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Home > Tamil Eelam Struggle for Freedom > International Frame & the Struggle for Tamil Eelam > United Kingdom > Who said Cricket is not Politics? ‘Come on you Sri Lankan Lions!’ say UK High Commissioner & Staff in Sri Lanka
united kingdom Who said Cricket is not Politics? TamilNet, Friday, 27 April 2007
The British diplomatic mission in Colombo shed diplomatic neutrality on Friday to support Sri Lanka's cricket team in their World Cup final against Australia, AFP reported. "We're hoping for a repeat of the 1996 World Cup final result. Come on you Sri Lankan Lions. Let's hear you roar," a message from the UK High Commission said. British High Commissioner Dominick Chilcott led his mission’s staff in signing greetings to skipper Mahela Jayawardene and his team-mates ahead of Saturday's game in Barbados.
The lion is the symbol of the Sinhala community in the island which has been torn by ethnic strife, since independence from Britain in 1948. Sri Lanka’s flag features a golden lion brandishing a sword. The flag was amended in early 50's with two stripes to represent Tamils and Muslims. In 1972, the finials that represented Buddhism were replaced with Bo leaves to indicate that Sri Lanka is a Buddhist country as the government of the time changed the country’s name from Ceylon and introduced a majoritarian constitution, dumping the safeguards for the island’s minorities in the British-inspired Ceylonese constitution. |