Josephian Futsal Carnival from November 10

Yasaratne Gamage

The Josephian Futsal Carnival 2012 organized by the Soccer Advisory Committee of St. Joseph's College will be held for the fourth consecutive year from November 10 at St Joseph's College grounds commencing at 8am.

The organizers have expanded this event into a truly national sporting event with more than 40 schools from all nine provinces participating this year, including St. Joseph's, St. Peter's, S. Thomas', Royal, St. John's Jaffna, St. Henry's Illavalai, Hindu College Manipay, Xavier's, St. Aloysious Ratnapura, Devananda, St. Joseph's Trincomalee, St. Joseph's College, Anuradhapura, Kingswood College, St. Anthony's Katugasthota, Dharmaraja Kandy and International Schools Elizabeth Moir, IGATE, Gateway International, JMS International and many others.

Action from the 2011 Josephian Futsal Carnival

The success and popularity of the last three carnivals has encouraged the organizers to make it an even better football experience for everyone and also learning, rewarding and most importantly entertaining experience to all those who take part in it.

Ably supported by the Rector of St. Josephs, Rev. Fr. Sylvester Ranasinghe, a team lead by a well known football maestro, Emmanuel Balendra will make sure the event a success this year too.

The tournament will be held for all age groups starting from the under-10s to all the way up to the under-19s with a mammoth 1650 players expected to participate. Cup, Plate, Bowl and Saucer trophies will be awarded in the under 13, 15, 17 and 19 age groups.

All the participants in the under-10 and 11 age groups will receive medals and the organizers have taken this step to encourage the kids considering the main focus of this endeavor, to search the grass root level for talent as this in fact would be the perfect stepping stone for young and talented soccer players to shine. This would directly contribute to the development of the sport in Sri Lanka.

The futsal soccer carnival was in fact a concept by Manilal Fernando, Chairman of the Management Committee of the FFSL and FIFA Executive Committee member.

The event is endorsed by the Sri Lankan Schools Football Federation. Manil Fernando, Chairman Youth Development, FFSL will be the chief guest for the event.

Renown SC one of the leading football clubs in Sri Lanka and their Patron Crispin Peiris have come forward to sponsor the event this year as well. The other main sponsor is SpecialBlossom.com the leading web content developer. Standard Chartered Bank and Cargills (Ceylon) PLC are the other sponsors for this event.