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| Monday, 19 July 2004 |
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Life and times in sport: Felsinger - umpire turned Man of God By Premasara Epasinghe At the end of a great innings, how does an umpire, usually hang up his hat. There are several options. He may enjoy his well earned retirement or else, he will devote greater hours for the family to make up for lost time. He may totally forget the game, perhaps, but, here is an experienced cricket umpire, who served cricket for 30 long years, who does not come within any of these categories. He has opted to become A Man of God. The umpire, we have in mind is the most senior in this Profession today here in Sri Lanka. To any lover of cricket, the description is ample to identify - Alan Felsinger, as the outstanding individual we are talking about here. The turf has been Felsinger's home, for well over three decades. He decided the fortune of many a game. He held fair scales to make his decisions. Impartiality was his hallmark. None could find fault with his decisions. Who is an umpire? An umpire is a man, for many months of the year, devote his leisure time enabling twenty two other men, enjoy themselves. He is a man who knows from the time he walks out on to the field of play, that he is sure to displease someone, but, bravely walks on. He has to be impartial and he must have a thorough understanding of every law of the game of cricket and act as Jury and Judge for Prosecution and Defence, passing sentence in approximately three or four seconds. He has to be impartial and independent. Yet, friendly to all. Very simply, an umpire is in fact, a man without whom, the game of cricket would find it difficult to survive. Felsinger was born on July 10, 1937, at Borella. His father was Hermon Albert Felsinger and mother Mary Madeline de Silva. His two brothers are Herby (who umpired the First Test of Sri Lanka in 1982). His other brother is Douglas. After entering Carey College, Colombo, he represented all grades of school cricket as an opening batsman, cum wicket-keeper. As an Under-14 cricketer, he played in the First XI against Christian College, he scored 146 runs. Felsinger played club cricket for Notts CC and Saracens. While playing for Saracens keeping wickets he sustained a knee injury. The bowler was his brother Herby. "It was that great umpire Dodwell de Soysa, who made me, an umpire. We had to sit for an examination. Granville Hamer, E. V. Gunasekera and H. M. D. Jayasinghe were the others who sat for this examination and we passed the written examination and viva we were recruited as umpires. In 1958, I first umpired a second XI school cricket match - Royal - St. Anthony's Kandy. For a full day the payment was Rs. 10/-" stated Felsinger. He served at Mclarens as a clerk and rose to the position of an executive. Later, he joined the Reserve Police and served the Police Department for 20 years from 1974-1995 and rose to the rank of Superintendent of Police. His mentors were Dodwell de Soysa, J.M.C. and M. A. Jayasinghe brothers. In his distinguished career, he has umpired fifteen unofficial Test matches and more than twenty one-dayers. Alan's first representative game was the Gopalan Trophy played in 1960. In Alan's unchequered career, he was always first to gain encomiums from foreign players including Bill Lawry, Hanu Mant Singh and Managers Fred Bennett, Les Ame, Mickey Stewart and umpire Syd Buller, one of the best in post war period. Alan joins his brother Herbie, which happens to be the second brothers combination in standing at International matches, the first being J.M.C. and MA Jayasinghe. He had the proud distinction of standing with the world famous reputed umpire Sydney Buller in Sri Lanka. Felsinger was a very strict umpire. In a Test match at Asgiriya, he warned young Imran Khan and decided to suspend play for few minutes. After the withdrawal of words by coming down to normal Imran apologised to him, in front of the two Managers and then play was resumed in a cooler atmosphere. His personality was very much that of a Judge. He displayed a learned detachment. But, he was very much concerned about how a game went. "Honesty and deep concentration are the two vital ingredients that go to make a first class umpire. Umpiring is certainly no child play. One should be thoroughly conversant of the rules and regulations of the game. A deep sense of concentration should be applied and you must be quite honest before you give a decision", stated Felsinger. His strict partiality for Discipline must have come partly from his past experience of being a Police Officer - a man, for whom law and order matter above everything. In his early years, he was a man of few words. Partly, this was due to an early childhood disorder. His capacity for speaking was to a certain extent restricted. This may have subdued him in his childhood. Later, this attitude of subjectivity would have gone into spiritual pre-occupation. This is the present story. When I met him, he explained to me, why after hectic colourful troubling years in cricket, he took to the life of a Pastor. "When I was partially dumb, as a small child, a pastor prayed for me in the name of Jesus. I believed that God healed me. With the healing, God changed my life completely", stated Felsinger. He married Miss Rachel Bultjens from Galle. I have son - Tyronne, two daughters, Evelyn Marilyn. Unfortunately his other daughter, Dalrene, met with an accident and died. This was a very big tragedy for the whole family. As an umpire, Alan Felsinger dispensed Justice to decide cricket situations. Today, he, as a Pastor, intercede in affairs of Men and Women as Mediator between God and Man. |
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