Inter Command Football Tournament - 2017
The first ever Inter Command Football tournament held in the Northern peninsula, under the guidance of the Chairman, Sri Lanka Navy Football and the Commander Northern Naval Area Rear Admiral Jayantha De Silva, came to an end on 11th November 2017 at Duraiappah Stadium, Jaffna.
The Chief Guest of the finals was Rear Admiral Rohan Amarasinghe (Retd.) and the Guest of Honour was Mr. L Illangovan, the Secretary to the Hon Governor Northern Province. Mr. Early Sylvera, Chairman Player’s Status & National Development Team, Mr. Rohitha Fernando, Chairman Youth Development, Commodore Hasitha Gamage, Secretary Sri Lanka Navy Football, all HOD’s and Commanding Officers in the area were among the invitees.
The tournament commenced on 06th November 2017 and the preliminary matches were held in Jaffna College, Vaddukkodai and the football ground at SLNS Uttara. Altogether, nine commands of the SLN competed under Group ‘A’ and ‘B’ in this league. Group ‘A’ comprised of Training, Southern, Afloat, South Eastern and North Western Commands whilst Group ‘B’ comprised of Eastern, North Central, Northern and Western Commands. The Training Command became the champions of group ‘A’ whilst the Southern Command turned out to be the runners up in the group. In group ‘B’ North Central Command became the champions whilst Western Command was the runners up. In Semi-finals, the Training Command competed with Western Command and the Southern Command took on Western Command. After a stiff competition, Western and North Central Commands secured their berths in the finals.
The final match which was refereed by a FIFA referee, Mr. Tharanga Pushpakumara, was played at the Duraiappah Stadium. After a neck and neck fight both teams scored two (02) goals each and proceeded to the penalty shootout to decide the champions. Finally, the Western Naval Command emerged as champions for year 2017, defeating North Central Command by 06-05.
The trophy for the Best Goal Keeper was secured by AB HRDS Prasad representing the North Central Naval Command and the trophy for the Best Player was won by AB HAD Mendis representing the Western Naval Command. On completion of the finals, a colourful reception was held at Fort Hammenhiel Resort, Karainagar for all players. The participants were entertained with a wide variety of spectacular musical performance presented by the SLN band.
