The creaking of the iron gates at the P Sara Stadium provides the apt soundtrack as one enters the 109-year-old Tamil Union Cricket Club.

Muttiah Muralitharan’s presence is everywhere in the complex — from the inauguration stone in the the mini sports complex and the administrative blocks, to the billboards that deck up its walls. But Tamil Union’s most famous cricketer, and now the world’s highest wicket-taker in Tests and ODIs, hasn’t been able to inspire a single Tamil cricketer to play for what had been his club for years.

Once formed “by the Tamils for the Tamils”, the club is now run largely by the Sinhalese — for instance, all 16 players in the squad when the club played in the Premier Division were Sinhalese. The Tamils don’t want to be associated with the club’s politically incorrect name, so they prefer to play for other teams.

“An ethnic Tamil player won’t come to play for the Tamil Union Club but he will go to other clubs to pursue his career. He doesn’t want to be identified as a Tamil,” Chandra Schaffter, the president of the club, told The Indian Express. And there is a reason behind it.

“There were riots in 1983, when a mob burnt the dressing rooms, a section of the stands, and some of the club’s old documents. Since then, they’ve felt threatened. A Tamil player prefers a banner under which he can conveniently camouflage his identity. It’s weird, but it’s a fact of life here.”

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