The Bloomfield Club was inaugurated in Pettah in 1893. The Club shifted to Campbell Park in 1923. The late Shelley Wickramasinghe was instrumental in developing the Club during his tenure as President. The Club expanded in the 1980s and has produced many famous cricketers, such as, Dhanasiri Weerasinghe, Jayantha Seneviratne, Bandula Warnapura, T.M. Dilshan and Kumar Dharmasena. The Bloomfield Club has won trophies such as, the Daily News trophy and the P. Saravanamuttu trophy. Famous Indian cricketers, Sunil Gavaskar and Ajith Wadekar have visited the Bloomfield Club.
The membership is decided by the Management Committee and ladies are allowed to become members. At present, the Club has about 600 members and 200 life members. In the past, the Club also had athletics and hockey. The Club is now located on a six and a half acre of prime land along Philip Gunawardena in Colombo 7 which includes the grounds and the building.
It provides excellent facilities for cricket with six central wickets, eight side wickets and a gymnasium. The Club’s objective is to produce cricketers for the national side and they have been doing it for the past 40 or 50 years. The past captains of the Bloomfield Club are, Bandula Warnapura, Jayantha Seneviratne, Kumar Dharmasena, T.M. Dilshan, Sanjaya Gangodawila and Suraj Randiv. They hope to expand the club by constructing a three storeyed building with billiard rooms, restaurants, gymnasium, squash courts, indoor nets and two bars.
The current President, Jayantha Seneviratne has been a member of the Club for 46 years and a committee member for 36 years. He is a renowned cricketer, coach and cricket commentator. His message for aspiring young members is, that they should be disciplined and dedicated.
He says, “Cricket is a gentleman’s game. It consists of a time span of about six hours per day which requires patience and discipline.” He also says, cricketers should be good decision makers because they have to make crucial decisions in a fraction of time. He explains, “When a ball is delivered, the cricketer has only a fraction of a moment to decide how to bat.”
Seneviratne says, new members must be committed to further developing the Club.
Pix: Chinthaka Kumarasinghe