A great football promoter was the late Mahinda Aluvihare who worked tirelessly to foster the sport in Kandy during a golden era and his overwhelming debut as a professional football player quickly resulted in a place in the Sri Lanka team.
Aluvihare was one of the best footballers the country produced. He was quick, strong, a good ‘header’ and dribbler of the ball, but above all, he possessed a powerful and accurate strike in both legs, a fine all-round ball player and his football journey began in the mid 1950s.
He was also a good hockey player, boxer and a fine basketball shooter. He had the privilege of leading the school at football, hockey and basketball and is a product of St.Sylvester’s College.
In 1961 he joined the Royal Ceylon Air Force and excelled in football, athletics, basketball and boxing. A very strongly built six-footer in height, he was famous for long range kicks and team leadership.
Aluvihare first sported the Sri Lanka jersey in 1961 at the Asian Youth football championship in Thailand. Some of his teammates during that time were PHS Albert, MA Ameer, Ananda Weerasekara, Basil Fonseka, M. Sivaratnam, Edward Wickramasuriya, BHH Sally, Nizam Hajireen and HA Jayatissa.
In that very same year in 1961, he got the opportunity of playing for the country under another Kandy product the late Col. CS Fernando and others who played with him were PD Sirisena, Sourjah, MM Hashimdeen, Piyadasa Perera, A. Ignatius, A. Vandergert, SM Noor and WS Boteju.
His most memorable performance was in 1968, the year he was bestowed to lead the country. In that year, they made a European tour and played a few games.
Tours of this nature were limited in any sport. On that tour his teammates were SP de Silva, A. Zainulabdeen, Tuan Amidon, SM Noor, MA Fernando, PHS Albert, PD Sirisena, M Hazmath, MA Ameer, Lionel Peiris and M Hasimdeen. He gave a big hand for Kandy football and his school and was heavily involved with the school old boys association where he was Secretary and this writer too was in that Committee.
Aluvihare led the national team in eight International matches and was one time Chairman of the Selection Committee of Sri Lanka Football. The other members in that panel were MAV Fernando, M. Subani Hashimdeen, M. Sivaratnam, Harold Anthony and Col. CS Fernando.
Mahinda Aluvihare used to say in the good old days that the standard of outstation football was such that teams never played second fiddle to the star studded Colombo clubs. Clubs from Badulla, Jaffna, Kandy, Galle and Trincomalee had taken the upper hand over the Colombo clubs on many occasions.
In Colombo, when outstation teams were billed to play, thousands queued to buy tickets. Although the usual fights and scuffles between rival supporters erupted in crucial matches, the players always maintained a level of healthy rivalry. Football gear at that time was within the reach of the players.
It was said that when Aluvihare took a free-kick he blew away both the keeper and the net.
In the conduct of matches, Aluvihare maintained that tournaments should be conducted at District level and District championships to be conducted at Provincial level and the Provincial championships to be conducted at National level.