Royal College Sports Complex is the

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 its m ...

grounds of

Royal College Colombo Royal College, Colombo is a selective entry boys' school located in Cinnamon Gardens, Colombo, Sri Lanka. Started as a private school by Rev Joseph Marsh in 1835, it was established as the Colombo Academy by Sir Robert Wilmot-Horton in Janua ...

, it was formerly known as the Royal College Rugby Grounds. It is home to multi-use stadium and sports complex. Built in 2000, with funds from the

Royal College Union The Royal College Union (RCU) is the alumni association of the Royal College Colombo. Founded in 1891 as a society for alumni of the college, it is the oldest such alumni society in Sri Lanka. The Royal College Union was set up to further the ...

(RCU), current students and parents; it is managed by a Board of Management appointed by the RCU.

History

The land on the eastern side of Reid Avenue, was part of the

Colombo Racecourse Colombo Racecourse ( si, කොළඹ තුරඟ තරඟ පිටිය) is a historical harness racing course in the Cinnamon Gardens, Colombo. During the Second World War, it was used as a temporary airfield. In 2012, it was redeveloped ...

and the Colombo Turf Club. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

it was the site of the RAF airstrip. When horse racing declined after gambling was outlawed in the 1950s Colombo Racecourse and its land fell into disuse and was taken over by the government. The large land extent was segmented and distributed to government entities. Royal College Colombo, received a four-acre plot which became the ''Royal College Rugby Grounds''. In 2000, work began at the rugby grounds for a state of the art sports complex up to international standards to host multiple sports and a modern gymnasium. The indoor stadium houses a 450 seating capacity along with two squash courts with a 150-seat capacity and a badminton courts with 250 seats. In 2013 an additional seating tier, the "Royal -Brandix Sky Pavilion", was constructed increasing the outdoor arena capacity to 12,500 including the terraces. The complex also boasts a 120 unit car park with basement parking.

Sports

Royal College Sports Complex grounds serves as a venue for

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

, and

hockey Hockey is a term used to denote a family of various types of both summer and winter team sports which originated on either an outdoor field, sheet of ice, or dry floor such as in a gymnasium. While these sports vary in specific rules, numbers o ...

. The indoor stadium is a venue for

squash Squash may refer to: Sports * Squash (sport), the high-speed racquet sport also known as squash racquets * Squash (professional wrestling), an extremely one-sided match in professional wrestling * Squash tennis, a game similar to squash but pla ...

badminton Badminton is a racquet sport played using racquets to hit a shuttlecock across a net. Although it may be played with larger teams, the most common forms of the game are "singles" (with one player per side) and "doubles" (with two players pe ...

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...

, and

boxing Boxing (also known as "Western boxing" or "pugilism") is a combat sport in which two people, usually wearing protective gloves and other protective equipment such as hand wraps and mouthguards, throw punches at each other for a predetermined ...

Major Events

Bradby Shield Encounter The Bradby Shield Encounter - commonly known as "The Bradby" - is the pinnacle of Sri Lanka's school rugby union season. It is played annually between two of the most prominent boys’ schools in the country and traditional rivals Royal College, C ...

Sri Lankan National Badminton Championships Sri Lankan National Badminton Badminton is a racquet sport played using racquets to hit a shuttlecock across a net. Although it may be played with larger teams, the most common forms of the game are "singles" (with one player per side) and ...

References

External links

Another Closely Contested Bradby Shield

Sports Complex A sports complex is a group of sports facilities. For example, there are track and field stadiums, football stadiums, baseball stadiums, swimming pools, and Indoor arenas. This area is a sports complex, for fitness. Olympic Park is also a kind ...

Sports venues in Colombo {{SriLanka-sports-venue-stub