Cricket Board politics impact Tamil Union?

CRICKET: Unlike many so-called progressives, I am an admirer of some of the better things the British colonialists left behind. Our education system, public transport, the civil service and the judicial service, to name but a few, remained in very good order during the first decade or so after independence.

Among other interesting things the British left behind were the sports bodies - the cricket and athletic clubs, the rugby clubs, the planters' clubs - that have continued to this day and age although the spirit and ethos of these places have understandably changed over the years.

Some like the Hill Club in Nuwara Eliya and the Swimming Club in Colombo have shed their ultra-colonial character and are now so much the better for that change.

One of the oldest such clubs is the Tamil Union Cricket and Athletic Club which is the home of the Colombo oval. Everybody familiar with the history of sport in Sri Lanka is aware of the tremendous debt the country owes to the Tamil Union for being the home for various athletics meets, hockey matches and of course both domestic and international cricket since the early 1940s.

Scores of old men like me who were schoolboys in the 40s and 50s remember vividly our visits to the oval to see many a match and the memories of those distant days are recalled whenever we sit with a glass of the stuff that cheers and reminisce.

It is, therefore, with much sadness that I came to learn that the unity and fellowship that were hallmarks of his old club have begun to erode. Perhaps this is to be expected, given the overall chaos amidst which we all live. In the old days, one was judged not by the enormity of one's wallet, but by the standards of his public conduct.

We would often hear comments like, 'he's a gentleman, he will never stoop so low as to go back on his word' or 'a gentleman's word is his bond'. Today lesser men with money are able to scale heights in society that would never have been possible in those halcyon days.

For the monied men, clubs and other such institutions are there to be manipulated and bullied into doing their bidding.

The decisions arrived at by the management of a club based on consultation and consensus do not seem to matter to them.

Buying positions and gaining social prominence, it appears, seem the priority.

I was very surprised to learn that among the contenders for the post of President and Secretary of the Tamil Union are a father, who has served as President twice previously, and son duo.

This reminds me of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party until a few days ago when its leadership went from parent to sibling as if there were no other competent individuals to do the honours. We are used to elastic standards from politicians but not from those who belong to a respectable institution like the Tamil Union with its proud history. The club's founding fathers like the late P. Saravanamuttu were men of stature who did not need to buy status.

According to my friends at the Tamil Union, never in the club's history, has in incumbent President been contested or challenged at the end of his first year in office.

Convention and tradition have up to now ensured that such mean-spirited contests never took place at the Tamil Union, because it was always the logical view that any President needed a minimum of 2 years to make a meaningful contribution.

It seems that the reason for this contest is that the current President and his contestant are allegedly supporters of the rival camps currently vying for control of Sri Lanka Cricket!! Surely the Tamil Union is above such pettiness?

So one is forced to observe that "this just isn't cricket". I wonder if there is any social club of standing in the world, where a father and son are its President and Secretary, particularly when the company they own has commercial interests in that institution! Another first for Sri Lanka? While there may not be anything illegal about this kind of thing, it belongs to that category of things that men of standing refer to as "just not done"?

People like me who have a high regard for and fond memories of the Tamil Union earnestly hope that saner counsel will prevail and that those seeking to oust the sitting President at the end of only one year, disregarding convention and tradition, will withdraw in the higher interests of this old and respected institution. Otherwise it will indeed be a very sad thing for those of us who view the Tamil Union as one of the few decent old clubs yet around to witness its reputation tarnished in this manner.

'A concerned member'