Sports in Kerala

Several ancient ritualised arts are Keralite in origin. These include kalaripayattu—kalari ("place", "threshing floor", or "battlefield") and payattu ("exercise" or "practice"). Among the world's oldest martial arts, oral tradition attributes kalaripayattu's emergence to Parasurama. Other ritual arts include theyyam and poorakkali.


A kalaripayattu practitioner.

Association football is the most popular sport in Kerala, followed by cricket. The Gokulam Kerala FC and Kerala Blasters are Kerala's most popular sports club. However, larger numbers of Keralites follow sports such as Soccer, Kabaddi, Hockey, Cricket, and badminton. There are many large stadiums in Kerala across different cities.Trivandrum city has various sports venues such as Trivandrum International Stadium,[1] Jimmy George Indoor Stadium, University Stadium (Thiruvananthapuram), Chandrasekharan Nair Stadium and Central Stadium whereas Kochi city has stadiums such as Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium (Kochi)[2] and Rajiv Gandhi Indoor Stadium.[3][4] An international astro turf hockey stadium is located at Kollam city.[5] Other major stadiums are EMS Stadium in Kozhikode,[6] , Malappuram District Sports Complex Stadium in Manjeri, Kannur Indoor Stadium in Kannur, Lal Bahadur Shastri Stadium in Kollam[7] and many more.[8] All these stadiums attest to the mass appeal of such sports among Keralites.

Football
Football (soccer) at the Malappuram District Sports Complex Stadium

Football is one of the popular sports in the state. The first Indian professional football club FC Kochin was from Kerala. The northern parts of Kerala (Malabar region), especially Kannur,Kozhikode and Malappuram districts, are famous for being notoriously football-crazy regions. Malappuram, Kannur,Palakkad, Kozhikode, Thrissur, Ernakulam and Trivandrum have produced many Indian International footballers such as I. M. Vijayan, V. P. Sathyan , C. V. Pappachan and C. A. Liston. A Seven-a-side version of football is hugely popular in Malappuram, Palakkad, Kozhikode and Kannur. These "Seven's football" tournaments attract many fans and international players for the sheer joy and excitement of fast-paced football.

Most of the professional football clubs in India have many Kerala footballers including Indian internationals Anas Edathodika, Ashique Kuruniyan, N.P Pradeep, Krishnan Nair Ajayan, Zakeer Mundampara, Usman Ashik, C.K. Vineeth, Mohammed Rafi, Denson Devadas, C. S. Sabeeth, Mohamed Irshad, Asif Kottayil, Sushanth Mathew and many more.

Kerala Premier League

Kerala Premier League is a professional football league organised by Kerala Football Association played in the state of Kerala, India. It was founded in 2013. It is hoped to bring back the golden years of football in Kerala that football in Kerala once had.

Indian Super League

Football became popular in Kerala decades ago. Kochi has a franchise team called Kerala Blasters, which is owned by the cricket legend, Sachin Tendulkar and an Indian business man, Prasad V Potluri. Blasters made into the final after some great performances by their team. Iain Hume, who scored 5 goals and captained them in the knockout matches, played a great role for Kerala, which made them into the final. Marquee player David James and Sandip Nandy also played a great role by guarding the goalpost as goalkeepers.

I-League

Kerala Evergreen FC is the first team from Thiruvananthapuram to play in the I-League and will be part of the 2017–18 I-League. The team is owned by a Singapore-based company MySports Management and India based company Liwing Sports. The team's home stadium is Trivandrum International Stadium in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala.

But later on the team Gokulam Kerala F.C. went on to play in the 2017–18 I-League.Gokulam Kerala F.C. played all its matches in the EMS Stadium which was located in the heart of the city. The West stand was the largest and could accommodate the maximum number of people. The EMS Stadium was a 53,000 capacity football stadium. Although the club did not have a good beginning, they went on to defeat big clubs in the I-league like East Bengal, Mohun Bagan and Minerva Punjab by the end of the season. Travancore Royals FC from capital city Trivandrum is first fans owned football club in India.

Hockey
International Hockey Stadium in Kollam

Hockey is the pride game of city of Kollam and Kollam district. There are a lot number of Kollam city based players in Indian hockey team as well as Kerala hockey team.

Kollam city & district are very famous for its players and the passion for the game. So to support the city's passion towards hockey, Government of Kerala have built a most modern state of the type astro turf hockey stadium within the city, which is first of its kind in the state. International Hockey Stadium in Kollam is having a total seating capacity of 5,000[9] built at a cost of Rs.17.55 Crores(US$2.84 Million)[10] The stadium is now the home-ground of Kerala Hockey Team. Comparing to other sports, hockey is not much popular among Kerala. But the legend, Indian Hockey Team Captain Patmasree P R Sreejesh is from Kerala. He resides at Kizhakkambalam village near Kakkanad.

Athletics

Kerala has a rich history of producing world class athletes. Athletes like T. C. Yohannan, Suresh Babu, P.T.Usha, Shiny Wilson, K. M. Beenamol, Tintu Lukka, Anju Bobby George, Preeja Sreedharan, Renjith Maheshwary are amongst the best Kerala has produced.

