By K. ARUMUGAM*

It is interesting that a leading educational institution is in the forefront of promoting hockey in Chennai. The ongoing 12-day, 12-team Shri NPV Ramasamy Udayar Cup is being organized by the popular SRCER University. It’s not a one-off activity. The Institution has laid a synthetic turf, still a luxury in India, but an inevitable infrastructure to promote the national game is serious business. And, also because of the realization such a state of the art of facility is a must for booming campus life. Not satisfied, the University is about to unveil first-of-its-kind private Centre of excellence in India.

Author-Historian-Writer

This evokes an interesting question. Nowadays, hardly do academics and sports show any kind of synergy or symphony in India. Both have become independent of each other, somehow. A development, an ethos that is not desirable. However, that’s why nowadays, exceptions apart, our living legends of sports achieved their status at the cost of education!

It was not the case in the past especially in Chennai, the city that has an enviable hockey history.

The first Olympian from the Madras State was a medical college student. Yes, leading medical and engineering colleges fielded combative hockey teams in Chennai in the 1930s to mid 1970s.

Chennai’s 1936 Olympic hockey gold medalist John Goodsir-Cullen

Earnest John Goodsir-Cullen, an Anglo-Indian was the first from Tamil Nadu, nay from the southern part of India, to be a hockey Olympian. The Madras Medical College Student was in his third year when selected for the historic 1936 Berlin Olympics. The team led by the legendary Dhyan Chand won its third straight Olympic hockey gold beating the mighty hosts Germany 8-1 and Cullen brought the first Olympic gold to Chennai.

The gifted midfielder’s international career was curtailed by the outbreak of the Second World War. However, when he later settled in Ireland he was invited to play the Olympics in 1952. He was then 40!

His elder Brother William Goodsir-Cullen represented India at the Amsterdam Olympics (1928) but was living in Mussoorie, present day Uttarakhand.

If Cullen was from the medical line, Nigel Richtor came from the vicissitude stream — engineering.

Engineer turned Indian hockey star  Nigel Richtor

Another Anglo-India to adorn the vast Chennai hockey canvass, Nigel Richtor was an alumnus of Doveton Corrie High School. Like Moscow Olympic gold medallist Vasudevan Baskaran, he graduated from Loyola College. Later, he did his engineering from Arthur Hope Institute of Technology, Chennai.

He toured then hockey-strong nation Sri Lanka to earn his international colours. It was in 1947 shortly after India’s Independence. He was a strong contender for the 1948 Olympics but however could not get through.

Baddiuddin, the enigmatic engine room of Tamil Nadu hockey in its glorious phase of 1960s, carried the engineer-hockey player tag in the next.

Born to an affluent family, Baddiuddin was captain of the state team that won the highest honour in domestic hockey – the National Championship. Those were the days when Tamil Nadu was among the top three hockey states in India. Son of the Chief Conservator of Forests, a top post in the colonial India, four of Baddiudin’s brothers were doctors while he himself was an engineer. He did his engineering from Karaikudi where actually his dream of playing for India ended. The college did not have a hockey team. Undaunted, he formed one and made it a force to reckon with – and then obtained his international jersey too (Vs West Germany, Bombay).

The Engineering student Md. Badiuddin led Tamil Nadu to National Championship gold, 1967

After engineering graduation, he worked in many top institution including Neyveli Lignite Corporation, Electricity Board, Highway etc, but later joined Indian Railways to continue playing hockey! He played till he was promoted to Executive Engineer.

In fact, recollects the hockey face of the State Vasudevan Baskaran, that the bulk of Madras Blue team in which he was part and parcel, had mostly doctors and engineers. And, he could easily recollect everyone of them for the benefit of the site.

Tamil Nadu Hockey was at its peak when the educated lot were part of the team

“Dr. David Chellaraj (Chest Specialist) now retired, former Chief of Forensic Deptt. of Govt. Hospital, Dr. Devasigamani, late Dr Zamman and Dr. Jayakumar, who at present is settled in the United Kingdom comes to my mind” Baskaran Says.

“Its a proud moment for all of us in India that Dr. Zamman, who migrated to Sydney, was the Medical Chief at the 2000 Sydney Olympics’. They are all retired and some settled in abroad, but are keen followers of Indian hockey even now.”

It is also learnt that the the Madras University hockey team used to be full of Doctors and Engineers in the mid 1970s: Dr David Chellaraj, Dr Devaisigamani, Dr Zamman, Dr Salahuddin, Dr Basheer, Dr Kareem, Dr Jammal, Dr Jayakumar and then Post Graduate Engineers in Sivanamdam, Ramakrishnan Albert PhD besides V. Baskaran, his brother Rajasekaran, Chitibabu and a law student Ganesan!

Baskaran reminisces fondly: “This Madras University team went on to win the All India University and runners up thrice. My strong foundation in sports began there”. 

Former Trichy team captain Godandapani Doraisamy, himself an engineer, now living in the States, remembers Stanley Medical college student Jayashankar and Gnamurthy, Christian Medical College, Vellore, were among the excellent players to come from medical colleges.

The list of engineers and doctors who played hockey in this part of of India not short unlike this write up. On India level there are many including Olympic bronze medalist doctor Vace Paes (father of tennis legend Leander Paes), Albert Shaw (doctor), Zafar Iqbal (Engineer, AMU), M M Somaya (PG Commerce), Viren Rasquinha (ISB alma mater) etc.

As field hockey started assuming the contours of professionalism, one of the side effects was the general inability to trade off between academics and demanding and unending practice sessions! Exceptions apart, stars attained their limelight at the cost of quality education.

Against the backdrop, it is fitting that the ongoing Udayar Cup and the SRCER’s concerted efforts to promote hockey will go a long way in reviving not only hockey but also energize engineers and educated communities to the hockey fold. This is one area that our hockey needs desperately to  improve its profile.

Note: This is first of SEVEN part Series on the history of Tamil Nadu hockey.

*The writer is also author of ‘Tamil Naattin Hockey Veerargal’ (Hockey Players of Tamil Nadu), published in 2006. Click here for details of the book.

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