Kodava Hockey Festival
The clan of Kodavas in the Indian state of Karnataka have a long history of association with the game of hockey. The district of Kodagu which is the land of the Kodavas is considered as the cradle of Indian hockey.[1][2] More than 50 Kodavas have represented India in international hockey tournaments, out of which 7 are Olympians.[1] B P Govinda, M P Ganesh, M M Somaiya and Arjun Halappa are some of the prominent Kodavas who have represented India. The passion for hockey in Kodagu is so much that more than 200 families participate in an annual hockey festival. This festival is recognised as one of the largest hockey tournaments in the world and has been referred to the Guinness Book of Records.[1] However it has already found a mention in the Limca Book of Records, which is an Indian variant of the Guinness Book.[1]
Origin
The Kodava hockey festival was started in the year 1997 and was the brainchild of 69 year old Pandanda Kuttappa who was a first division hockey referee and an ex-employee of State Bank of India.[1] He conceived the idea of creating a platform in which the different Kodava families can get together. Realising the passion of hockey in Kodagu, he decided that a hockey festival would be a good event to bring Kodavas together. He also chose the hockey festival because he was disturbed about the growth of junior hockey players from Kodagu.[1] The response was lukewarm and in the inaugural tournament called as Pandanda Cup held at Karada, around 60 families participated. Some rules were framed which included that all the team members must belong to the same family (surname) and participate in a full hockey attire. Even women could be a part of the team and it was left to the woman to decide whether she wants to represent the father's family or that of the husband's. After the inagural tournament, an academy called as The Kodava Hockey Academy was started to oversee and have the final say in all matters related to the future tournaments.[3] Each subsequent tournament would be organised annually by a different Kodava family and the name of the family was given as the name of the tournament.
Growth
In 1998, the response saw an improvement with 116 teams participating in the Kodira Cup at Kadanga which was won by the Kullettira family.[3] 140 teams participated in the Ballachanda Cup held in the year 1999 which was declared to be jointly won by Koothanda and Kullettira families. Koothanda continued their winning streak by winning the next two tournaments called as Cheppudira Cup held at Ponnampet in 2000 and Nellamakkada Cup held at Ammathi in 2001.[3] The response in these two tournaments also so an increase with 170 teams participating in the year 2000 and 220 teams in the year 2001. Kullettira got their third win when they won the Chekkera Cup in the year 2002, a tournament that attracted 252 teams. As many as 280 teams participated in the Kaliyanda cup held at Napoklu in 2003 and won by the Nellamakkada family. The participation saw a dip in the year 2004 with 235 teams participating in the Maleyanda Cup held at Madapur, which was finally won for the fourth time by the Koothanda family.
References
- ^ a b c d e f "Time-out". Online Edition of The Hindu, dated 2004-06-13. 2004, The Hindu. Retrieved 2007-06-21.
- ^ "Coorg: A nursery of Indian hockey". Online Edition of The Deccan Herald, dated 2006-04-04. 2005, The Printers (Mysore) Private Ltd. Retrieved 2007-06-21.
- ^ a b c Jeevan Chinnappa. "Preparations on for Kodava family hockey festival". Online Edition of The Hindu, dated 2005-03-28. 2005, The Hindu. Retrieved 2007-06-21.