Past soccer greats:

Sally - an outstanding football player

Leslie FERNANDO

B.H.H. Sally was one of the most outstanding football players ever produced in Sri Lanka, part from being extremely modest, he had a great sense of loyalty and discipline of a very high order.

Sally possesses an unenviable record. He has played in several cup winning teams and has tremendous experience as a player, coach and administrator. He learnt his fundamentals at Holy Cross College, Kalutara and later turned out for several establishments and clubs. He has toured with the Sri Lanka team abroad on several occasions and had the distinction of captaining the Sri Lanka team.

Starting his career at the tender age of 16 Sally showed tremendous talent and continued in the game for a period of 20 unbroken years. Around the age of 20 Sally graduated into the national team when he played in the 3rd Asian Youth Football Tournament in 1963 in Thailand. Sally born in 1940 at Peradeniya, Kandy. He used to go to school with a tennis ball and on the way started kicking the ball around the Kalutara Esplanade. After leaving school he joined the Colombo Municipality as a playground instructor and worked for two years there 1961-1962. Sally was a key member of the star-studded Municipal Football team captained by another soccer stalwart P.H.S. Albert. Sally played a major role as a reliable midfielder to help Municipality win the Government Services `A' Division League and knock-out Soccer Tournament and also to win the FA Cup twice.

After leaving Colombo Municipality, Sally joined Royal Primary School as football coach and then worked at Associated Motorways from 1965 to 1996. Sally played for various clubs in Kalutara.

Sally has a fine record. He captained the national team in 1962 that participated in the Aga Khan Gold Cup Tournament held in Bangladesh, East Pakistan. He was also a member of the Sri Lanka team for the same tournament in 1961 and 1962.

Earlier he represented Sri Lanka in the Third Asian Youth Football Tournament in Thailand. Sally was also a member of the first Sri Lanka Olympic soccer team that played against All-India in Bangalore, India and thereafter participated in the Southern Football Pentangular Tournament in Kerala.

He also represented Sri Lanka against visiting soccer teams from East and West Germany, Brazil, Switzerland, Sweden, Indonesia and All-India. Sally was described by the Pakistani press as `Sri Lanka's star centre half.' He was very close to Peter Ranasinghe one of Sri Lanka's soccer greats in this position. His play against the West German team was described by their coach as of `International class.'

The national press selected him as the runner-up in the `Footballer of the Year' contest conducted in connection with the Silver Jubilee Celebrations of the Sri Lanka Football Federation in 1963 and received the trophy from late Sir Stanley Rous, former President of the World Football Body.

Sally was also a very experienced coach and has attended the FIFA/Coca-Cola world football development program conducted under the auspices of FIFA held in Colombo in 1977.

The former West German coach B. Pape conducted the seminar. He was selected by the Football Federation of Sri Lanka in 1984 to undergo advanced training in football coaching at Bishan Abbey in England, but could not participate due to unavoidable circumstances.

He also attended the Olympic Solidarity Course in Football in 1996 under the auspices of the FFSL and National Olympic Committee of Sri Lanka.

Sally had the opportunity in participating in the administration course of FUTURO II, the FIFA/Coca-Cola Education Program organised by the Internationale de Football Association in Sri Lanka in 1998. Sally was the Secretary of the Kalutara Football League and a member of the National Football Selection Committee. Sally was also the Assistant Treasurer of the Football Federation of Sri Lanka and the Secretary General.