It’s been over a decade since 64-year-old Leslie Fernandes wielded a hockey stick. The former goalkeeper, part of the Indian team that won the World Cup in 1975, was playing it again in his mind when he recently watched 12 Anglo-Indian teams from across the country battle it out at a tournament in Chennai.
The ‘Toast to Hockey 2′ tournament, held every two years (this time between February 17-18), is a celebration of the community’s contribution to the national game, and many hope it might just bring the prodigal sons of Indian hockey back to the game. “Most players in the pre-World War II teams, which won three Olympic gold medals, were Anglo-Indians and they made India famous the world over,” says Harry MacLure, editor of Anglos In The Wind’, an international magazine for Anglo Indians.
MacLure, coming from a 500-year-old community with a strong music-sports tradition, had the idea of a hockey tournament for his people in July 2009 to revive interest in it among youngsters. The first tournament was held in Chennai in 2010 with teams from Kolkata, Vishakhapatnam, Trichy, Bangalore and Chennai.
“It was in the late 19th and early 20th centuries that hockey was introduced in British military cantonments. It was popularized by Irish Christian brothers running educational institutions in Mussoorie, Kolkata and Dehra Dun,” says Richard O’Connor, one of the organizers. “Anglo-Indians took to the game and it flourished in the railway colonies.”
Hockey legend Trevor Vanderputt, who came from Australia, remembers playing hockey in the streets. “It was popular in Catholic boarding schools,” says the 80-year-old. As a 17-year-old, Vanderputt worked for a year in the UK, playing for the Indian High Commission in London. “It was entirely an Anglo-Indian team,” he says. In the 1970s, he came to India with a young hockey team from Australia, which included Ric Charlesworth, who went on to become coach of the teams that won the Champions Trophy in Auckland last year, and the Commonwealth Games in 2010 in New Delhi.
The list of Anglo-Indian hockey greats is long. Leslie Claudius featured in the Guinness Book for winning the maximum number of Olympic medals – three gold, one silver – in hockey. He received the Padma Shri in 1971. The 1928 Olympic team had nine Anglo-Indians; the 1932 team eight, and the 1936 team six.
Anglo-Indian women also reigned supreme. “They excelled in all sports and dominated hockey,” says MacLure. The provincial and national championships were swept by Anglo-Indian teams. “The women’s national hockey tournament in Bhopal in 1961 was an all-Anglo-Indian affair,” he says.
But the game went into a decline after India won the Olympic gold in 1980. “Cricket gained popularity, especially after the 1983 World Cup win,” says O’Connor. Children began playing cricket and schools stopped promoting hockey. Many Anglo-Indians migrated to England, Australia and Canada after Independence. “We lost many talented players due to the mass exodus,” says Fernandes. After Partition, brothers Julian, Eric, Cec, Mel and Gordon Pearce migrated to Australia. All went on to become successful international players for their adopted country.
Unemployment and financial insecurity are other factors that led to hockey’s decline. “Government organizations like Railways’ ICF used to offer jobs to players, but that has stopped,” says Adam Sinclair, who played in the 2004 Athens Olympics. “Our youngsters’ desire to make quick money led many of them to opt for call centre jobs, which they land easily as they have a good command over English.”
Alloysius Edwards, who played in the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, says nepotism at all levels of selection ruined the game. “This has been a problem with all Indian sports,” he says. The switch to astro turf, too, has hampered hockey’s growth in smaller cities which don’t have it. Then, hockey sticks have become expensive, acting as a deterrent, says Fernandes. But Anglo-Indian hockey clubs are trying to keep the game alive. Thomas Chouke, captain of Anglo Wanderers, a club in Chennai, says hockey is “the first love” in many Anglo-Indian households. “Every family has someone who played the game and we’re proud of our heritage,” he says.
The present tournament finally culminated in true Anglo-Indian style. “After all the friction on the field, we get together to dine and dance and celebrate the spirit of the game,” says Chouke. Play on, hockey boys.
With iputs from Krishna Kanta Chakraborty
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / Home> Sunday TOI> Special Report / by Priya Menon / TNN / February 19th, 2012