubland.
A powerful secretary of the last government built a rugby ground with lush green turf and all facilities for his alma mater close to the neglected plot of land. This school one of the leading schools of the island with all the facilities to its students are having a playground adjoining their college premises.
It is difficult to understand despite personal pleas and requests in writing to authorities of so many regimes under different Presidents made by the General Secretary of the Sri Jaya-wardhanapura Kotte Football league Telesphor Dias who carries a disability for the last 40 years went unheard. But to the aston- ishment of all a new rugby ground came up close to the reserved plot of land for the Kotte people.
It is high time that the authorities concerned of this people’s government along with the Football Federation of Sri Lanka find a solution for the humble request of the Kotte Football League and find a playing area for the poor people and the young generation of Kotte to show their prowess in soccer and other sports. This will be a fine example of the government policy in ‘Take from the rich and give to the poor’