Why Games like the Gurdwara Cup can be useful

By Jagdesh Singh | Opinion |

For years, even decades, the Gurdwara Cup brand had always solicited mixed reactions from the regular Phai fella on the street. There was always a mysticism about the games, particularly hockey, because at one point in our Malaysian sports history our national hockey team had quite a number of Punjabi players who would take part in the Gurdwara Cup Games. Some were leaders and captains of the national team, making us proud in the international scene, and to see them battling it in these Games was a treat. There was a sense of elite sportsmanship about it. The battles on the hockey field were legendary. Football was another sport that had some bitter rivalries and competitive games. You might say our red hot warrior blooded Punjabi passion for athletic prowess made the Games as ever interesting. 

But the branded image of the Gurudwara Cup was also marred with urban legends of alcohol abuse, with brawls and unbecoming behavior of sportsmen (only male players were rumored to be, in the good old days) tarnishing the intended spirit of the Games. Many Sikhs that abstain from alcohol take strong exception to the name of the Games being the Gurudwara Cup associated with alcohol and rowdy petty behavior. Hence why we get the mixed reactions whenever a conversation about the Gurudwara Cup pops up at some function or over a cup of cha. 

As a sports enthusiast, I remember my very close friend winning the Gurudwara Cup Champions medal for Hockey as a Negeri Sembilan player in 1997. I watched the Finals in Ipoh, and the game was mesmerizing. There was no doubt that the quality of players we have had was close to being elite. However, I myself have never been invited to play, for not being good enough in any of the sports that were played in the Games. Nor have I tried to participate due to the lack of personal interest mixed with the somewhat negative impression I had about the alcohol and abusive nature always rumored in the background. Granted that I didn’t give it a fair chance to try to validate if these rumors were even true, and that may have been my fault. 

This year, to my surprise, I was finally invited to play as a veteran player in the football competition of the Gurudwara Cup. The Selangor team had put up a team of jovial men, mostly being fathers to boys and girls also participating in the younger categories. There was no lack of enthusiasm and love for the sport. We attempted to train with what little time we had, fully acknowledging that the other teams put up from Singapore, Kuala Lumpur and Penang had playing cadence established much earlier. We hardly knew each other while the other teams had the obvious playing chemistry. 

I must say, the organizers didn’t hold back on providing the best for a tournament, particularly for veterans. The Royal Selangor Club Sports Annexe in Bukit Kiara has one of the best football pitches in the country. I should know because I’ve been playing veteran football for the past 10 years, in friendly games and in social leagues. In the blistering heat, iced water was provided at each pitch with tents stood up for bystanders to enjoy the games. The games were on time, with the referees hired up to the task of calming passionate 50 year old men thinking they’re still the Maradonas of before. More importantly, the matches were fairly played, with some minor bouts of rough play not out of the ordinary in any of the veteran games I’ve played before. 

I was not expecting to meet familiar faces but was welcomed with so many smiling ones, and being greeted with the typical Punjabi hugs while shaking hands with old acquaintances will always be heartwarming, overlayed with the normal joking sarcasm about almost anything including the weather. I must say, this camaraderie is why we should have these Games in the first place, and I didn’t see much lack of it. 

I’m a firm believer in the magic of sports, and how it can be the bridge between so many splits in the fabric of our minority community here in Malaysia. Sabha’s Holla Mohalla Games is another avenue for our youth to mingle and play sports games together, the much needed exposure to the beauty of sports and the agony of defeat is always welcomed. What better way to distract the youth from the small devices in their palms that rule their attention these days? What better way to steer them away from societal ills like drug and alcohol abuse? What better way to build character? Both these Games should at least be marked in our calendars. 

But what about the ugliness of unbecoming behavior from short tempers and inflated egos? There will always be some display of this nature, for that is life. Not all things are hunky dory, and sometimes our human nature can be ugly. I’m not condoning any of this, by the way. I’m saying that this is expected, and it’s up to how we react to them. Organizers can set precedence by punishing bad actors and nip things in the bud. In this day and age, where any action can be recorded by a simple tap of a finger, reactions travel at light speed. Going viral is the last thing you want. So, it’s in the best interests of organizers of any tournament to ensure that participants behave accordingly, of being fair, matured, principled, sporting to the highest degree. How they do it will be judged then and there, but the Games must go on.  

My team didn’t do too well at all. In fact we lost all our 3 games, but the bonds between each player have been built. There will be more faces to smile at in the future Gurudwara Cup games, that I’m sure. I personally had a good time, making new friends and meeting old friends. I look forward to future Games, but more towards our youth thriving in Sports and growing up to be well balanced characters, being leaders and good sportspeople. Who knows, we might get another national captain in hockey or football again, born from our own Games.

Jagdesh Singh, a Kuala Lumpur-based executive with a US multinational company, is a father of three girls who are as opinionated as their mother

* This is the opinion of the writer, organisation or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of Asia Samachar.

RELATED STORY:

The plight of the Rohingya (Asia Samachar, 29 April 2020)

ASIA SAMACHAR is an online newspaper for Sikhs / Punjabis in Southeast Asia and beyond. You can leave your comments at our website, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. We will delete comments we deem offensive or potentially libelous. You can reach us via WhatsApp +6017-335-1399 or email: asia.samachar@gmail.com. For obituary announcements, click here