History of Festival of Cricket UK - By Dr. Gnana Sankaralingam

History of Festival of Cricket UK – By Dr. Gnana Sankaralingam

Dr. Gnana Sankaralingam Concept of conducting a cricket tournament among old boys associations in the UK was the brain child of GC Perera of Ananda, whose proposal was accepted by his OBA and intimated to other OBAs. Thus the first event was started in 1989 with the participation of six OBAs viz, Ananda, Royal, St. Anthony’s, St. Peter’s. St. Thomas’ and Trinity. It is the biggest sporting event among the Srilanka community outside their motherland. It offers them a day of entertainment in the form of food, music and funfair in addition to watching cricket. It brings together people of varying interest, and gives the opportunity for them to meet with their old school mates and friends. Surplus funds collected from the event is distributed equitably among the participating OBAs to be used for the welfare of their parent school in Srilanka. Charity wing of the organisation had been active since the inaugural year, donating money to worthy causes for the benefit of needy people both in Srilanka and in the UK.

In the inaugural year, committee formed to organise the event consisted of GC Perera, Peri Perera and Kosala de Silva of Ananda, Upali de Soysa, Dr. Daya Panditha-Gunawardena and Asitha Jayaweera of Royal, Elmo Rajasooriya and Tulsi Waloopillai of St. Thomas’, Brian Ratnayake, Larry Jobsz and Humphrey Solomons of St. Peter’s, Athula Unantenna and Sepala Munasinghe of Trinity and Chandana Seneviratne of St. Anthony’s. Challenge trophy was donated by ACF finance, which is still in place. What began in a small way later blossomed out with perfection of the process. Annual General meeting is held within 90 days of completion of the event, where election of executives takes place. At the first ordinary general meeting, chairmen of specified functions are appointed. During the past years, many have tirelessly contributed their precious time and priceless effort for the successful continuation of the event, and thereby deserve the gratefulness and commendation of all.

First event was held in 1989 on bank holiday Monday 09^th of May at Maori Club Worcester Park and was won by Ananda. Maori Club hosted the festival for the next six years. In 1990 the event was officially named “Festival of Cricket” and a constitution was formally introduced. That year four more OBAs viz, Jaffna Central, Mahinda, St. Joseph’s and Zahira entered the fray which was won by Jaffna Central. In 1991, Nalanda and St. John’s joined and was won by Jaffna Central, who repeated the success in 1992 and 1993. In 1994, four more OBAs viz Dharmaraja, Richmond, St. Benedict’s and Wesley took part and it was won by Nalanda. Increase in the number of teams, made it impossible to conduct the event at Maori Club grounds and the need to look for a bigger venue arose.

In 1995, event was held in Norman park Bromley with four more OBAs viz, St, Sebastian’s, Issipatana, St. Aloysius’ and DS Senanayake participating, and the event was won by St. John’s. After that year, schools from Jaffna left the organisation due to political reason and the crowd attendance at the event fell drastically. Norman park went on to stage the event for the next six years. Subsequently other OBAs viz, De Mazenod, Colombo Hindu, Holy Cross and Thurstan enlisted. This membership continued for the next few years. Winners in 1996 were St. Thomas’, 1997 were Nalanda, 1998 were St, Thomas’, 1999 St, Sebastian’s and Nalanda joint champs, 2000 Mahinda, and 2001 St, Benedict’s. In the next two years event was held in Shenley Cricket grounds and the winners were St. Benedict’s and Mahinda joint champs in 2002 and St. Benedict’s and Thurstan joint champs in 2003.

Since Shenley ground had only two pitches resulting in the inability to complete the games, it was necessary to move to Civil Service grounds Chiswick which had four pitches. In 2004 and 2005 the event was staged there with Trinity and Zahira joint champs in 2004 and St. Peter’s winning 2005. Unfortunately after that they refused to host the event there and as an emergency move the event went back to Shenley ground in 2006, which was won by St. Peter’s. In 2007, the event was moved to new venue at Winchmore Hill club grounds which had three pitches, and the winners were St, Benedict’s. Colombo Hindu left the organisation and three OBAs viz, Maris Stella, Mahanama and Ranula joined to make a total of 24 sides. For the next six years the event was staged there with St, Joseph’s winning in 2008, Royal in 2009, Maris Stella in 2010 and DS Senanayake in 2011. In 2012 rain washed out the tournament and fire from a cooking stall placed the organisation at the mercy of the council, who had laid down several stringent measures regarding health and safety to implement thereafter.

