Havelock Park ( si, හැව්ලොක් පාර්ක්) is a

multi-purpose stadium A multi-purpose stadium is a type of stadium designed to be easily used by multiple types of events. While any stadium could potentially host more than one type of sport or event, this concept usually refers to a specific design philosophy tha ...

Havelock Town Havelock Town is a neighbourhood of Colombo, Sri Lanka, part of an area zoned as ''Colombo 5''. It is located approximately 6 kilometres south of Fort, the central business district of Colombo. Havelock City, a mixed-used development in Havelock ...

Colombo Colombo ( ; si, කොළඹ, translit=Koḷam̆ba, ; ta, கொழும்பு, translit=Koḻumpu, ) is the executive and judicial capital and largest city of Sri Lanka by population. According to the Brookings Institution, Colombo m ...

Sri Lanka. It is one of the oldest grounds in the country. The sporting complex is located in Havelock Town and is bordered by Havelock Road, Park Road and Isipathana Mawatha.

Early history

Havelock Park was established in 1901 to honour Sir Sir Arthur Elibank Havelock (1844–1908), who was the 17th

British Governor of Ceylon The governor of Ceylon was the representative in Ceylon of the British Crown from 1795 to 1948. In this capacity, the governor was president of the Executive Council and Commander-in-Chief of the British Forces in Ceylon. The governor was the ...

(1890–1895), by the

Colombo Municipal Council The Colombo Municipal Council is the municipal governing body of Colombo, the largest city and financial centre in Sri Lanka. It consists of a directly elected executive Mayor of Colombo, current elect is Rosy Senanayake, and 119 elected 119 muni ...

(CMC). Havelock Park was originally in area but in 1905 the CMC purchased an additional for Rs 30,000. By 1907

Galle Face Green Galle Face is a ocean-side urban park, which stretches for along the coast, in the heart of Colombo, the financial and business capital of Sri Lanka. The promenade was initially laid out in 1859 by Governor Sir Henry George Ward, although t ...

Victoria Park Victoria Park may refer to: Places Australia * Victoria Park Nature Reserve, a protected area in Northern Rivers region, New South Wales * Victoria Park, Adelaide, a park and racecourse * Victoria Park, Brisbane, a public park and former golf ...

(now known as Viharamahadevi Park) and the Havelock Town Park were adjudged as being the major "green lungs" of Colombo.

Sports

During the early decades of the 19th Century, Havelock Park became the home of several sporting clubs, although one, the Havelock Golf Club, shifted to Buller's Road (Bauddhaloka Mawatha) where the Bandaranaike Memorial International Conference Hall now stands. At the northern end of Havelock Park is the public area named after the national hero, Captain Duenuge Edward Henry Pedris (1888–1915), was executed by

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

officials for alleged incitement of

racial A race is a categorization of humans based on shared physical or social qualities into groups generally viewed as distinct within a given society. The term came into common usage during the 1500s, when it was used to refer to groups of variou ...

riots in 1915, which were later proven false. Adjacent to Pedris Park, is one of Sri Lanka's oldest rugby clubs, the Havelock Sports Club, which was established in 1915. On 12 September 1907 the first international

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In it ...

match played in Ceylon was held at Havelock Park between the New Zealand All Blacks and an All Ceylon team. The grounds were renovated in July 2012 to celebrate the club's 97th anniversary. The Burgher Recreation Club (BRC) is also located on Havelock Park. The club originally known as the Bambalapitiya Sports Club was established in 1896 and in 1901 changed to Burgher Recreation Club when the club house was relocated to Havelock Park. In the south-east corner is

Colts Cricket Club Ground Colts Cricket Club Ground is a cricket ground on Park Road in Havelock Town, Colombo, Sri Lanka, in the south-east corner of Havelock Park. It has been the home of Colts Cricket Club since 1971. The ground is a regular venue for first-class ...

, the home of

Colts Cricket Club Colts Cricket Club is a first-class cricket team based in Colombo, Sri Lanka. They have won 6 first class tournaments of Sri Lanka domestic league as in 1991/92, 1999/2000, 2001/02, 2004/05, 2008/09 and 2011/12 and 2 Premier Limited Overs Tourna ...

since 1971. The ground is a regular venue for first-class matches and also hosted many

women's cricket Women's cricket is the form of the team sport of cricket when played by women only. It is played at the professional level in multiple countries around the world and 108 national teams participate internationally. 11 of them have WTest and WODI ...

matches. The Colts Cricket Club is a

first-class cricket First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is one of three or more days' scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officia ...

team that has won the Sri Lanka domestic league six times, the latest being the 2011–12 season. A children's playground was constructed in the south-west corner of the park in 1959.

Concert

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, and ...

n singer

Inna Elena Alexandra Apostoleanu (born 16 October 1986), known professionally as Inna (stylized in all caps), is a Romanian singer. Born in Mangalia and raised in Neptun, she studied political science at Ovidius University before meeting the Ro ...

performed at Havelock Park on 13 September 2015 in Sun FM concert SUNFEST 2015. Jamaican singer Sean Paul performed at Havelock park on 28 November 2015 in Sun FM concert SUNFEST 2015.

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

singer Jason Derulo performed at Havlock park on 8 April 2016

References

External links

* {{Colombo, state=collapsed Sport in Colombo Football venues in Sri Lanka Cricket grounds in Colombo Sports venues in Colombo Urban public parks Parks in Colombo