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| Sunday, 29 February 2004 |
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Badulla's five FIFA Referees... by V. T. RAJ - Badulla Sports Corr. Badulla District Football Referees Association entered its name in the Sri Lanka history book by producing five FIFA referees within the last few years. Apart from Colombo, Badulla is the only outstation district to produce five FIFA referees. Nimal Wickrematunge was the first to qualify as FIFA referee where he brought credit to Sri Lanka by officiating in the World Cup final rounds in 1998. Others who followed his footsteps are Anura de Silva, C. A. B. Marasinghe, Rohan Tilak alphonso and D. R. Ratnayake. Wickrematunge: Nimal was educated at Badulla Dharmadutha College and at Badulla Central College. He represented Sri Lanka Junior and Senior Football team and toured several countries. He has 13 years experience as FIFA referee. In 1995 officiated at Qatar in the Junior World Cup Tournament, 1996 he officiated at the Asian Football Tournament, in 1997 officiated in Africa, in 1997 officiated in Malaysia in the Junior World Cup and in 1998 he had the opportunity of officiating at the World Cup final rounds and brought credit not only to Sri Lanka but also to Asia as he was the only Asian to officiate in the World Cup final round. In the same year, he was elected as best Assistant Referee in Asia. He is the present President of the Badulla Football Referees' Association and a member of the Sri Lanka Football Referees' Association. He is presently employed as English teacher at Uva College, Badulla. Anura de Silva: Educated at Dharmadutha College, Badulla and took up refereeing in 1987. After ten years, he was appointed as FIFA referee and toured Maldives and Nepal. In 2003, he officiated at finals of the SAF Football Tournament at Bangladesh and in the same year, he officiated at the semi-finals of the AFC Tournament held in Thailand. To date, he had officiated 38 football matches abroad. He is presently employed as Badulla Sports Officer attached to Uva Provincial Council Ministry of Sports and had officiated in many FA Cup finals in Sri Lanka. C. A. B. Marasinghe: He too was educated at Badulla Dharmadutha College, Apart from football, he had represented in athletics and a senior volleyball referee. He was appointed as FIFA referee in 1999 and officiated at the Tokyo Olympics preliminary round matches. Thereafter he had officiated in China, Indonesia, South Africa, Maldives and Singapore. He is presently employed at Ceylinco Insurance at Badulla Branch and he too had officiated in several FA Cup finals in Sri Lanka. Rohan Thilak Alphonso: He had his early education at Uva College, Badulla and at Badulla Central College and De Mazenod in Kandana. He is presently employed as Sports Officer in Hali-Ela attached to the Uva Provincial Council Ministry of Sports. He is an all-round sportsman. He had represented in football, hockey, athletics, basketball, cricket and badminton and represented Badulla and Sri Lanka in many sports. He had toured Thailand, Maldives, Malaysia, India and Pakistan representing Sri Lanka in football and hockey. He was appointed as FIFA referee in 2003 and had officiated in Maldives and Bangladesh. D. R. Ratnayake: He too was educated at Dharmadutha College, Badulla and higher education at Badulla Central College and presently employed as Physical Training Instructor in service Adviser at Dharmadutha College. He has participated in athletics and represented Sri Lanka in hockey from 1985 to 1990. He took up football refereeing in 1991 and was appointed as FIFA only this year. He aattended a training course and seminar held at Kuala Lumpur during January 2004. Uva Football Referees Association was founded on 30th May 1952 with C H. M. King as President and by 1958 there were nearly 20 football referees in Badulla. T. N. Jainudeen, K. D. Thatchanamoorthi, K. Markandan, K. D. Wickremasena, J. M. Peter, T. P. Passella, E. C. K. Lankagi, M. Samhoon, C. H. M. King, H. R. Lisk, B. Jaya Carrim, D. V. Luwanis, E. S. Tissera, M. S. Packir Saibo, W. M. Silva, D. Munaweera, I. M. Marzook, S. Thurairajasingham, G. P. Aaron, J. John Vargeese, Basil Jesudasan, M. I. Packir Mohamed and K. I. L. Jamaldeen. However when Mr. King left the Island, the Association, did not fold up. Taking the challenge, M. R. S. Amarapala came forward and trained young footballers and made them qualified referees. Some of them whom I can remember are: A. Pathmanathan, A. Mahadevan, Ralph Tissera, W. A. Chandraratne, W. Chandradasa de Silva, L. Weerasinghe, George Dissanayake, V. T. Raj, Nimal Wickrematunge, A. Shanmugarajah, Sam Fernando, A. A. Buhardeen, Cyril Wijewardena. Thereafter Nimal Wickrematunge took charge of training new referees and had to date produced more than fifty referees in the last ten years. These referees meet every poya day at the Vincent Dias Stadium for discussions and training. They also improve their cordial relationship by playing football matches against the referees in Colombo and Gampaha. |
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