• Try and try again Bandula
• On stage with Cooper
• Reviving a great old club and cricket stadium 
• Test cricketers who were sent home...
• Wilma Rudolph was simply tops
• Stop unwarranted appealing by bowlers

Try and try again Bandula

By Ravi Nagahawatte

In fact hopes were so high among his associates that failing to make it in rugby would have been like betraying his fans.

Bandula began his career quite promisingly at school and later created a sensation by being selected to represent Sri Lanka while still being a schoolboy.

All eyes were on this determined lad.

But when he was beginning to reap the benefits of all the hard work done the devil stole a glance at him.

Many might think that it was the evil-eye of someone really wicked. But to the sensible eyes of his doctors it was a serious hamstring injury. Bandula fell from zenith to nadir and was entangled in a cloud of gloom for three full years.

"My life was in a mess. I got fed up of rugby. I went to every doctor I knew. But I came back too soon after each recovery attempt and aggravated my injury. I did all this because the expectations of the people around me were too much. I was forced to perform", recalls Bandula.

However the 23-year-old speaks fondly of his mother who he thinks was the one who mattered most to him at this crucial juncture. 

Says Bandula, "I seriously thought of quitting rugby. But I hung on because my mother did not look on me as the only person in the family who had to make it in rugby. There were my two brothers who had taken up rugby. The second is ahead of me today and the youngest is also playing competitive rugby. So the pressure on me eased off. Then I seriously gave thought to making an honest comeback. That meant the injury had to heal properly. I could not fool myself again. I gave the injury time to heal. I am a bit stubborn so no one really could force me to play rugby if I wanted to quit," reminisced Bandula. 

Bandula recovered from his injury last year and forced his mind into thinking about playing. He had to find a club to start off somewhere. 

That's when CR's Champika Nishantha had called him to join the 'Red Shirts.' It was like offering a branch to a drowning person. This was a person out of the ordinary in search of a club for a new beginning. Playing rugby was dear to him as life was dear to a dying man.

"I could not give up rugby just like that. It was in my system after playing for 11 years. Take an alcoholic for an example. If someone wants him to stop drinking then he has to be given something to do. I could have stopped competitive rugby and jogged on the ground to keep fit. But I am still young. There is a lot of time for that", said Bandula.

Today it seems that life revolves around this ruggerite at the pace he wants. Expectations are not too high and most importantly Bandula knows to stop when confronting obstacles which can lead to a nasty fall. 

Bandula represents CR and FC this season and had a great game in the first match against Navy.

On stage with Cooper

My Police Memories
By S. Sivendran
(Retd. Snr. Supdt. of Police)

We got down at the Welen Garden City and was driven to the Office of the Chief Constable of Hertfordshire County Police who is like our Inspector General of Police, who gave us a lecture on the Hertfordshire County Police. Thereafter we were given separate rooms at the Welen Garden City Police station where I met two pretty young Women Police Constables who were under training Gloria and Madeline who became my good friends and companions during my stay at Hertfordshire.

Four of us were given a constable each to take us around in the County on instructional tours. On October 3 we were taken to Eynsham Hall training school in Oxfordshire where we had lunch. On our way back we visited the grave of Sir Winston Churchill the most celebrated Prime Minister of Great Britain which was alongside his parent's at Blaydon, the village he was born. That evening we took Gloria and Madeline the two Women Police officers to a Chinese restaurant in the town to dinner and enjoyed the outing and returned late in the night and rested.

The following morning October 4 we visited the C.I.D. Training School, Registrar of Finger Print's Office, Photography Bureau, Criminal Record Office and the Narcotics Division of Hertfordshire County and were given an insight into their activities.

In the afternoon I was taken to Hoddesdon Police Station where a murder inquiry was in progress and I too was included in the team that had been entrusted with the investigations. This inquiry was about a young amorous horse riding instructor who had several girl friends and who was found murdered in his swimming pool. Their system of investigation was very meticulous where each officer was entrusted with a specific task till the end of the inquiry and every little detail was gone into.

I spent the evening in the T. V. Room with Gloria and Madeline till late and they were very eager to know about Sri Lanka and I gave them a vivid description of our country, the people and their culture which they absorbed happily.

On Thursday September 5 I was taken to the Hatfield Police Station and listened to a lecture on "Observation" which was very interesting. Then I met Chief Inspector H. A. Hills who was very pleased when he learnt that I was from Sri Lanka and he said that he had undergone the Command Course with Mr. P. Mahendran a Superintendent of Police from Sri Lanka at Bremshill. He was very impressed with the sports achievements of Mr. "Brute" Mahendran who had represented Sri Lanka in rugby, boxing, and athletics. He was even more thrilled when I told him that Mr. Mahendran and I played rugger for the Police team for several years and we both captained the Police team in 1962 and 1963 respectively. He took me around in the area and also to an Uncle of Queen Elizabeth 11 who was living in a sprawling Estate. We had tea with the Queen's Uncle which was a great privilege for me.

