Bogambara resurrected.... thanks to the President and Sports Minister

By Hafiz MARIKAR

A round of applause to President Mahinda Rajapaksa, and the Sports Minister C.B. Ratnayake where others have failed, they have done it in grand style. Kandy's sporting fraternity thanks both of you profusely for reconstructing and renovating the Bogambara Stadium to facilitate all sports at International level to take place. It was your initiative to have the National Sports Festival in Kandy.

The historic Bogambara Grounds in the heritage city of Kandy serves as a neutral venue for all sports, raging from football, rugby, hockey, athletics, netball, basketball creating tremendous enthusiasm by budding sportsmen and sportswomen in the district seeking to get to the next level in the respective spheres of sports. It is the Minister of Sports C.B. Ratnayake who was instrumental in reconditioning with modernization of the Bogambara Stadium.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa, like former President late R. Premadasa, is a great lover of sports. He has done much to boost all sports, his current concentration is to build a fully equipped stadium in Hambantota where World Cup cricket will also be played, Many thanks President, please help Kandy by giving your fullest support to develop the Bogambara Stadium, with a complex for the Kandy Associations to have its headquarters for sports. The Bogambara stadium can accommodate sports like football, hockey, netball, athletics, rugger and these offices can be placed outside the stadium on the left-hand side of the entrance, which will be of great help.

In the past, the car park outside was used to park buses and the place was contaminated with fumes from vehicles and garbage not conducive for sportsmen coming to train at Bogambara.

The President knows Bogambara was one time the headquarters for Kandy football and the game flourished in Kandy with most of the national players groomed from Kandy. Due to lack of proper football grounds, most of the matches were held up.

Bogambara is used for all sports and the ground charges are beyond the reach of poor football clubs. This is one of the oldest playing fields in the country, converted to a playing field from a lake in the year 1897. In the good old days Bogambara has been the recreation venue for the Kandy crowd. It was a sports venue used for national games like gudu, thahttu, bahu, elle, etc.

From 1957 to 1960 Bogambara was used as a makeshift central market, due to the demolition of the 'Old Market'. However prominence was given to play football.

Now, the Bogambara Stadium is under a versatile sportsman and sports promoter Ronny Ibrahim, a product of Kingswood College who excelled at rugby, and later played for Kandy Sports Club and continued his career as rugby coach of Kingswood, S. Thomas'. Right now, he is the Sri Lanka Navy Coach. Navy emerged runners-up in the Clifford Cup Rugby Tourney After many years. During his short term in office, he has done a great job and put things in order with organizational skills and administration know-how and the results have already been showed.

A beauty sport

The area gave a fine view of Bogambara in the early days on the right, the entrance rises to the Hantana Hill where the tea plantation was seen. There was a stream and anglers did trout fishing.

I was an eight-year-old when I made my first acquaintance with Bogambara, with my grandfather to see a football match between Young Stars SC and Yong Wanders SC which game I can still remember. It ended in a two-all draw. Next was a rugger game, the traditional Bradby Shield game where Glen Vanlangenberg's Trinity team beat Thurairatnam's Royal side by 8 points to 3.

During the Bradby game, my grandfather, an ardent rugger fan who also played cricket and football for Kingswood, said that he could remember that famed rugger fly half Charles Cameron in action in 1930 for the CH & FC challenging the Up-Country champions Kandy Sports Club. That match went in favour of the Kandy side.

Another Bogambara favourite of that period was Phillip Buultjens, the one man who packed cricket, rugger, football, hockey and boxing all into one bag. He was the first Sri Lankan to represent the otherwise all European Kandy in the rugby tournaments. I still can believe he touched his true form in the role of a wing-three-quarter but his superb kicking was invaluable to the side. He was rather prone to injury against a very robust Opposition and Kandy was therefore determined to use his brilliant speed and skills. At Football he was also Kandy's hero. They mobbed around him with great enthusiasm, in rugby and soccer.

Cricket-first at Bogambara

Cricket rarely ruled Bogambara, but, it was at this ground, cricket was first played on a matting wicket. Maintaining a turf wicket was far too expensive particularly when its an all sports venue. But the memory lingers, and its enchantment can never fade away in a match between the Kandy Sports Club and the Indian Occasional skkipered by the where famed Col. C.K. Naidu played. It is said that the Indians began well, a stylish innings by Vijay Merchant and a fine knock by skipper Naidu himself put them at a safe 200 runs. For Kandy, in reply, Oswin Wright alone defied the wily Indian attack with Harry Jayasundara. The occasional scored 70 for 8 at close and were happy that things did't get worse.

Then at football, there are many memories and achievements, where some of the top footballers in the country came out from this grounds. It is said that 1946 was a memorable year for the Kandy football fans as the world famous German team played at Bogambara against the Kandy League Team before a mammoth crowd. The signal honour of scoring a goal in Ceylon against the visitors fell to Kandy' skipper M.T.A. Tom Ossen.

In the past Kandy Association Football League had produced some of Sri Lanka's finest footballers like H.B. Ekanayake, Kalu Sirisena, M.T.A. Tom Ossen, Mahinda Aluwihare - one of the first players the country has produced, his brother Ratnapala Aluwihare.

In hockey too, Kandy did well.

Vidyartha gets donation

There is good news that Vidyartha College grounds to is been renovated. The school produced talented players at cricket and rugby.

The school and organising committee of the Nittawela grounds continued to exist in very difficult circumstances, until the Minister of Sports C.B.Ratnayake an old boy himself, was notified of the declining task experienced by the school to develop the grounds. The Minister threw in his lot with the school. Nothing quite as fortunate as this ever happened to Vidyartha College and the grounds will get a facelift and the Sports Minister Ratnayake will be spending around 28 million rupees for the renovation of the grounds. The Minister's presence was a topic for the authorities and the work will be done.