User:Dan arndt/Galle Services Club
.jpg) Galle Services Club (January 2013) | |
  Galle Services Club Location within Sri Lanka | |
| Address | 2 Rampart Street |
|---|---|
| Location | Galle, Sri Lanka |
| Coordinates | 6°01′47.8″N 80°12′56.6″E / 6.029944°N 80.215722°E |
| Genre(s) | Sporting and Social Club |
| Field shape | Rectangular |
| Surface | Hardcourt |
| Opened | 1946 |
| Website | |
| www | |
The Galle Services Club is a social and sports club in Galle, Sri Lanka, which was established in 1947.
History
[edit]In 1876 a racecourse was established on the Galle Esplanade.[1][2]
In 1880 the Galle Gymkhana Club was established,[3][4] and its first secretary was Charles Pickering Hayley (1848–1934), co-founder of the firm Hayley and Kenney (now known as Hayleys PLC Ltd). The club was initially limited to European residents, but with the increasing popularity of horse racing, membership was expanded to include Ceylonese.
The Galle Gymkhana Club was permitted, on nominal terms, to construct a tennis pavilion on grounds belonging to the municipality. In 1920 an island-wide open tennis tournament for which the best players from Colombo and elsewhere enter, is annually a regular feature of the Race and Sports program of the Galle Gymkhana Club.[5]
In 1922 the club shifted its horse racing to the Manning racecourse, a 40 ha (100 acres) freehold site, at Boossa,[6] 8.0 km (5 mi) north of Galle, with stabling for 250 race horses.[3] The clubhouse however remained in its original location.
In 1956 the government banned gambling and betting in the country,[7] which resulted in the subsequent closure of the Manning racecourse. The racecourse has since been converted into a children’s playground, opened by the Lions Club of Galle and named after Mahendran Amarasooriya.
The club was later renamed to Galle Gymkhana Lawn Tennis Club.
In February 2021 all the courts at the club were refurbished and made hardcourts.
Further reading
[edit]- Sri Lanka Tennis Association (1990). D. Lam Seneviratne (ed.). 75 years of the Sri Lankan Tennis Association: 1915-1990. New Lankan Printers.
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ "Galle International Cricket Stadium".
- ^ Jasentuliyana, Nandasiri (2016). Same Sky, Different Nights. Author House. ISBN 9781524600419.
- ^ a b Ferguson's Ceylon Directory. Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Limited. 1962. p. 1153.
- ^ "Historical glance at Galle". The Isand. 20 November 2020. Retrieved 12 August 2024.
- ^ Sri Lanka. Minindōru Depārtamēntuva (1950). Brohier, Richard Leslie (ed.). Land, Maps & Surveys. Vol. 1–2. Ceylon Government Press. p. 97.
- ^ Ceylon Today. Vol. 8. Ceylon Government Information Department. 1959. p. 27.
- ^ "Don't Ban Races: Mammoth Petition To Kotelawala". Indian Daily Mail. 16 October 1955. p. 4.
External links
[edit]Category:1885 establishments in Ceylon Category:Tennis venues in Sri Lanka Category:Organizations established in 1885 Category:Buildings and structures in Galle Category:Sport in Galle Category:Defunct horse racing venues in Sri Lanka