Media Watch: Nehru Society confers Lifetime Achievement Award to Patrick Rowley

Veteran journalist Patrick Rowley, who is on a sojourn in India en route personal Oceania trip, got a pleasant surprise when famed Nehru Tournament Hockey Society — started in 1964, and is organizing a chain of six tournaments every year — honoured him with the ‘Life Time Achievement Award’, here on Thursday.

Patrick, known as Pat to hockey world, is a former editor of ‘World Hockey’, now defunct mouthpiece of FIH, the world hockey body.

“I know Pat when I played European Hockey League in the 80s”, recollected Kukoo Walia, Secretary General of the Nehru Society.

“My Club from Czeck played in the EHL. He noticed me and wrote my scoring. Pat has contributed immensely to the sport of hockey over a long period of time with his pen, and happy to see him still writing and thinking about hockey”, he said in the simple but impressive ceremony held at the Russian Cultural Centre.

While accepting the scroll, Pat reminisced his hockey career: “My visit to Bombay in the 70s as manager of the Europe Continental team is as equally exciting as I was stopped at the Pak-Af border. I was with Rane Frank, then FIH president, and PHF president then. The reason they told was something pertaining to my professional career, but what I remember is al the three dignitaries with me refused to step into Af border without me”.

“Nowadays I am actively involved in hockey museum”, he added.

He also recollected how as a boy he witnessed the 1948 Olympics from ‘top stands’.

On the occasion, Nehru Society made a power point presentation on its annual achievements.

Rajeev Mehta, Secretary General of Indian Olympic Association was also present on the occasion.

Pat, the prolific writer, also compiled a classic ‘The Book of Hockey’.

Its worth mentioning that the visiting journalist penned a signature column for this site during the Athens Olympics.