All the way for Four

Born and brought up in a family of club footballers of 1970s, cricket was an alien sport for me in early school days. It was football and football all over the maidans and fields of Kannur . Kannur also known as the Mecca of football in India was famous for the number of open maidans it had. The sprawling Kota maidan was once a cradle for many of the former National and International footballers. It was also our school playground where I have lot of memories about not only watching others play but also playing this great sport. My childhood reminiscences about football also include the long journeys with my Uncle to see Sait Nagjee Trophy at Kozhikode and Nehru Cup at Cochin many a time.

I had seen Gavaskar, Gundappa Viswanath , Kapil dev and Kirmanis name in the newspapers , but never bothered to read about them . But, without fail I always followed the results of Calcutta Football League, Durand Cup, Federation cup etc. I remember most students of our school used to play football during the lunch time, and it was only students with an ‘out-of-Kerala” connection and some “urban elites” who used to play the wooden bat and ball game. It was fascinating to see one person throwing the ball and another one trying to hit the ball in different directions and shouting ‘four’ ‘six’ ‘out’ ‘lbw’ etc which I didn’t understand at all .

Kannur District has a rich sporting history. It is said that Cricket was played in Tellicherry (another town in Kannur District) in 1790s during the Time of Aurther Wellesley, the commanding officer of East India Company in South India. The first cricket club in India was formed in Tellicherry in 1860. Famous cricketer Colin Cowdrey’s father was a planter in Tellicherry and Colin is said to have played in the Tellicherry Municipal grounds.
My tryst with cricket started with airing of Doordarshan in early 1980s. The live telecast of One Day matches changed the nature of sports sense of my town. Soon the maidans were transformed to playgrounds with men in white. Children who could not afford to buy cricket bats shaped the hard coconut palm leaves into the shape of the bat and played with a lot of elegance. Rubber and tennis balls were selling like hot cakes. Cricket clubs and tournaments started sprouting even in rural areas. Elders who were great footballs fans on seeing the glory and tradition of football dwindling in the town started quoting George Bernard Shaw’ s famous quote about cricket “ a game played by 22 fools and 22000 fools watching”.

I too tried playing cricket. I used to score well when playing against small children. But the hand-eye coordination failed me whenever I faced good bowling. I tried bowling, but the balls were getting sprayed all over and while fielding, I found that my hands had holes. Soon I realized that it is not my game to play, but I was deeply fascinated about this sport. I wanted to be a part of the game when my friends played and so became an official scorer for college tournaments. In my college days I started reading more about the laws and rules of the game, and my close association with the University Sports Centre helped me to be an Umpire. It was a great feeling and responsibility to be at the center of attraction with enormous powers for intercollegiate matches with 100s of people watching how my hand moved after each ball.

Years have passed but still Cricket is close to my heart like any other average Indian. Even though I criticize the IPL extravaganza, I do enjoy watching the matches. Over the years Sachin ,Ganguli, Dhoni, Virat and others have fascinated me with their heroics but memories are still afresh of Gavaskars ‘late flick’, Vengsarkars ‘Cover Drive’, Srikanths ‘Sixers’ Shastris ‘Sweep, Kapils ‘Outswingers’ , Azharudins ‘Wristy shots’ ,Amarnaths ‘Medium Pace’ and Maninders ‘Batting’ .

Even though Cricket has invaded the hearts and fields of football lovers of Kannur, the die-hard fans throng to see football wherever it is played. The pomp and galore in the streets during the world cup football, COPA America matches are a testimony for their love of the game.

Last year when my son told me that he was selected for the school football team, I beamed, for our family tradition of football continues………