MHA instant: A great success

By Bernie Wijesekera

When it comes to hockey all hockey fans will agree that the tournaments organised by the Mercantile Association have gone from strength to strength since its inception. Unlike in the past some of the stalwarts came from the State Services. But today the private sector has become the hub for its activities.

The 23rd annual hockey 'sevens' despite dreary conditions worked off last weekend at Havelock S.C. was an instant success.

The president of the MHA, diehard hockey supporter, former Sri Lankan player Dennis De Rosayro has been in the driving seat for many seasons. Its committee has worked ungrudgingly to maintain consistency for its further development.

Today, when it comes to hockey it's 'Dennis the Menace' be it for funds or media support. Speaking to The Sunday Times, De Rosayro said the MHA was thankful to the media for giving all the support for its development.

My association always welcomes constructive criticism. There are shortfalls in any society. When it is being spotlighted one must take it in the correct spirit for the greater good of the game.

Q - That means facts are stubborn?

A - You are right. Now we are going into the millennium. It's upto the youngsters to take over and continue the good work.

Dennis commended the sponsors for giving all the encouragement to the MHA to successfully organise tournaments. Uniliver Ceylon Ltd., has been in the forefront with the 'sevens' tournament for 18 consecutive years. The MHA was confident that they will be in the package with the start of the next century.

This year 27 teams vied for honours in various divisions. Their numbers are increasing, which augurs well for the sport. It's not trophies, but participation in competitive hockey that will help keep players in contention, he added. This will also help give job opportunities to the young after leaving school.

Rosayro paid a glowing tribute to the patron of the MHA's sports loving, Hemaka Amerasuriya, the chairman of Singer (Sri Lanka) Ltd. Singer are the national sponsors of Sri Lanka Hockey.

This is a great impetus for the game islandwide. Sponsorships are vital for any sport to be developed at national level.

Singer, is giving its share in abundance - be it cricket, hockey or otherwise.

MHA, has been participating in tournaments staged abroad in the past. Its first tour was in 1956 to S. India. The team was led by Hugh Aldons. It included two double internationals at hockey and cricket - Vernon Prins and Chandra Schaffter.

Today Schaffter is the manager of the Lankan cricket team. De Rosayro the present president of the MHA was one of the key-members of the team along with Ivan de Kretser, Tony Adhan, K. Sampathan, Rienzie Perera, R. Mahmoor, Anton de Costa, Derrick Henricus and Patrick Wright both from Times of Ceylon Denzil Perera, Chandra de Silva and Viv de Kretser. Most of these players turned out for the BRC, who dominated the sport at that time. The team was managed by that senior Sports journalist of the Times of Ceylon, late Eustace de S. Wickrematilleke.

This year's 'A' div. was keenly contested by Hatton National Bank, the 'A' champions Commercial Bank, Singer, Pelwatte Sugar Industries, Bartleets and John Keells and Commercial Bank emerged champs. Some of the key national players in the thick of it produced quality hockey, despite wet conditions.

Dennis, also thanked the vice patrons, Bryan Baptist, (Bartleets) M.F. Dias (Smith Kline Beecham), Chrishantha R. Cooray, (Browns), J.D. Bandaranayake (Ceylon Tobacco), M.J. de Zoysa Ceylon Tea Division.

They gave all support and encouragement for the promotion and development of the sport in the private sector.

Finally he thanked Dr. Anura and Mrs. Indunil Ekanayake the chief guests and the guests of honour, Dehan and Mrs. Shalinie Seneviratne for their presence at this last tournament before the start of the millennium.

'Prince' of Ceylon rugby takes charge

My Police Memories

By S. Sivendran - (Retd. Snr. Supdt. of Police)

In 1968 Sub Inspector M.A. Majeed, a fine centre- three-quarter and a hard tackler from Zahira College was appointed the captain of the Police rugby team. The Police team after their great conquest the previous year and their elevation to the "A" Division under my captaincy was the cynosure of every rugby enthusiast in the country. Majeed had the same team as in the previous year to carry the Police flag under his captaincy.

