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by our Badulla sports correspondent

Who is responsible for the deterioration of the standard of sports in Badulla? is the question being asked by the people of Badulla.

Public are of the opinion that the standard of all sports in the past few years had reached a low ebb in Badulla, where as it is the other way about in other districts. Who is to be blamed?

Comparing the standards of football in the early 50s and now, there seems to be a vast difference. Outstation teams including Colombo were scared to play against Badulla. There was so much talent and Badulla were unbeatable in the field of Football. The Badulla Y.M.M.A. Sports Club carried away the then C.F.A. Cup while Badulla District Football team brought the Inter-District Trophy. In late 30s, too Badulla team carried away the Times Cup. During 80s, too the standard of Sports were satisfactory where Badulla teams carried away several trophies. It is only after late 90s that the standard of sports started deteriorating.

The main reason for this sudden drop in the standard of football was that the schools in Uva failed to play inter-school tournaments. This prevented the League teams from finding talented youth. Today there is no Schools Football Association as such in Badulla! The teachers involved in Sports failed to bring the children to the grounds in the evening as they are not paid an extra allowance for same. On the other hand, the talented players in Badulla were grabbed by clubs in Colombo, which is another factor in the decline of Football in Badulla. There are only five Football Clubs in Badulla when compared to over 15 clubs a few decades ago.

It is the same in the Field of Hockey. The Secretary of the Sri Lanka Schools Hockey Association is attached to Badulla MMV, but there are no schools hockey tournaments as such in Badulla. If at all, a tournament was held among schools, it was restricted to only one day. Can we expect a high standard of hockey by restricting the league tournament to one day? The Uva Hockey Association too follows the same footsteps in conducting tournaments.

There are more than One Hundred Girls and Boys Schools in Uva and the public had never seen inter-schools Volleyball and Netball Tournaments being played in Badulla, Mahiyangana, Moneragala or Bandarawela, except for the Milo and Education Department tournaments. A separate Schools Association should be formed, only then, the tournaments could be conducted, and the standard can be improved.

The standard of Athletics seems to be improving in Badulla, and this could be further improved if the differences among the officials of the Ministry of Sports in Uva are resolved.

Cricket is the only game reported to be improving and you can see more than twenty teams participating in League and Division III tournaments. However, here again there are differences among the Clubs, Umpires and the District Association and if this was solved the standard of Cricket could be improved further.

Another fallback in Badulla is the Indoor games. Due to want of an Indoor Stadium in Badulla many talented Badminton, Basketball, Volleyball, Netball and other indoor games players are reported to be undergoing severe difficulties.

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