The girls’ football team of Bandiwewa Maha Vidyalaya (in red) is pictured in one of their recent soccer matches 

• The girls from Bandiwewa Maha Vidyalaya recently emerged as champions in the Under 20 category and also won a gold medal at an All Island tournament in Jaffna braving hardships
• The team from the sports minister’s village has no sponsor or donor to improve football 
• The present sports minister lives a few metres away from this school
• Parents have no income to assist their children who play football
• Children from other schools stayed in hotels but these  girls didn’t have the money to enjoy such luxuries 
• Some education officials have even requested this school’s soccer team to refrain from mentioning about the challenges faced during the tournament

Football is a sport that is popular among Sri Lankans, similarly to cricket. Therefore people in urban as well as rural areas engage in both these sports. The Polonnaruwa Bandiwewa Maha Vidyalaya is one school that has excelled in football since 2018. But in 2018 its students started playing football sans any kind of training. 

At the inception, the students neither had a playground to practice football nor did they have proper footwear or adequate meals. But these challenges didn’t stop them from practising the sport. Their enthusiasm was such that they started showing colours as soon as they took to the game. In 2018 itself, the students emerged champions at the All Island Under-14 Football Championship. While Oshadhi Vandana was awarded the Best Player, Erandika Harshani was awarded as the Best Goal Keeper. Two other students, Sandeepani De Silva and Sasandi Nimsara emerged as Best Players in the Under-12 age group and even received training in Barcelona, Spain. Apart from that, Rashmi Kaveesha was selected as the Vice Captain of the Under-16 Football National Team; further proving their commitment to the sport. 

The Bandiwewa Maha Vidyalaya football team has thus emerged victorious in several other state level football tournaments. The girls emerged champions at the Under-14 Academy tournament organised by the Sri Lanka Football Federation in 2019, reached the semi-finals at the All Island Under 12 Football Championship (2019) and booked their slot in the semi-finals at the All-Island Under-14 Football Champion (2021). In 2021, two players also represented Sri Lanka at an Under-20 Football Tournament held in Bangladesh. In 2022, the girls once again emerged as semi-finalists at the All Island Under-14 Football Championship with one of them bagging the award for the Best Keeper. They made the Semi-finals at the All Island Under-16 Football Championship, became champions at the Under-16 Football Championship organised by the Sri Lanka Football Federation while claiming the award for the Best Player. They also won third place at the All Island Under 20 Football Championship. 

In 2023, they were placed third at the All Island Under 17 football tournament and emerged champions at the All Island Under-20 Football Championship. Despite these talents, nobody has thus come forward to sponsor or assist these children to excel in football. “Even though certain Polonnaruwa district politicians and well-wishers have donated sports equipment from time to time, this equipment is not adequate,” claimed Dhananjaya Madushan, a past pupil of the School who has worked tirelessly to improve the sport. 

A dream nourished on water and practice 

“We didn’t have a proper playground when we started practices back in 2018. We went to almost every politician in Ratnapura requesting the playground to be upgraded. But those

requests fell on deaf ears. The children didn’t have proper footwear for practices and also when participating in all island tournaments. They contested certain tournaments barefoot and were injured as well. They don’t have proper meals. Sometimes they would just drink water and practice. Having a nutritious meal is a dream for them. Their parents have no proper income to help their children excel in the sport. However since 2018 the children have showcased their talents,” said Madushan.

Adding to their list of obstacles, the children endured many difficulties while participating at the All Island football tournament held in Jaffna this year. “We didn’t have money to participate at this tournament. With 30 children, parents and coaches a total of 45 people had to go for the tournament. The accommodation charges and other expenses rounded up to about Rs. 450,000. Neither the school nor parents could bear this cost. The school then prepared a letter requesting for any kind of financial donation and we went to almost every shop in Polonnaruwa, Jayanthipura, Kaduruwela in search of sponsors. We managed to collect Rs. 110,000. Another Rs. 4500 was collected from students and we received another Rs. 135,000. We then requested support from the Zonal Education Office and we managed to arrange passes for children to travel via train. With that we managed to reduce the total budget to around Rs. 250,000,” reminisced Madushan. 