Austin Daniel, the rugby correspondent of Daily Mirror wrote at the beginning of the season: "The Police Band need not practice Beethoven's Pathetique, for though Sivendran does not captain the Policemen this season, he was the first man to be seen on the field running like the wind. He will certainly be on round-the- clock duty helping new skipper Majeed bind the Cops into a strong outfit."

Summa Nawaratnam, the famous sprinter and ruggerite who did wonders with the Police team as coach the previous year bowed out gracefully and handed over a well knit and well trained Police rugby outfit to his club mate Kaven Rambukwella, the Trinity, CR & FC and Ceylon centre three-quarter, hailed as the Prince of Ceylon rugby, who continued Summa's good work with the Police rugby team for several years.

This season Tony Sirimanne, the sagacious scrum-half from S.Thomas' College, Mt. Lavinia, captained the CR & FC. He was a great inspiring leader and a charming personality and played for his "Alma Mater" in the company of some illustrious personalities such as Frankie David, who hooked for Havelocks and against whom I had several duels. Nihal "Baila" Samarasinghe, a good centre three quarter who played for CR & FC, Maurice Fairweather, who played on the wing for Havies, Sarath "Jockey" Soysa, a planter who played for the Up-country Clubs, Major-General "Kalu" Wijeratne who played for the Army, Lal Kumarasinghe, who was the master-in-charge of Thomian rugby and who was in the Rugby Union committee for several years, and who passed away a few days back, Micheal Sproule, now a leading Lawyer whom I meet regularly in the mornings at Galle Face doing his "jogs", Gamini Weerakoon, now the Editor of "The Island' newspaper, Jith Wanigasekera, whom I see regularly walking his dog along Green Path in the mornings and who owns a tea firm, Jith Jirasinghe, the son of Lionel Jirasinghe who was my Asst. Supdt. of Police in 1961 when I was attached to Fort Police Station as a Sub Inspector, Nihal Algama, a Planter who passed away recently, and "Pancho" Gunaratne, who is out of the Island to name a few. It is a pity that Tony Sirimanne had to leave us at a very young age whilst domiciled in Australia.

Havelocks was captained by Noel Brohier, from Trinity College who was one of the finest flankers, always sporting a shy smile on and off the field. He is now settled down in Melbourne, Australia, working as a Bank Manager and married to Gilian, the daughter of Darley Ingleton, who was one of the leading referees during our playing days. I visited Noel in Melbourne with Y.C. Chang the former President of the Rugby Union and against whom I had played many an exciting rugby game, when we went to Australia for the Sydney Sevens. It was a treat to listen to Noel, Y.C. and several other Trinitians who were at Noel's place talking of the days at Trinity during their adolescent days. Even though I did not go to Trinity College I too was able to contribute my share regarding the Trinitians. A name that featured most was Sarath Ilangantileke. A Trinity ruggerite and a dear friend of mine who is now a Professor at a University in Thailand.

CH & FC was captained by the most unpredictable centre three quarter John Burrows who was famous for his deceptive runs with sudden spurts and stops which left the defence in disarray. He was in Sri Lanka recently during our rugby season whom I met at the CR & FC Clubhouse after a rugby game and went down memory lane.

Majeed and his "Marauders" as the Police team was called, had a good season but was marred by some ugly incidents in the Police CH & FC match where two Police players were seen involved in some unwarranted fistcuffs with Maurice Marinon, a huge Australian forward and Mike Davies, a strong centre three quarter from Wales, who were the star attraction in the CH & FC team.

Eleric Abeyagoonawardena who was then the Inspector General of Police, a strict disciplinarian and a true sportsman from S.Thomas' College Mt. Lavinia and who was watching the match at Police Park was furious at the behaviour of some of the Police players and immediately after the match suspended two players namely: flanker R.P Linton and centre T.H. Jayah of the Police team even before the Rugby Union could take disciplinary action. The stern I.G.P. was of the view that it was not winning or losing matches but it is how you play the game that counted.