Volleyball

Volleyball, another popular sport, is often played on makeshift courts on sandy beaches along the coast. Jimmy George, born in Peravoor, Kannur, was arguably the most successful volleyball player ever to represent India. At his prime he was regarded as among the world's ten best players.[11]

Cricket


Cricket, the most followed sport in South Asia, only became popular in Kerala state in recent decades. Earlier cricket was continually played only in select places like Thalassery, Cannanore, Fort Kochi, Ernakulam and Tripunithura. Shanthakumaran Sreesanth (right-arm fast-medium, played 26 tests and 53 ODIs for India) is often regarded as the most successful cricketer from Kerala. Tinu Yohannan, son of Olympic long jumper T. C. Yohannan, also represented India, 3 times in tests and ODIs and Sanju Samson, a future Indian batsman, who already joined Indian team. K. N. Ananthapadmanabhan (344 first class wickets) is also a famous domestic cricket from Kerala, who took 344 wickets in first class cricket. Kochi Tuskers, a short lived former Indian Premier League team, represented Kochi, Kerala. Sports Hub Trivandrum and Jawaharlal Nehru International Stadium (Kaloor International Stadium) are the two international cricket stadiums in Kerala. Jawaharlal Nehru International Stadium is the third largest stadium in India, having a capacity of 60,000 spectators.

Water-Polo

Kerala is one of the most best indians states, regarding water-polo. Malayalee clubs, teams, players, both women and men, are some of the most valuable in India, winning several indian championships.

Nadan Panthu Kali (Native Football)

Nadan Panthu Kali popular sports played in villages of Kottayam district and Muvattupuzha Taluk. Villages like Manaracd, Puthuppally, Thottakkadu, Thirvanchoor, Meendam, Manganam, Kurichy, Valakom etc. are the places where this game is played. The popularity of game is dying as there is not much money and younger generation are more interested in cricket.

This game is played using small ball made of leather and filled with cotton or coconut fibre. Each team consist of 5 or 7 players each. The game is played for 5 Innings (vara). Each inning, both the teams are allowed to do "vettu" where they initiate the scoring and other team prevents from the scoring. Scoring points follow the sequence like otta, petta, pidiyan, thalm, Keezhu, Indan and then it repeats. the team which score the most points from the innings wins.

Annual Tournaments are conducted at these villages every year and have huge local support.

List of Stadiums in Kerala

The following is a list of major stadiums in Kerala in the order of their capacity.

Sports Hub Trivandrum
Jawaharlal Nehru International Stadium
NoStadiumCapacityCityDistrictMain Use
1Jawaharlal Nehru International Stadium60,000KochiErnakulamCricket, Football[12]
2Sports Hub Trivandrum55,000ThiruvananthapuramThiruvananthapuramCricket, Football, Indoor
3EMS Stadium50,000KozhikodeKozhikodeFootball
4Lal Bahadur Shastri Stadium30,000KollamKollamFootball
5Jawahar Municipal Stadium30,000KannurKannurFootball
6Chandrasekharan Nair Stadium25,000ThiruvananthapuramThiruvananthapuramFootball
7Malappuram District Sports Complex Stadium25,000ManjeriMalappuramFootball
8University Stadium20,000ThiruvananthapuramThiruvananthapuramFootball, Cricket
9Krishnagiri Stadium20,000WayanadWayanadCricket[13]
10Thrissur Municipal Corporation Stadium15,000ThrissurThrissurFootball
11Maharaja's College Stadium15,000KochiErnakulamMulti-purpose[14]
12Thrissur Aquatic Complex10,000ThrissurThrissurSwimming
13Rajiv Gandhi Indoor Stadium10,000KochiErnakulamMulti-purpose
14FACT Stadium5,000KochiErnakulamMulti-purpose
15International Hockey Stadium5,000KollamKollamHockey[15]
16Jimmy George Indoor Stadium2,000ThiruvananthapuramThiruvananthapuramIndoor

References
  1. "Oommen Chandy inaugurates new Trivandrum International Stadium".
  2. "Jawaharlal Nehru International Stadium, Kochi (Kaloor International Stadium)".
  3. "Rajiv Gandhi Indoor Stadium".
  4. "Chandrasekharan Nair Stadium (CSN)".
  5. "Astro turf hockey stadium in Kollam". TNIE. 23 December 2009.
  6. "Corporation Stadium, Kozhikode".
  7. "Lal Bahadur Shastri Stadium". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 2 November 2016.
  8. "Indoor Stadium, Mundayad".
  9. Astro-turf hockey stadium - The New Indian Express
  10. "Crores Spent; Game for Future? - The New Indian Express". The New Indian Express. Retrieved 21 January 2014.
  11. "Sportal ---- Sports Portal -- GOVERNMENT OF INDIA --". Archived from the original on 14 May 2008.
  12. "Nehru Stadium". ESPNcricinfo.
  13. "Scenic Krishnagiri Stadium Warms up for First International Match". The New Indian Express.
  14. "Maharaja College Ground". ESPNcricinfo.
  15. "Crores Spent; Game for Future? - The New Indian Express". The New Indian Express. Retrieved 2 November 2016.
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