The gruelling travails of Mulafer and hockey
View(s):By Aubury Kuruppu
Matale has for long been the cradle of hockey in Sri Lanka and probably will be in the future. The Wijekoon family is synonymous with the games played with a curved stick. Ranjith Wijekoon was a dazzling centre forward who found a place in the Asian all stars eleven.
Growing up in their Shadow at Zahira College Matale was Samu Lebbe Mohamed Mulafer. As a youngster he set his sights on playing for the country and the fact that he did so from 1975 to 1995 is a tribute to his skill, love of the game, dedication and fitness. He also led the national team for nine years occupying his pet position of centre half.
Army SC, Grasshoppers SC, CH and FC and Kandy Young stars are the clubs he represented. The last named Kandy Young Stars
SLM Mulafer
annexed the coveted Moore Shield in the early eighties.
For starters, Mulafer toured Malaysia with the Sri Lankan Juniors for the Junior world cup. Tours followed to India and Bangladesh in 1978 to Pakistan for the inaugural Asia Cup in 1982 and to Bangladesh the next year for the second edition.
He recalls a tour of Oman in 1986 where Sri Lanka won one test and drew two. Winning silver at the six nation tournament held in Singapore in 1990 was another major achievement. Taking part in the Nehru Cup in India (1994) and in the SAF Game held in India the following year are some happy memories.
Enamoured of a career in coaching, Mulafer participated at High Performance coaching camps in Perth and Leipzig (2002), Malaysia and Hyderabad (2003) Meeting and Sharing views on Hockey with Australian great Ric Charlesworth at Perth was a tremendous experience. As the coach of the Army side, the team won gold at the international inter club tournament in Bangkok. Under him, Sri Lanka also won Bronze at the 2006 SAF Games.
It was recently that the Sri Lanka team coached by Mulafer took part in the world League qualifying tournament in Qatar. Sri Lanka beat Turkey 6-2, lost 2-3 to Oman and 3-4 to Azerbaijan, the eventual winner, Sri Lanka’s Anju Hewage was picked the man of the series. Mulafer feels that goalie Tusith Ratnasiri (Air Force) and full back Lalantha de Silva (Navy) excelled throughout the tournament.
India and Pakistan held sway in International hockey until about the 1980s. However there has been a changing of the guard ninth teams such as Australia, Germany, Holland and England now at the forefront. Mulafer says the Asian style can’t succeed now and the European style has taken over. The advent of the Astro turf has hastened the change-over. He points out that Hockey is not a contact game but a game of skill. Fitness, strength and speed are called for in a greater degree.
Mulafer points out that even though India and Pakistan are not at the top of the hockey tree their players have a lot of exposure. They play in tournaments the year round, with the Champions trophy the world cup and the Olympics thrown in for good measure. He laments the lack of adequate exposure for the national team.
His view is that Sri Lanka now ranks number eight in Asia, with Korea, India, Pakistan, Japan, Malaysia and China occupying the slots above.
It is widely believed that in Sri Lanka Hockey is limited to Matale, Colombo and Kandy. Mulafer disputes this assertion. He points out that other areas such as Jaffna, Kegalle, Galle, Matara and Kurunegala play a fair amount of Hockey. District Associations have also emerged in some of these areas.
National coach Mulafer says, in conclusion, that this year eight teams (senior and Junior) have gone abroad. But funds are non-existent. The President of the SLHA Sumith Edirisinghe found the funds for these tours through his contacts. It almost amounts to no Edirisinghe, no Hockey. The Sports Ministry has promised to help but so far the money has not come in.
Mulafer also likes to mention the part played by the Vice President P. Vishwanathan and Secretary Tony Karunanayake in the promotion of Hockey in the country.
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