The situation was aggravated further when a cartoon appeared in the front page of the Ceylon Obvserver showing a rugger player punching a boxing bag and on being questioned by another as to what he was doing, he replied that he was training to play the Police in a rugger match.

At the end of the season Majeed was relieved of his captaincy and I was appointed again the captain of the Police team for the following year which was my fourth year of Police captaincy, which I had no option but to accept, as it was an order from the Inspector General of Police, in order to rebuild the image of Police rugby.

Police did well to draw their match with the champions Havelocks 6-6 at Havelock Park. Daily Mirror headlines cried "Cops clamp cuffs on Champs" "A whiz bang game was drawing to a close, when with three minutes to tick away, the Havelocks rattled, shaken and baffled conceded a penalty. Bagoos Sourjah was there once more placing the ball and walking back into tombstone silence. With the same magnificent in-step with which he kicked the CR & FC out of last semi-final on the same grounds, Sergeant Sourjah landed this one like an arrow from a William Tell bow. Tall and towering the ball left a truculant trajectory which made a mockery of Havelocks supremacy, inflicting on them their first draw. But CR & FC which were beaten by the Police the previous year in the semi-finals beat the Police by 10 Points to nil.

At the end of the domestic season the All-India rugby tournament was held in Ceylon for the first time and all leading clubs participated. In the quarter finals, the Police took on the might of the Defence Services and crushed them 6 points ( two penalities) to Nil. The Ceylon Observer reporting on this said "surprise packet" kicks Police to victory. "Sivendran last year's Police skipper calls him "Our surprise packet". He sure is. Chandradasa brought in to replace that full back of amazing deeds, Bagoos Sourjah, really "did a Sourjah". He kicked Police into quarter finals of the All India Rugger Tournament converting two penalties both "peaches" and to knock the Defence Services out. It was a shock win, as Police downed the best fifteen drawn from the Army, Navy and Airforce, a combine that came into the final of last year's All India Tournament in Bombay."

In the semi-finals Police lost to CR & FC and in the finals CR & FC beat their traditional rivals Havelocks to annexe the All India Rugby Championship under the captaincy of that amiable scrum half Tony Sirimanne.

Briefly

Seethadevi, Visaka jt. champs

Seethadevi BMV Kandy and Visakha Vidyalaya Colombo were declared joint champions in the All Island under 15 inter schools hockey championships conducted by the Sri Lanka Schools Hockey Federation played at Police Park, Bambalapitiya.

The final between these two teams ended in a scoreless draw.

In the semi finals Seethadevi BMV beat St Anthony's BMV 2 nil with Amitha Ratnayake and Subashini Premaratne sounding the boards once each, while Visakha beat Ladies College 1 nil through a goal scored by Randika Weeratunga.

First round Seethadevi BMV beat Ladies College 6 nil, Amila Ratnayake 2, Subashini Premaratne, Iroshini Liyanage, Sanjani Mendis and Sugandika Amaradasa scored a goal each.

Visakha beat Pusphadana BMV Kandy by a solitary goal to nil with Kaniskha Vithana scoring the goal.

Quarter finals: Seethadevi BMV beat Musaeus 6 nil, Subashini Premaratne scored four goals assisted by Amitha Ratnayake and Irasha Tennakoon 1 each.

Visakha beat Bishops 3 nil with Randika Weeratunga 2 and Kaniskha Vithana 1 scoring the goals.

St. Anthony's BMV beat Pusphadana BMV 1 nil, Kalyani Wettasinghe scored for St Anthony's and Ladies College beat Sangahamitha BMV Matale 1 nil.

Royal triumphant

Royal College beat Susamayawardena MV by 90 runs in their under 13 Horlicks Trophy inter school cricket encounter played at Reid Avenue.

Batting first Royal totalled 170 for 9 in 50 overs helped by a fifty by N.Chamikara while Susamayawardena MV were bowled out for 80 with Prasanna Ganegoda captured 4 for 11.

