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Setting new goals
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HOCKEY Is the sport progressing in Chennai? Ask M. A. Alagappan
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From a game of mesmerising skills on grass, hockey has become a fast-paced game of power and stamina on a synthetic surface. "How times have changed," recalls M. A. Alagappan, Vice-Chairman of the Murugappa Group of Industries. The company has been behind the popular MCC-Murugappa All India Gold Cup Hockey Tournament, a feature on the city's sports calendar.
Whatever the changes, hockey lovers in the city are unanimous in saying that the Murugappa tournament is growing from strength to strength. "Our commitment is to promote the sport," said Alagappan. "It was in 1962," he recalls, "that the first tournament was conducted following the donation of a gold cup by Valliammal Lakshmanan on the occasion of the 61st birthday of her father AMM Murugappa Chettiar." Initially it was called the Merchants and Bankers Cup Tournament. From then on, it grew at the organisational hands of T. I. Cycles, which was a leading team in the local league.
Over the years, the organisational machinery changed hands from T. I. Cycles to Tube Products and then to the Madras Hockey Association. Alagappan mentioned names of employees such as Subramaniam (KRS) and C.G. Devaya who ensured the event remained an annual fixture and brought in rich fare in terms of competition.
Long hiatus
Still the sequence was broken at various times, the biggest hiatus came after 1985. "For 11 years the tournament did not take place and in 1996 the link with MCC began. The MCC had been conducting a hockey tournament along with the ITC but problems with regard to the conduct of the event at its premises led to its fading away. Then came the tie-up with the Major Radhakrishnan Stadium getting astro turf.
"This year we were expecting floodlight facilities too to go operational. That would have enabled us to schedule the matches late in the evening and drawn bigger crowds," Alagappan said. "I remember when the tournament was launched first, huge crowds used to witness the action. Then the numbers dropped. Our PR department then decided to bring school children by buses to the venue. With the floodlight facility we hope to bring back the scene of the earlier days," he said. "Maybe, with a little help from the IHF, we can get a couple of foreign sides to participate in the tourney. This would enrich the event further," he said.
Though Murugappa and hockey have an enduring association, the group has also been promoting sports such as cricket and tennis. Alagappan, himself a tennis player and an office bearer of the TNTA, spoke of how his nephew A. Vellayan (Murugappa Corporate Board Director) had played a significant role in the renaming of the popular ATP tournament as "Chennai Open' and ensuring that it remained in Chennai. "If everything goes well we could also have Chennai hosting the veterans league on the lines of the ATP," he said.
On the group's special interest in hockey, Alagappan noted, "We felt that as a national sport, hockey was not getting the required sponsorship. The sport needed to be encouraged and we wanted to see it grow."
S. R. SURYANARAYAN
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