Come September Colombo Lions, an American Football franchise from Sri Lanka will clash against an All-India team in Calcutta, in India to an expected packed stadium. This is now a possibility after South Asia embraced American style football with the introduction of the Elite Football League of India (EFLI).
Sri Lanka launched one of Americas most powerful economic forces in professional sport – American Football –officially on Friday (11) at the Cinnamon Lakeside Hotel in Colombo. Sri Lanka’s head of EFLI, Dilroy Fernando, a famous figure in rugby union in the country hosted the occasion which was also attended by Sunday Zeller, the founder of EFLI, Richard Whelan, the Chief Executive Officer and Manohar Bangera, the Chief Operations Officer.
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| Left Mumbai Team and (Right) Colombo Lions. Pix by Amila Prabodha |
“I was firstly asked by the Indian officials if I’m out of my mind when I related our venture – to introduce American Football to a region where cricket is a religion. It will be a massive task to take the game to the masses but this being an entertainment sport more or less has the potential to draw a massive television audience, which is one of our targets,” detailed Whelan.
The EFLI is a brainchild of Zeller and was launched in six months back in India after conducting nine successful orientation camps in cities of Mumbai, Delhi, Pune, Bangalore, Chennai, Kolkatta, Jaipur and Jalandhar. A total of 474 players and 50 coaches from the selected eight teams will feature in the inaugural season of EFLI which will begin in November and run for three months.
After the launch here in Sri Lanka, the ninth team will join the first team for the inaugural EFLI which will be held at a custom-made stadium in Pune, India. Sri Lanka already has begun to pick players to represent Sri Lankas first franchise, the Colombo Lions and held its final practice match at the CR & FC ground in Colombo yesterday.
“We are certain that American style football will gain the same amount of popularity that rugby has. Rugby in Sri Lanka is vastly popular and if we consider the amount of players that come out from school teams each year, the eight Top Division rugby teams have no room to accommodate all of them. This will be a very good opportunity for those players who fail to make it there. But American football is open to any athlete in Sri Lanka who is fit enough to run and jump,” explained Fernando who is the COO for EFLI in Sri Lanka.
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| Colombo Lions at practices |
The league will see each team playing the other twice, which adds up to over 56 games and two play-offs to decide the top teams. A leading sports broadcaster from each participating country will be approached to officially televise the games live which will include Saturday and Sunday night games. The EFLI will comprise of Asian players and coaching staff who will be ably supported by professionals from America. One of the main purposes of EFLI is to promote the game as a culture and to conduct at schools and universities across countries of India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal. India and Sri Lanka has been touched and the officials of EFLI have already set eyes to other three countries in the region. The motive behind this programme according to Bangera is to attract talent from all South Asian countries to be a part of the EFLI league.
“We have seen a huge demand and success in India. We are glad that our government and sports authorities have been very forthcoming and supportive in this endeavor. It’s not only about the sport that we are concerned. All athletes of EFLI will become professionals and they will be given academic and professional support. With the response received from Indian, we are confident that our neighboring countries will equally deliver the needed support by fielding teams and athletes”.
Founder of EFLI, Zeller hoped that the game will continue to grow in the region which has a rich television audience. “Baseball is a cult in America but football today has managed to become an inherent part of American way of life. The game has a rich history of over 100 years and with our entry to South Asia we aim to create American Football the most lucrative sports league in the region”.
However ELFI is yet to officially recognized by the government sports authorities of Sri Lanka. According to Fernando all necessary documentations have been forwarded to the Sports Ministry of Sri Lanka. | 
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