Royal 170 for 9 in 50 overs. N. Chamikara 50, I.N.Jayasekera 33, C.Senaratne 33. Susamayawardena MV 80 all out. Prasanna Ganegoda 4 for 11, D.Weerasekera 2 for 15.

Mixed Pairs bridge

The Mixed Pairs contract bridge chamionships sponsored by Dr. S.E. Jeyaratnam will be held on Sunday (October 24) at the Bridge Federation Headquarters at the Race Course from 9.15 a.m.

The open pairs championships played for the Dr Tudor Perera memorial trophy sponsored by Bandulla Senaweera will be held on Sunday October 31 at the Bridge Federation Headquarters at the Race Course at 9.15 a.m.

J.R. Jayewardena Trophy cricket

The Limited overs cricket match between SSC and NCC the neighbours at Maitland Place, for the J.R.Jayawardena Trophy will be played at the SSC grounds. Play in this second encounter will commence at 10 a.m.

AAA officials exam

The technical officials examination of the Amateur Athletic Association will be held on November 27 at four centres in Colombo, Kandy, Matara, Anuradhapura in Sinhala, English or Tamil.

Application forms could be obtained from the AAA Office at Reid Avenue Colombo 7 or the Secretary District Association or from the Chairman, Officials Committee No. 6 B/1 Pagoda Road, Nugegoda.

Completed application forms along with the relevant examination fee should be forwarded to Rohan Amarasinghe, Chairman, Officials Committee on or before November 12.

Steve Waugh Foundation

Chairman and Secretary of the Steve Waugh Poor Children's Foundation Gamini Nanayakkara (film producer) and Sudath Kumara Dodangoda (film and stage actor) last week disclosed how they proposed to utilize money collected through the Foundation.

"We will go from village to village along the coast, selecting poor families living beside railway lines, and helping them. Books for education and clothes will be the priority," Mr. Dodangoda said.

When we met him on October 5 at the Taj, the day before Steve Waugh left Sri Lanka, Steve advised us on how to organize musical shows, dramas and film stars, actors and actresses soft ball cricket matches to collect funds, Mr. Dodangoda said.

He also said we should get the sponsors who regularly help cricket to get involved in this project, Mr. Nanayakkara said.

Next month the Steve Waugh Poor Children's Foundation will organize a film stars soft ball cricket match.

Award for Walsh

Former West Indies captain Courtney Walsh was awarded the Trinidad & Tobago Republican Day award for his outstanding contributions to Caribbean Cricket.

Walsh, a Jamaican, was the first overseas citizen to win the award.

Meanwhile left hander Shivnarine Chanderpaul was appointed captain of Gayana for the forthcoming Red Stripe Bowl one day competition.

The six regional teams in the West Indies will be joined by Canada and Burmuda at this year's competition. (MF)

Hansie Drops Plans to coach

South African captain Hansie Cronje has dropped plans to coach Glamorgan next year and once again committed himself to the future of the game in his country.

The move comes following discussions Cronje had with United Cricket Boards (UCB) managing director Dr. Ali Bacher.- (MF)

Dinusha, the rising netball star

The finale of the Trixie Jayasuriya memorial invitation schools netball tournament in which six schools participated was highly competitive, with all schools hosting strong teams.

The matches were played at the Holy Family Convent Bambalapitiya, where the host school made a clean sweep, capturing the titles in all three age groups.

This no doubt was a fitting tribute to Miss Jayasuriya who had been the school's Games Mistress for over a quarter century.

Trixie Jayasuriya was synonymous with netball and the many national players who were coached by her during the last few decades, attribute their success to her.

Coaching the schools strong outfit today is young and energetic Asha Siriwardene, an Old Familian, and a national player, whose sound judgement, and untiring efforts combined with charm is an asset when dealing with todays 'now' generation.

I myself is an Old Familian, who played for the school, many years back and have watched with pride my alma mater rise to great heights in netball.