All these hardships remind Sri Lankan moviegoers about the Sinhala film ‘Goal’ which highlights the story how players from a less affluent background follow their dream of playing football and emerging the victor. Coming back to the feat of these soccer girls it has come at a time when Sri Lanka is trying to pick up the pieces and look to the future after the Football Federation of Sri Lanka saw a ban imposed on it by FIFA being lifted only recently. And the irony of all this is that the present sports minister Roshan Ranasinghe lives a few metres away from this school that has produced a champion side in football and critics point out that this state official has not made any response regarding this feat.

There were no vegetables. So the children had to eat moringa (murunga) and dhal. They had to travel 12 kilometres if they intended to buy fish. The language barrier made things even more difficult. The people in the area didn’t understand Sinhala and they didn’t understand Tamil. On days when there were matches they managed to give eggs, fish and sprats for lunch just for the children

On October 5, the children had reached Mahawa and then taken the train to Kankasanthurai. From there the children had walked another one and a half kilometres to reach the venue as they had no vehicle to tour around Jaffna. “One individual promised us to find accommodation. But we didn’t have lodging facilities once we reached Jaffna. Participants from other schools have come with their parents and friends and all places were booked. We couldn’t find any place even for rent and we didn’t have enough monies for such an expense. Even though we did find a place to stay it wasn’t safe enough for 30 girls. Finally, we stayed in a three storey building at the Public school. The parents and children were at the topmost storey which had no facilities. They had to sleep on the cement floor. The fathers slept in the second storey to provide safety for the children,” Madushan recalled.

Since the children didn’t like to eat from shops, the team had to cook for themselves. “We got some utensils from a nearby shop, bought dry rations and cooked at an abandoned land adjacent to where we were staying,” Madushan continued. “There were no vegetables. So the children had to eat moringa (murunga) and dhal. We had to travel 12 kilometres if we were to buy fish. The language barrier made things even more difficult. Those people didn’t understand Sinhala and we didn’t understand Tamil. On days when there were matches we managed to give eggs, fish and sprats for lunch just for the children. Sometimes the children were hungry at night and we would go to the shop to bring them bread,” he said.

“We had to travel around 12 kilometres to participate in some matches. For this we used the cab at Polonnaruwa Kadawala Vidyalaya. On our way back we travelled by bus. On other days the children walked 2-3 kilometres to reach the ground. The matches ended on October 9 and the closing event was held in Jaffna. But we didn’t have a way to go there. We then requested for a bus because we didn’t have any other way to reach the location. Somehow our request was fulfilled. Even amidst all these obstacles we emerged as champions in the All Island Under 20 category and won a gold medal as well. In addition we were placed third in the Under 17 category. We didn’t have a cool box or ice in case of injuries. The players didn’t have bottled water to drink and they drank water from the taps. We didn’t have a vehicle in case of an emergency. There were no medicines or first aid. One child fell ill and she was taken in the cab given to us by Kadawala Vidyalaya,” Madushan recalled.

We didn’t have a proper playground when we started practices back in 2018. We went to almost every politician in Ratnapura requesting the playground to be upgraded. But those requests fell on deaf ears. The children didn’t have proper footwear for practices and also when participating in all island tournaments.

- Dhananjaya Madushan,  Past Pupil Polonnaruwa Bandiwewa Maha Vidyalaya

No appreciation, no welcome

Even though children from other schools had facilities to walk around Jaffna and play on the beach, the children from Bandiwewa Vidyalaya were not that fortunate. Their only happiness was the fact that they emerged as champions and brought honour to their school. “On the day we were returning to Polonnaruwa we gave them an opportunity to have fun at the beach,” Madushan continued. “While on their way back the children thought that the school would receive them by organising a grand welcome. I heard them saying “they will light firecrackers and have welcome banners to receive us”. But their happiness was short lived. There were no banners or firecrackers to welcome them. They just stepped down from the bus and returned to their respective homes. Six days later they still didn’t receive any appreciation for their achievements. Some education officials even requested us to refrain from mentioning about the challenges faced during the tournament,” Madushan further said.

However on October 29, around 10 past pupils had gotten together to organise an event to appreciate their achievements. The children who excelled at the football championship were felicitated for their talents. Another event was organised at the school to celebrate their achievements. Over the past five years, the female football team at Bandiwewa Maha Vidyalaya has brought much pride and honour to the school amidst a heap of obstacles. With better sponsorship and assistance, this school will undoubtedly produce national level players in time to come. This is their only dream.

With no hotel to stay in these lasses had to use the cement floor at the sports stadium when the time came for them to have meals