ALAPPUZHA: As sports disciplines, one after the other, launch professional league competition in the country adding entertainment ingredients in ample measure, vallamkali, Kerala’s traditional regatta, has felt it cannot lag behind if it has to remain popular.
With the hope of bringing about a “change”, the Kerala Boat Race League (KBL) for snake boats will be launched on the second Saturday of August after the state government gave the competition its blessings by earmarking `10 crore in the budget. “As a sporting event, boat race in Kerala needs more international attention and financial support for its survival. A change is needed to continue its legacy. So the state government proposed the KBL and extended support through budgetary allocation for making it a gala event,” said Finance Minister T M Thomas Isaac.
Former MLA C K Sadasivan, who had headed an expert committee to study on the possibility of organising boat race on a league basis, said the KBL would bring tremendous change to the competition and added the impact would be similar to what the Indian Premier League had brought to cricket.
“The league competition will begin along with the Nehru Trophy Boat Race (NTBR) and end on the third Saturday of October in Kollam. Nine boats will be selected from the NTBR based on their performance. Three boats which win the most points will make it to the final,” said Sadasivan.
“The state government decided to form the KBL after noticing there is a dearth of sponsors for local boat races and that many competitions were stopped due to financial crisis. A large sum is needed to run a boat race, and it often becomes a big burden to the organisers and boat clubs. We believe the chances of getting sponsors will be more with the launch of the league,” said Sadasivan. An administrative body will be constituted with experts from the field of boat races and nominees of organising committees in each locality. They will manage the KBL.
The committee proposed to integrate the annual boat races including NTBR, Pulinkunnu, Kayamkulam, Kottayam Thazhathangadi, Karuvatta, Mavelikkara Mother Theresa, Kainakari, Piravom, Kottappuram and Kollam with the KBL. At the local level, the panchayats/municipalities will manage the event with the help of District Tourism Promotion Council and Tourism Department. The plan is to make every competition, running into three days, a standout one with various art and cultural programmes including vanchipattu, nadanpattu, thiruvathira and kathakali.
9 boats will be selected from the Nehru Trophy for the KBL based on their performance
Rs10 cr was allocated for the League by the state government in latest budget