The following day Friday I visited the Traffic Division of the Hertfordshire Police and I was taken to the M 1 Highway and saw speed traps being laid with the aid of the radar. This was the last day of my attachment at Hertfordshire County Police. That evening the Police had organised a Discotheque and Madeline and Gloria were keen that I should join them that night as they too were passing out on that day and their parents were coming. But I had to politely refuse them as I was already invited to a Ceylonese Dance by Reggie Somasunderam and friends. I bade a sad farewell to Madeline and Gloria and went by train to Reggie's house and left with Reggie, his wife Larraine, Don Wheetley, Alex St. John and wife for the dance where I met several Sri Lankan families. At the dance Tommy Cooper a well-known T. V. personality who was compering the dance called a female cabaret artiste who was scantily dressed to select two men from the audience to perform along with him and she selected an Englishman and me and we were taken onto the stage where we were asked to mimic Tommy Cooper in one of his humorous acts which turned the entire house into laughter. We broke up after the dance in the early hours of the morning and returned to Reggie's residence and rested.

The following morning Asoka Jayasooriya came with his Welsh girl friend Lyn and took me to his flat at Kensil Green where I spent the whole day and night with them. And the following day they dropped me at Reggie Somasunderam's house from where I had to go and attend the Congress of rugby football referees as the delegate from Sri Lanka for one week.

To be continued.

Reviving a great old club and cricket stadium 

By Bernie Wijesekera

Since then several Test matches have been played here beginning with the one played between Sri Lanka and England in 1981. England won this game under Keith Fletcher with Sri Lanka being led by Bandula Warnapura. After being in the doldrums for a few years the Tamil Union has once again come back into its own emerging as a frontline team during the 1998/99 season under Upul Chandana, the gritty little Lankan all-rounder from the south. The Sunday Times looking into the reasons for the revival of the club and its various activites was able to interview its genial President S. Skandakumar - a former Royalist and versatile University of Colombo sportsman. Mr. Skandakumar has the mettle, wonderful acumen and the professional skills required to administer a club of stature above the place of petty politics which has become the bane of sports bodies in our country. 

Following is the interview held with him. 

Q: How come this sudden revival of this gentleman's game in the Tamil Union thereby creating a new dimension within two years after you took over the club affairs?

A: Firstly, All credit should go to our predecessors, who did all the hard work to transform this one-time marshy land into a beautiful international venue. Well, it was P. Saravanamuttu's vision to create the The Oval where international games were played until 1981. I took over the reins from Chandra Schaffter. The club faced setbacks, but T.U. had the courage to fight back with every member of the committee working in unison. My former Secretary R. Rasiah, and the present Secretary Tissa Jayatillke got the act together.

Q: Do you agree that despite all the contributions made for the upliftment and development of the game in the past it was given step-motherly treatment, when it came to staging international matches?

A: You are right. Imagine in 1940 the late P. Saravanamuttu and his officials committed to their task made the Oval a reality and it cost the Tamil Union Rs. 400,000 (today equivalent to Rs. 400 million). This venue provided exclusive facilities. All should realise that it was unlike in the affluent times of today for the game. Yet if is the yesterdays that have made today possible.

Q: The Tamil Union has helped many an outstation cricketer - especially drawn from the South - where schoolboys from Richmond, Mahinda, St. Aloysius and St. Servatius', Matara were able to make the grade at the highest level. True?

A: That's correct. From 1979, we had a policy of promoting outstation players - the likes of Upul Sumathipala, Athula Samarasekera, his brother C.P., Dileepa Wickremasinghe, Champaka Ramanayake, Promodya Wickremasinghe, Upul Chandana, and Indika de Saram. Facilities were given to improve their skills and even job opportunities were made available to them.

Q: This the T.U. did without considering ethnicity?

A: You are absolutely right. But surprisingly, many of them have abandoned us for reasons best known to themselves. 

Q. The Tamil Union has achieved much in the annals of Sri Lanka cricket. Can you speak to us of some of these?

A. We won the 'Sara' trophy for the first time in 1950-'51, The Premadasa trophy in 1991 (50 overs). The first Premier K.O. final for the year 1999-2000 under Upul Chandana defeating rivals SSC. Won the under-23 title for 1999 under Sagara Kumara. Now we are in line to win the Div. II (Donovan Andree) in the triangular final round - between Bloomfield, and Police S.C. Last weekend we beat the strong Bloomfield XI. If the T.U. beats Police S.C. - then we will be the champs. Trophies are secondary, the game matters in the end. Most of the lads are from less affluent homes drawn from the suburbs. They have been taught to play the game in the correct spirit. 

Apparently, the opinion in some quarters these days is that Tamil Union in the past had some great cricketers, the likes of legendary M. Sathasivam, Sathi Coomaraswamy, M. Kasipillai, T. Jayalingam, C. Schaffter etc., who have done yeoman service for the club with their skills. 'Satha' hadn't a peer when it came to batting artistry. Today, the humble spinning wizard M. Muralitharan, is the cog-in-the-wheel in Sri Lanka's attack? You are right. But T.U. will be able to produce more of his likes for the future betterment of Sri Lanka cricket. 

Q. Despite promoting cricket among the young , you as President are doing community service among the have-nots? 

A. I would say yes. Let's work together for a better future to alleviate suffering on and off the field.

Q. Finally what are you going to do during your tenure as President of the T.U.? 

A. My plans are to revive hockey, the sport which has produced great strikers. One of them is T. Mylvaganam. Then also to introduce basketball among the youngsters and help the national cause. To construct an open Ghandhi Stand for spectators. 

Q.What about the funds? 

A.Nothing is impossible with unstinted team effort. My committee is willing. Its for the youngsters and the future of the game is going to benefit. Druing my tenure I will work to a plan and allow others to continue the good work, rather than hang on.

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