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Payyanur has got a
prominent place in the sports of Kerala. Payyanur donated many
talented personalities in various sports and games. Payyanur has a
rich tradition in martial arts like kalaripayattu and folk arts
like poorakkali, kolkali and theyyam which are closely related with
martial arts. There were a lot of kalari training centres in and
around Payyanur. The first name comes into picture while talking
about Payyanur’s rich tradition of Kalripayattu is Kunhambu
Thirumumbu of Thazhekattu Mana. He is regarded as the first kalari
instructor of Payyanur. He mastered in this art from the famous
Kadathanattu Kalari.. The other noted figures in this art includes
Kunnaru,Karanthatu and Palkkel Vadhyan Namboothiris. Kandangali
Kotten Gurukkal,Annur Keltoh Avaronnan Gurukal,Choovatta
Gurukal,Anidil Kammaran Gurukal, NV Krishnan Gurukal and presently the
tradition is carried on by PP Narayanan Gurukal.
The year 1919 was a
turning point in the sports history of Payyanur. The history of modern
sports in Payyanur begins with this year with the opening of the
Payyanur Board High School (the present Boys High School). In 1921 POG
Nambiar joined this school as the physical education teacher, who has
done a remarkable job to promote modern games like football and
volleyball. With the help of some of the police officers of that time,
POG gave a new face to Payyanur in the field of sports.
Payyanur Town Sports
Club, which was founded in 1938, is considered as the first formal
sports-group of Payyanur. Their football team comprises of prominent
players like Narayanan Kutty Menon, Aikomath Gopalan Nair, TCV
Kunhirama Poduval, AK Narayana Poduval, and Frank etc. Town Sports
Club could mould so many talented football players right from its
formation. When you talk about football of Payyanur you can never
leave the name of late P Appu Nair who was considered as a
football-magician. The first football tournament of Payyanur, Tagore
Memorial Football Tournament, conducted in 1942.This tournament was
continuously conducted for 6 years. Later in 1952 Bhaskara Pai
Memorial tournament was conducted at Payyanur. Now there is no single
major football tournament conducted at Payyanur for a very long time.
But there are a lot of sevens football tournaments held at various
locations which are trying to keep up the rich tradition of Payyanur.
There were many football grounds in and around Payyanur during that
time but many of them have disappeared along with the development of
the town. The ground near railway station where a football team of
PVS Beedi Workers of Kotty played, the ground near Sree Narayana
Vidyalaya, Police ground, High School ground …all have disappeared
now. The high school ground, where major tournaments and district
senior division tournaments were conducted, became unfit after the
construction of new Girls’ high school building taking away half of
the ground. Now an effort is being made to build a mini stadium in the
Boys High School grounds and to protect the ground. The work of this
stadium is in progress. The sincere effort of T. Govindan MP for the
completion of this work is to be specially praised. The municipality
is also planning to build a stadium and town sports club of Payyanur
also owns land for a proposed stadium.
Volleyball was played in
Payyanur during 1940s itself. So many regional volleyball clubs came
into existence in all villages during 1950-60. The year 1954 was a
landmark in Payyanur sports history. The host team won this tournament
(AK Narayanan Nambiar, VMKK Poduval, KTV Kelu, Parangen Chandran,
Painter Damu and A Sreedharan Adiyodi) and had the privilege of
receiving the trophy from M Bhaktavalsalam, the then education
minister of Madras Government. Later Payyanur College also played a
remarkable role to promote this game. Sree Narayana Club of Kandoth,
Shekhar Memorial Club, Kunhimangalam, Netaji Ezhilode, Red Star
Panapuzha, Udaya Paravanthatta, Jolly Kanayi and Payyanur College team
are the prominent volleyball teams of Payyanur.
The first all India
level volleyball tournament of Payyanur, POG Memorial Tournament for
Krishna Mallar Trophy, was conducted in 1976. Payyanurians got an
opportunity to witness the super performances of talented players like
Ramana Rao, Sreedhar, Hemsingh, Ramalingam and Jimmy George through
this tourney. Rendezvous Club conducted all India volleyball
tournaments from 1986 to 1990, which was really a wonderful event.
Almost all the prominent teams of the country participated in this
event- both in men and women sections. The National Volleyball League
Matches was held at Payyanur in 2000 and finally the national
Federation Cup Volleyball Tournament in 2002. This event, which was
conducted under the leadership of T. Govindan MP, broke all the
records of Federation Cup Tournaments to date due to the massive
public support it received.
Payyanur also donated
prominent players in hockey, badminton, and tennis also. There were
many talented players in the indoor games from Payyanur. The name of
late A. Sasidharan who was the state chess champion needs special
mention. Payyanur hosted many major sport events in various games
other than football and volleyball. National Kabady Championship in
1986, All India Basket Ball tournament in 1990 and the National
Kho-kho championship in 1998 are some of them.
The teachers who trained
hundreds of promising players in different events are also to be
mentioned. The bheeshmacharya of Payyanur is no one else than
POG Nambiar. AS Ganapathi Master, K.Sreedharan Nambiar, KV Sreedharan
Nambiar, Prof. MV Bharathan, PV Sreedharan, VM Damodaran, Prof. P
Chathukutty are some among them. It will be interesting to note that
the famous sports columnist Vimcy (VM Balachandran) had spent most of
his childhood at Payyanur. |
Kalaripayattu
Payyanur has a rich heritage in the martial arts like "Kalaripayattu". The
Kalari tradition of Payyanur starts with Kunhambu Tirumumbu of Tazhekattu
Mana.
Kunnaru Vadhyan Namboothiri, Avaronnan Gurukal, Kandangali
Poonthuruthi Kottam Gurukal, Annur Choovatta Gurukal, AK Kumaran Gurukal
were some of the famous 'kalari-experts' of the past. They
were expert in the use of "urumi'(the long sword with narrow blade),
spear, 'paricha'(the round shield used to defend against enemy's attack
with a sword or spear), and fencing.
According to the old stories there were many warriors in
Payyanur.
Kodakkal Kunhikannan of Korom, Uthamantil Chathappan(was the
Commander of Chirakkal Kovilakam) Kallidil Kannan, Kandambath Unnamman,
Uthamantil Chirukandan were some of the famous warriors. The stories of
their daring acts are exchanged to new generations through the ballads,
folksongs and
theyyam etc.
There were many acrobatic experts in Payyanur during the past. The
great technique of "Njaninmel kali"(walking on the tightrope) was
originated by the Puthiyaramban House of Payyanur.
Puthiyaramban Gurukal was really a miracle of that
time.
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