The flagship events of the 1st EFLI Inter University Flag Football tournament were carried out at the CR and FC grounds yesterday and today.
The Elite Football League of India (EFLI) was first introduced to Sri Lanka in 2012, when an American Football championship was carried out with the participation of teams from India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Flag football is a downsized version of American football, featuring 5 players on each team that follows the standard rules of American Football.
The tournament, which was carried out on the 27th and 28th of June, saw the participation of as many as 16 teams, featuring teams from Jaffna and Pakistan too. The quality of play was impressive although many of the players had started playing the sport very recently.
The post lunch session of Day 2 began with the finals of the Shield Championships, with the NIBM Bees taking on the IIT Panthers. The Panthers began well with an early touchdown, but the Bees quickly came back with one of their own. They also managed to put away their conversion and were leading the Panthers 7-6 halfway through the game. The Panthers came back strongly to score 2 more touchdowns and sealed the game in their favour. The game ended with the Panthers winning 18 – 7.
The Bowl final in many ways was the game most of the neutral spectators were most interested in because it saw the Jaffna Warriors take on the University of Sargodha, Pakistan. The competitors from Pakistan were definitely bigger, but the lads from Jaffna somehow managed to hold them off until the very last minutes of the game. Captain of the Jaffna Warriors Balakrishnan Prashan then took the game into his own hands, deciding not to throw the pass to his running backs but to carry the ball into the end zone himself. His quick thinking paid off and he scored the only touchdown of the game, the Warriors winning 6 – 0. Speaking exclusively to ThePapare he had this to say about the crucial play “I felt really under pressure, from the sides people were shouting and all of that was inside my mind, whether I’m going to throw or…. At the last moment I thought it is better to take the ball and go and it worked.”
Next came the Plate finals with the NSBM Storms taking on the IIT Dragons. This was yet another very closely contested game, with tempers running high and resulting in a few unnecessary pushes and shoves being thrown around in the end. It was the NSBM storms who took an early lead in the game with a touchdown, but their failed conversion would come back to haunt them as the IIT Dragons tied the game with a touchdown and then took the lead with a successful conversion. They held on to that one point lead to win 7 – 6.
The tournament organizers next put together an exhibition game between the US Embassy Invitational Team and the Colombo Lions. Once again the overseas team had the upper hand when it came to size but the Lions, boosted by the presence of Sri Lanka Rugby stars Shenal Dias and Andrew Siriwardene, countered their size with speed and agility. Although they started off scratchy, the Colombo Lions eased to a comfortable 14 – 0 win.
The Cup Final started off with no clear favourites with both the Kotalawala Defence University Riffles and the NIBM Wildcats having overcome some tough opposition in the previous rounds to reach the big final. True to this, the game was extremely hard fought with the Riffles scoring a touchdown at the last minute to tie up the game. They, however, failed to make the conversion and at fulltime the game was tied at 13/13. The game then went into sudden death – whoever scored first would win the Championship. Despite winning the possession of the ball, the KDU Riffles gave it away with a loose, long range pass. The NIBM quarter back then threw the winning pass to one of the receivers, who held on with a brilliant diving effort. They did not make the conversion, but that did not matter, the Cup Final was won.
The concept of Flag Football was new to most of the players that represented the teams at the tournament, many of whom were brought up playing Rugby, none more so than the boys from the University of Jaffna. “We have started rugby just two years ago, and it is a vastly different game. But we found some very good players and we started training with the coaches Botha and Hithushan who came from Colombo – they came there and gave us support. Also our coach Mr. Gunaratnam Kulasingham and Mr Sivaraja helped. We also did some research on the internet.” Stated Captain of the Jaffna Warriors, Balakrishnan Prashan, who was very excited to have come to Colombo to take part in this event. He also stated that he wants to make the EFLI more popular so that more teams from Jaffna can take part in events such as this.
The few spectators who did turn up also enjoyed the sporting atmosphere of the event. “It’s heartening to see the teams from all over the country playing in the right spirit. They are competitive but they are also friendly with the members of other teams.” Stated Mr. Steve, an IIT Dragons fan.
SAGT were the platinum sponsors of the event and they look forward to partnering with the EFLI in the near future too, as an American Football tri series, featuring the national teams of India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, is in the works.
