Meet Cascadia’s opponents: Tamil Eelam

Photo: Tamil Eelam FA

Meet Cascadia’s opponents: Tamil Eelam

Meet Cascadia’s Opponents:Isle of Man (Ellan Vannin)

Cascadia will play Tamil Eelam in its final game. The match is scheduled for June 3rd at Fisher FC in Bermondsey. The Tamils go into the game on the back of two losses but are not mathematically out of the tournament. They would have to beat Cascadia by a minimum of three goals and hope Ellan Vannin beat Barawa by another six.

Tamil Eelam is the territory in the north and east of Sri Lanka. It is predominantly populated by ethnic Tamils, unlike the remainder of Sri Lanka which is majority Sinhalese. The two groups share neither language or religion and there is a history of tension and discrimination against the minortiy Tamils.

Tamil Eelam has no official status or recognition by either the United Nations or its member nations. The name is derived from the ancient Tamil name for Sri Lanka, Eelam. The population is 3,496,000

Up until 2009 when they were defeated, a vicious terror campaign was being fought for a separate Tamil State by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). Sections of the Tamil Eelam proposed territory were under de facto control of the Tigers for most of the 2000s. Formed in 1975, the Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF).campaigned peacefully for a separate Tamil state. In its first election in 1977, it was dominant in the Tamil-dominated districts winning 18 seats, all 14 in the north and four out of ten in the East, and became the largest opposition in Parliament.

This did not however win the Tamils a separate state and the Sri Lankan state moved to block a peaceful path to independence. In 1983, a law called the Sixth Amendment required Tamil members of parliament and Tamils in public office to take an oath of allegiance to the unitary state of Sri Lanka.

[Also see: One government tried to stop the tournament and it wasn’t Sri Lanka]

In moves that are chillingly close to the current Spanish government’s attempts to block a democratic Catalonian state, the law explicitly banned advocating a separate state even by peaceful means. The TULF was expelled from the Sri Lankan parliament for refusing to take the oath, leaving a vacuum into which the Tigers quickly moved with appalling consequences. The United Nations Humanitarian Co-ordination Office later estimated that between 80,000 and 100,000 people died in the conflict.

The current flag was created by the Tigers who removed their lettering and declared it the Tamil national flag

32 countries including the United States, UK, India (despite its large Tamil population in Tamil Nadu), Canada and European Union deemed the Tigers to be a terrorist organisation and proscribed them.

Despite that, the Tigers conquered, occupied and governed a large tract of the country until nine years ago. On 18 May 2009, the Sri Lankan army finally mopped up the last remaining area under Tigers control and the de facto state was history.

Yet the political aspirations have not departed.

Today, the main separatist political party is the more moderate Tamil National Alliance (TNA). After the Tigers were squashed, they reluctantly dropped the policy of demanding independence. Advocating separatism was banned under the Sri Lankan constitution and the previously occasionally sympathetic Indian government had abandoned their cause, leaving them no option but to campaign for federalism. The TNA has 16 members in the Sri Lankan parliament.

Tamil coach Ragesh Nambiar

TAMIL EELAM FOOTBALL TEAM

The Tamil Eelam national football team is run by the Tamileelam Football Association.

According to the ConIFA website, the Association ‘was established as a joint venture by Tamil Youth around the world through the Global Tamil Youth League (T-League). While football has been played in Tamil Eelam and the Diaspora for many years, the formation of a national team was only established in 2012.’

They lost their first international 1-0 to Raetia that same year. They then played in the 2014 ConIFA tournament and finished 11th with one win (over hapless Darfur) and three losses, but did not qualify in 2016.

More meaningfully for this year’s competition, they played initial Group A opponents Barawa in a friendly last August which they lost 3-1 in Haringey North London.

Their last match was this May where they lost 4-3 to the South Korean Under 23 team in Nottingham.

Their head coach is a very interesting man called Ragesh Nambiar. He is a product of the Zesh Rehman Foundation, a charity which was launched in May 2010 by Pakistan captain Zesh Rehman, who became the first British Asian to play in the Premier League while at Fulham. The charity strives to change perceptions and myths surrounding British Asians in football by providing more opportunities in disadvantaged communities.

Ragesh is originally French but studied in London at Brunel where he met Zesh Rehman’s brother and learned about the ZRF. He’s been Tamil Eelam coach for many years, starting with tournament in Kurdistan and including the ConIFA Cup held in Sweden. He has also coached for the Chelsea Foundation, and currently also manages the AFC Wimbledon U12 girls’ team. Incidentally, the AFC Wimbledon adult ladies team play their home matches at Sutton’s Gander Green Lane where Cascadia will play Isle of Man.

Tamil Eelam kits for ConIFA 2018

Their kits will be red shirts and black shorts with a change of white shirts.

Cascadia coach James Nichols is looking forward to checking them out when they open:

“We don’t know an awful lot about Tamil Eelam, we are fortunate that we will be able to watch them against Barawa after the opening ceremony. I expect all teams to be competitive and it to be a difficult game and it’s important that we approach all games professionally and with a positive mentality.”

Senna Gloria striker Panushanth Kulenthiran was the top striker of the qualification campaign. Their other star player may be Gvinthan Navaneethakrishnan who has played for the side ten times and plays his club football in Germany for SV Büchig, with Jeyasiva Sivapathasundaram who plays in Essex for Harlow Town looking useful too.

The Tamil anthem will be Eruthu Paar Kodi which you can hear in the video.