By Prageeth Sampath Karunathilake   

Having suffered shortage of food, no place to have a proper sleep, walking miles sometimes to the grounds, the courageous girls from Bandiwewa Maha Vidyalaya in rural Polonnaruwa have braved all odds to win the All Island Under-20 Football Championship and also the Bronze at the All Island Under 17 football tournament held in Jaffna recently.  

The bitter reality of the story of these spirited girls from underprivileged backgrounds who loved and played one of the world’s most money making sports was that the school they represented was situated just a few metres away from the most powerful decision maker in the country’s sports, the Minister of Sports.  

Having travelled in public transport - trains and buses from Polonnaruwa to Jaffna, the children and their parents even had to walk miles the day before the opening day of the sports event. They had found no place to stay overnight and had an anxious wait until they were offered a public school building to break journey. During the rest of the 5-day tournament, 30 children and their parents had to put up in a public school which has the least facilities. This is while some children who took part in the same tournament stayed in hotels. On most of the days the sporting children had to survive on rice with moringa and dhal, with eggs given on the day they had matches.  

Once they emerged champions and returned to Polonnaruwa, some  bootlegging education officials had demanded from the children and the  school not to reveal to the media the hardships that they endured during the National football championship.