With problems arising due to complains by neighbours and inadequacy to conduct a decent cricket tournament, need arose to fine a larger venue. Moreover 2013 was the silver jubilee year and had to be celebrated in grand style. With their negotiating skill, President and Vice-President secured Merchant Taylors’ school grounds with complimentary school hall to host the guests. It was the first time licence for the event was obtained by the organisation with permit to run the liquor stall and keep the profit. This is the best venue to have staged the event with its picturesque surrounding. 28 teams took part including new entrant OBAs Dharmasoka, Joseph Vaz, Kingswood and St. Michael’s, with preliminary games on round robin basis for the first time, and was won by St. Joseph’s. The event was conducted in the same venue again in 2014 and the tournament was won by Joseph Vaz.

Once again due to unfortunate circumstances the hosts denied to give the ground after that and in 2015, new venue was found in Hainault recreation ground, which fitted into the specification. Three OBAs viz Maliyadeva, Batticaloa Central and Shivananda joined and was won by St. Peter’s. This venue has staged the event until now, except for years 2020 and 2021 due to Covid lock down when the event was cancelled. In 2016, it was won by St. Anthony’s. In 2017 St. Thomas’ Matale enrolled to make it 32 teams and the tournament was won by Maris Stella. After that St. Thomas’ Mt. Lavinia departed to make it 31 teams in 2018, which was won by St. Peter’s. After that St. Peter’s and Wesley left to make it 29 teams in 2019, which was won by St. Joseph’s. The event resumed after a lapse of two years, with three more OBAs viz, Prince of Wales, St. Mary’s and Vivekananda joining, to make it 32 participating, which was won by Royal in 2022 and St. Aloysius’ in 2023.

In the formative years, there were no sponsorship, but later due to enormous expenditure to stage the event, financial support from outside became necessary. Bank of Ceylon had been the main sponsor from 2007 to 2019 with cash ranging from £5,000 to 10,000 and the credit of initiating it goes to Victor Wickremasinghe. After the lock down due to financial problems in Srilanka, the sponsorship has ceased. Srilankan Airlines and its predecessor Airlanka had been with the organisation for longer period, but it was for logistical support such as for music (stage and sound), printing of entry tickets and providing airline tickets for the raffle, rather than cash. For several years the cost of getting down artistes was born by them, but later they stopped it. However due to the effort of Shiran Almeida, they gave £3000 in cash from 2013 to 2019, which was stopped after lock down due to financial constraint. All the country managers of the airline in the UK had been very supportive to the event. Other notable sponsors include Kumar Devapura of SR Gent plc and Tristar Apparels and Mike Cooke of Fast Cash, Ceylinco Consolidated, Sam’s Chicken and SM Call. Lyca Mobile which briefly made its appearance in 2013 and 2014, dropped out subsequently. Ananda Thevathasan had brought many major sponsors, over the years, whereas several others had played their part in getting event sponsorship.

Securing a venue is important. While Maori Club Worcester park and Shenley Cricket Club were found by joint effort of the committee, Laki Liyanage was instrumental in getting Norman park Bromley. Len Ludwick is credited for obtaining Civil service ground Chiswick and Winchmore Hill Cricket Club. It was the coordinated effort of Dr. Gnana Sankaralingam and Nalin Athukorale which resulted in the best venue of all, Merchant Taylors’ School grounds hosting the event. Current venue the Hainault recreation ground was also recommended by Dr. Gnana Sankaralingam. Len Ludwick takes the honour of streamlining ground services which is still followed, which Wasantha Perera had demonstrated that it could be managed economically. Souvenirs issued for the event were in A5 size, at first in black and white and subsequently in Colour. In 2013 souvenir was upgraded to A4 size and perfect bound. Kapila Mallikarachchige has established himself as indispensable person in production of souvenirs. Due to increasing number of sponsors and special guests, need arose to entertain them at the event. Hospitality marquee initially accommodated 150 including paying guests, making a loss in the process. In 2013 Kivan Fernando organised it well with 320 people attending, making huge profit, which procedure is being followed since that time. Each and every member of organising committee has contributed in small ways for the success of the event, and deserve to receive praise.

Dr. Gnana Sankaralingam – President 2013

1989 – Inaugural Year

1989 - Inaugural Year