Tuan Imtiaz Jamaldeen, a veteran hockey player and administrator now domiciled in Australia, expressed disgust at the state of the sport in the country where players don’t have the basic training facilities to hone their skills.
Jamaldeen deplored the condition of the only Astro turf venue in Sri Lanka at Reid Avenue as “horrible” to say the least and wondered aloud what the Sri Lanka Hockey Federation (SLHF) was doing to uplift the sport.
He made these observations having joined the coaching staff of the Sri Lanka Women’s team at the 2022 Masters Hockey World Cup in Nottingham, England.
“The facilities are horrible back home. The ground is in a pathetic situation. Unfortunately, for over so many years nothing has been done to improve that. All these people in the Federation are my friends but if they can’t do a job, they must get the hell out and let other people come in and try it out. They are just holding onto posts. I have spoken many times. They say they are trying to get help from Asian Hockey Federation or someone else from Oman is trying to help but nothing is happening,” lashed out Jamaldeen in revulsion at the pathetic state of the Astro Turf in Colombo.
“The Mercantile Association is not involved. People in the corporate sector at least can speak to somebody and get something done. They don’t want to get involved because some officials have caught hold of associations and are running the show. Even the politicians who are coming are just showing a blind eye to it,” revealed Jamaldeen.
“When the ground is being rented out and money is coming in, they don’t care a shit about the status of the ground. They take the money and keep quiet. The ground is in a mess. It is very slow. It is torn all over the place. You can’t practice any kind of short corners or penalty corners or good hits. You can’t do anything,” said the former Carey College and Nationalised Services captain who at one time served as assistant secretary and assistant treasurer at SLHF.
“You have to give credit to the ladies and the guys who have come here (Nottingham) just for the passion of the game and just to keep the game alive. They have spent their own money and come to a place where there is a high standard Astro Turf where the ball travels faster, people run faster, so many things are happening totally differently”, said Jamaldeen who captained the Nationalised Service Hockey Association team in their maiden tour of Malaysia 1992.
He scoffed at plans to build an Astro turf at Pallekele. “Long time ago the Matale ground got ruined after a little while. It is now 15 to 20 years since the ground is not available. When they have two turfs which they can build up here, why do you want to go to Pallekele,” he queried.
Jamaldeen, who had to step up as head coach after AN Perera failed to make the tour, was also critical of the British High Commission for denying visas to part of the team. “They might have their own rules and regulations in issuing visas. How dumb or idiotic can it be when a team is going, you give half the team visas and don’t give visas to the other half. We practice for months and suddenly when half the team is not given visas, you don’t know what to do after that, but go ahead with plans because already teams have been entered, entry fees paid, lodging done,” he said.
He lauded the Sri Lanka women’s team for giving a brave performance in their second appearance at the World Cup Masters Hockey where the assistant manager Achala Perera stepped up to play as goalkeeper.
“It’s incredible. Both the goalkeepers didn’t get visas. We had to get somebody to keep our goal. This girl voluntarily came forward. She did a superb job in the last three games,” he said of the former national player who played as a forward in her career.