Hilary
Fernandes
The
Wizard of D*
I must confess: From the first
moment I saw him play, I was an instant fan (without misshaping my integrity as
a journalist), some whose admiration of the player and the man has never faded.
As a young boy I never held a hockey stick in my hand. Unlike that other mob,
Dr Ribeiro Goan School, St Teresa’s Boys School in Eastleigh was not big on
sport. A one-armed student Kersi Rustomji cut the grass in very large square patch
and fashioned cricket pitch and I think cricket died after his class graduated
high school. There was another block where the grass was occasionally cut to
create a soccer field of sorts and was played on now and again. Dr Ribeiro’s,
on the other hand, was blessed with some of the best sports girls and boys in a
large variety of sports.
Hence, when I joined the Daily
Nation as a Sports Reporter I had to learn several sports in a hurry. Two men
who spent many, many hours discussing, debating, arguing various points of
hockey were Hilary Fernandes and former
club player and international umpire Oscar D’Souza. I remain indebted.
SOME folks used to say in
complete admiration: Hilary was probably born with a hockey stick in his hand.
Yet others would swear that he was blessed with one of the finest attacking
hockey brains anywhere. In his time, he was the headline behind many a Kenya,
Sikh Union and Railway Goan Institute win. As a young journalist who was
privileged to see him play, it was easy to see why he was more often than not
the headline: he was the creative genius who fashioned goals for others to
score or scored himself.
Crouched low to the ground
with the hockey stick seemingly attached to the ball, Hilary looked like a
lioness or a cheetah on a kill and he applied the finish to his own “kill”
(scoring goals) with same finesse the two animal species are famous for. Yet,
the label most suited for him was “the wizard of dribble”. His wrong-footed
opposing defenders almost with every attack Kenya mounted on the opposition.
He was also a crafty devil. If
there was no clear shot at goal available he would with greatest of calm, the
innocence of a new born babe imprinted on his face and without a hint of guilt
of wrong doing, he would flick the ball onto feet of the opposing player in
front of the scoring area of the goalmouth. For intents and purposes, the not
guilty verdict was based on the “fact” that he was passing the ball to a fellow
player or in the processing of beating an opposing player.
The thing about Hilary was
that he was great at reading the game and the opponents he played against.
While mounting an attacking he was, like a great chess player, thinking three
and four moves ahead of anyone else. To
this he added the deftest of flicks to the right or left, a gentle push forward
to be swooped on with the speed of a bullet followed by the lethal hit into the
back of the goal net with the keeper left open mouthed and clutching at air.
The short corner brought into
play his friend and captain Avtar Singh Sohal (Tari) who was often recognised
as the best full back and penalty corner converter at both Olympic and
international level. He was Kenya’s open-secret weapon.
What were your most memorable
internationals/Olympics/World Cup games?
He was selected for three
Olympics: Rome 1960, Tokyo 1964. He played for Kenya in World Cups in ……… Among
Goans, he has won the most medals for winning the M R De Souza Gold Cup with
Kenya Police, Railway Goan Institute and the Sikh Union making him the most decorated
of Goan hockey players anywhere.
So how did it start?
He was born on October 22,
1937 in Nairobi. Of his brothers,Leo was an Olympian and Kenya international.
Nereus played for Kenya but migrated before he could settle into a hockey
career in Kenya.
A genius called Master
A personal tribute
by Hilary Fernandes
During my school days at Dr Rebeiro’s Goan School in Nairobi,
Kenya I was very fortunate to come in contact with and later to be coached by
this educationist and sport administrator who was known to us all as Master
Anthony D’Souza. Simply because he taught Maths and English in our
school.
He was or may have opted to train and select players for the
school’s A and B hockey teams.
We did not know of his accomplishments as a hockey player. His
very modest introduction to us was that he had played hockey for the world
famous Lusitanians Hockey team in Bombay. Although he was not an Olympian, he
was going to be our coach.
This is how it all unfolded: he called on all those that were
interested in playing hockey to turn out on a Saturday afternoon at the Railway
Goan Institute ground. The turnout was very good with approximately 50 of
showing up. He immediately made a list noting the name, age and preferred
position for the trials. It was after two hours or so that he gathered all of
us and read out the short list that he had created and read out the names.
I was happy that I made the list and it is from that day on, that
I’m thankful for having been under his guidance. He was one of the greatest
coaches from whom I learned every skill that is used in the sport and he had
the ability and flair to disperse it to you. He made me and all the other Goan
Olympians famous. I personally owe ever thing to him. I was very fortunate as he coached me in all
the skills and tricks he himself used as a player. He had played exactly the
same positions that I did… inside right. He was so knowledgeable about the game
that he could read the game within minutes of its start and execute a game plan.
Anthony was a well-respected person in the hockey circles and in
my opinion one of the greatest hockey coaches that I have ever known. We are
all forever in debited to him for his undivided attention in sharing with us
his skills and talent in making us the great hockey players of yester years.
He too gained international status as he was an International
Umpire and also was appointed as a coach of the Kenya team at the 1964 Tokyo
and 1968 Mexico Olympic Games. In previous years he also accompanied the Kenya
National Hockey team as Manager and Coach on various international tours
abroad.
It was some 40 years or so when I received a heart wrenching
letter from him informing me, that he had been diagnosed with terminal stomach
cancer and that he did not have much time left, but was happy that he had
joined his family in London, England. He
passed away shortly and his passing away left a void in the hearts of the many
Goan Olympians he had trained.
However till today his name surfaces in any hockey conversation
especially when one is asked, where did you learn to play the game of hockey
and who were you coached by. Now you have the answer. Only one person: my
Coach, my Friend. The late Anthony D’Souza.
You are gone but will never be forgotten by many.
Thank you for I owe it all to you. Rest In Peace, till we meet
again. Hilary.
*The Wizard of Dribble
(brilliant stick work). The D: half circle in front of goal which is the area
from which scoring permitted. Outside the D counts for nowt.
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