Among the invitees was Lucky Dharmasena a house-hold name in sport in her day. She was all praise for our players, saying that the team spirit among the players, was noteworthy. This she said was a vital ingredient for success in any sport.

Fifteen year-old Dinusha Perera, captain of the under 16 team, was signalled out by her for her prowess at the game, who predicted a bright future for her. Shooting all around was excellent but Dinusha had a way of her own, she retrieved the ball, it was shot in a flash into the goal, basket-ball style. This may be the result of her been a fine, basket-ball player too.

Inushika Wijendra the schools games captain, together with the other talented players gave a thriling performance.

Only player from another school to win an award was Salomi Nanayakkara of Methodist College. Medals and certificates were awarded to winners. The Chief guests were Mr and Mrs Oliver Jayasuriya. Mrs Olive Gamage, Director of Education(Sport), was guest of honour.

It came as no surprise when Dinusha Perera was announced as the best player of the tournament, and crowned netball queen of the tournament.

Shy and unassuming Dinusha, could not believe her eyes, when she was presented with a fabulous basket of dark red roses and orange carnations, in appreciation of her fine performance. - Mary Wijesekera

West Indies stutter then stall in Sharjah

Two decades ago few would have predicted the fall of West Indian Cricket. Under Clive Lloyd and during the early days of Vivian Richards, the team from the Carribean were outstanding, strong in every department of the game, with plenty of reserves waiting in the wing. Last week Brian Lara's team disappeared into the desert night, dismissed for a paltry 117 by Pakistan, suffering yet another humiliating defeat. The mighty Lloyd watched, wide eyed, helpless, perhaps in disbelief, reminiscing of the past.

Over the ages cricket has had more significance for the West Indians than for any other people. In Australia the formation of a national team in the 1870's was the first tangible expression of national consciousness, directed against the Mother Country - England. In the West Indies Cricket was all that and more: specifically, it was also the first vehicle of popular resistance to colonial rule and of individual black empowerment. In fact less than a handful of black professionals were amongst the inaugral West Indies team to tour England in 1900.

It was Pelham Warner who first initiated the break in the race system. The son of Trinidad's attorney-general he learnt his cricket by batting against street boys in his yard in Port - of - Spain. Later he moved on to play for Harrow and England.

Warner noted the strength, agility and natural talent amongst the blacks. Through the sponsors of an England tour he was able to persuade the West Indian selectors to include more blacks in their teams and thus the doors were opened.

However, through to the second world war, the British resident influence dominated Carribean cricket. Sir Learie Constantine in his book, Cricket and I, stated that the white players were not motivated as the black players in the team whenever they played against England. He says, to them it was "Cousin Cricket" in which defeat meant nothing. As the game moved into the 1950's the number of white players diminished until they became a small minority. However, control over administration and selection remained in the hands of the colonial elite. Their values, indeed, have of course now been replaced and updated in the West Indian Cricket Board.

For West Indies to play and become World Champions under a black Captain - firstly Sir Frank Worrell - was to demonstrate that the West Indian territories were mature enough to stand on their own feet. By the captaincy eras of Clive Lloyd and Viv Richards, West Indian Cricket was giving its people even more, such as a self - respect they had never been allowed to feel before: West Indians of African and Asian ancestry now had a distinct identity as a post - colonial people. In fact in those days the saying went," what West Indian Cricket does today, the rest of West Indian society does tomorrow.

Today, the game of Cricket has turned around. Gone are the days of playing for the love of the game. Brian Lara is a prime example. He is the prototype of the elite cricketer of the 21st century: the one who maximises his income, not with the fees and bonuses from the Cricket Board, but by marketing himself in conjuntion with the global capital of the multinationals. Cricketers will, in the not too distant future, see themselves as enterpreneurs than as professionals!

Development of the Inter - Island game is not forthcoming quickly enought. Men of the islands have other varied educational, sporting and social interests, as is the case with the British masters who brought the game to the islands. Clive Lloyd can only look on at present. His charges are bound to stutter and start, but stall, as long as the Cricketing pendulum takes, to swing back.

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