The nine provinces were a British creation: MS

President Maithripala Sirisena said the nine provinces were a creation of England's King George and therefore there should be no quarrel over them.

"Who gave us these nine provinces? It was not given by us or your people. It was given by England's King George and as such there is no need to fight about them but work together as Sri Lankans," he said at the concluding ceremony of the 42nd National Sports Festival held at the Alfred Duraiappa Grounds in Jaffna on Sunday afternoon.

The President said the division among provinces for sports, music, development, and administrative purposes has to be accepted and tolarated.

“We must compete with each other with the feeling that we are one country and one nation. The nine provinces were demarcated in the last century for Britain's administrative convenience. Therefore, there is no need to fall out with each other when resolving our problems,” he said.

He said the British Empire divided Ceylon into five provinces in 1833 and then to nine provinces in 1890.

The President said he was committed to ensure peace and reconciliation in the country while building peace and brotherhood among all communities while developing sports which is a universal language to heal bleeding hearts.

He said a sports ground was a place for everyone to meet irrespective of a person's race, religion, caste or regional differences and added that the sports played an important role in inculcating discipline and had the power to transform an undisciplined society to a disciplined one.

The President said that today there was a strong need for good moral values in our country and in the world but the lack of ethical values today the whole world is at war instead of reaching excellence in moral values and building lasting peace.

"This Government is committed to providing maximum facilities for the upliftment of Sports with the aim of building a disciplined society. We will provide assistance to develop sporting skills of the children in all parts of the country to reduce the development disparities countrywide," he said. "Facilities including high quality stadiums and modern technology will be provided in each region."

Nearly 800 athletes from the nine provinces participated at the 42nd National Games and the awards were presented to successful athletes.

Opposition Leader R. Sampanthan, Northern Province Chief Minister C.V. Wigneswaran, Governor Reginald Cooray, Sports Minister Dayasiri Jayasekara, State Minister Vijayakala Maheswaran, Local governments Sports Minister were also present. (Sandun A Jayasekera)