| uefajuniors | Date: Sunday, 2008-11-16, 2:35 PM | Message # 1 |
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|  Around the 1940s and 50s, the then youngsters of Kayalpatnam in the Thoothukkudi District of Tamil Nadu were playing various games, more popularly football, in any open space they could find around this village. As the village grew, and open spaces were taken by residential buildings, they congregated around an open disused pond, the "Pakeeran Kulam" (Fakir's Pond), which they covered up with debris from demolished houses, filled it with sand, and used it as their playground. And they formed themselves into a single entity and named it "UNITED SPORTS CLUB". The Club was registered in 1955 under the Socities Registration Act, and was affiliated to the (then) Tirunelveli District Football, Volleyball and Badmintion Associations. The patta lands around the lake was bought and a large ground of about 4 acres was formed. Separate grounds and courts for various sports were carved out, along with a children's playpen, recreation pastime for the elderly and a health club and gymnasium for all. Tournaments in various sports were conducted at the local and district levels, especially in football, the most popular sport, which developed from District level to State level. M/s Dharangadhara Chemical Works Ltd, Sahupuram, situated nearby, sponsored the early tournaments with the "DCW Shield" for the winners. Tournaments were also conducted in Badminton and Volleyball, and more recently, in Cricket, which has become the craze of the modern youth, with the active support of the respective District Associations.
On National Holidays, the club conducts various games involving local and regional sportspersons. On Republic Day (January 26), they conduct a 32 km cycle race in the morning and a Kite show in the afternoon. On Independence Day (August 15), they conduct a 10km mini marathon. In 1974, the Football Tournament was upgraded to the National Level, with the kind permission of the All India Football Federation and Tamil Nadu Football Association, and two new trophies were instituted; the MOULANA ABULKALAM AZAD CUP for the Winners and the LKS JEWELLERS, TIRUCHY, CUP for the Runners-up. Notable winners of these trophies were Army Service Centre, Hyderabad and Sikh Regimental Centre, Meerut (1974); Punjab Special Police, Hoshiarpur (1976); Madras Engineering Group, Bangalore; Titanium XI, Thiruvananthapuram (2003); Keltron Football Club, Cannanore (2004); and Integrated Coach Factory (ICF), Chennai (2005). Since the playground was an old disused pond, it became inundated during the rainy seasons, for which the club had to suspend all sporting activities for three years (2000 - 2002) and they carried out major renovation work; raising the whole ground for about two feet, and relaying it with red gravel. The Azad Trophy Football Tournament was resumed in 2003.
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