Hameed Al Husseinie College Group of 80s rebranded their Inter School Invitational Football Tournament as the ‘President’s Cup’.
The official launch of the 10th Inter School Invitational Football Tournament for 2017 as the ‘President’s Cup’ took place at the College Hall.
Mr. Zulficar Ahmed, Vice President Group of 80’ Hameed Al Husseinie College briefed the media about the origins of the event and the event itself;
“During the early stages of 2008, we decided we must bring up this game (football) in some form or other. We gathered the past football players of our College, headed by the Group of 80’s, and we gathered all their opinions as to how we should keep the game intact, especially the school football.”
Photos: President’s Cup 2017 – (Launch Ceremony)
Photos of the President’s Cup 2017 – Launch Ceremony
“We finally came up with the idea to give international exposure to our boys by playing at internationally recognised or international playing grounds. Playing for Sri Lanka is the ultimate goal for everyone here.”
He went on to say; “Towards achieving that, we have to go through it stage by stage so by giving this opportunity for the school boys, we would be able to prevent the game from going down.”
Mr. Zulficar further spoke about how prestigious it became as he stated;
“In the past couple of years, the bulk of the national team has played this tournament; even the present captain of Sri Lanka has played our tournament. They have got the right exposure”
He then spoke of the possible future of the tournament and the possibility of similar tournaments of the same calibre by further stating;
“Now since there are 20 to 22 teams that have served the bulk of the national team, if we can expand or organise this type of tournament elsewhere, we can definitely find very good talent.”
A proud Mr. Zulficar also added;
“During the course of the tournament we see a lot of selectors in search of national players, as well as for club level.”
Mr. Zulficar then gave us the reason as to why the resulting tournament would be called the ‘President’s Cup’;
“All these past years we have named this trophy differently, however, now since it has attained age, we have given it the title of ‘President’s Cup’”
“For this we would like to thank His Excellency, President Maithripala Sirisena for accepting our request and granting our permission to conduct the tournament.”
