By the Tamils,for the Tamils… but only the Sinhalese play here now

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.”

The 78-year-old Schaffter,a former first-class cricketer,is one of the few Tamils still associated with the club in any capacity.

Formed in 1900 during the age of community clubs,where membership was accorded only if the person belonged to a particular ethnic group,the Tamil Union Club was started as a rival to the Sinhalese Sports Club. It hosted Sri Lanka’s first-ever Test match in 1982,and the P Sara Stadium is also where the country registered its first Test victory in 1985. It was only in 1986 that non-Tamilians were given the membership for the first time.

“There aren’t many Tamil players left in Colombo,perhaps around 20 across all age groups. At one time,Jaffna used to act as a nursery,with most Tamil cricketers coming from there,” Schaffter said.

His company sponsors school cricket in the northern Jaffna region. “A good number of boys play cricket there. They’re really good but they can’t come here.” Incidentally,Brendon Kuruppu,the manager of the Sri Lankan team,is the coach of the Tamil Union Club,which finished fifth in a recently concluded league tournament.

With hardly any international cricket allotted to the club,it has been struggling for funding. The officials are now contemplating renting out the premises or even selling parts of it.

As a workman paints the name Suresh Lakhmal on the Hall of Fame board,the club is celebrating another of its player making the Lankan team for the Pakistan Test series. After all these years,it doesn’t matter that he isn’t a Tamil.