Kandy could reign in sports only if another well-equipped ground is built. Sports are so popular in Kandy and developing fast that today there is an urgent need for another play ground, especially for sports like football, hockey, athletics and cricket.
Thanks, to the KMC they leased the Nittawela grounds to Kandy Sports Club which is now their rugby grounds at Nittawela, which they make good money by hiring it for schools.
The Bogambara Stadium was an asset for sports activities earlier when it was under the KMC. But today most of the clubs are finding it difficult to play their matches due to high ground fees and separate payments for marking lines using the the pavilion , referee change room etc. for a play ground which is not up to the required standards.
Bogambara is one of the oldest in the country, which was converted from a lake in 1897. During the early years it became a site for carnivals, games, circuses and gymkhanas during the colonial rule.Gradually, Kandy SC, a few football clubs — St. Anthony’s, Trinity, Sri Rahula, St. Paul’s Dharmaraja and Kingswood made use of it to play cricket, football, rugger, hockey and athletics. It was also used for national games like Elle, Bahu, Thattu, Gudu etc also.
The Bogambara Grounds was elevated to the standard of a stadium in 1972 when the municipal special commissioner of that time M.B. Samarakoon together with sports promoters like the late E. L. Senanayake, E. W. Balasuriya, Noel Wimalasena, late M. Shanmugam, Superintendent of Police CP at that time, late Dr. C. D. L. Fernando, late A. M. I. N. Marikar, Shelton Ranaraja and the late M. E. Marikar found a sponsor and with the fullest backing from E. W. Balasuriya who provided financial assistance converted it to a stadium through his carnival profits . There were also many more donors where the names of whom were put up in front of the pavilion which is not there today.
Most of the schools and clubs heavily depended on this stadium for their sporting activities almost every day and the owners of the grounds the Municipal Council obliged.
Till 1998 for a term of one hundred years the Kandy Municipal Council were the owners of the Bogambara Stadium. In 1998 the government which was in power took over the ground for re-development as they had plans to celebrate the Independence Day, but failed to hand over the grounds back to the authorities.
In the early days prior to the Asgiriya grounds and the Police grounds Trinity played cricket at Bogambara. Over to you The Ministry of Sports CP and Central Government to look into the matter.