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History of Hockey
Gamal Shirazi
Egypt
Q. ( 1 ) How
did your hockey career begin ?
A.
( 1 ) During 1944 I was a student in Port – Said secondary school . there
was an English master his name was Mr. Klensy who was very fond of Hockey , so
he formed a hockey team in the school . I was one of the first players who
joined the team . At that time there was a foreign club in Port-Said named “
Sporting Club “ , including a hockey team consisting only of English players .
Mr.
Klensy being a member of the club managed to obtain from the club administration
a special permission for the school’s
team to train in the club .
I used
to play as center forward carrying No. 9 which I had maintained during all my
hockey life as player . so my career as hockey player started in Port-Said ,
Egypt in 1944
Q. ( 2 )
How far did you go as : a player / umpire / coach ?
A.
( 2 ) When I joined the University in Cairo in 1945 as a student in the
Faculty of Commerce , I joined the hockey team of the faculty .
Unluckily during an official match I encountered a very serious injury in the
ankle , so I stopped playing hockey for 5 years , After my graduation from the
faculty receiving the B.C of commerce , business administration in 1949 , I
returned back to my mother city Port– Said . My hockey friends in Port- Said had
convinced me to resume playing hockey , I accepted and during 11 years in
Port- Said , I joined several hockey teams e.g. :“ Police Club, Ramses Club,
Port –Said Sporting Club, Elmasry Club with which we became for the first time
in Port-Said the champion of Egypt in 1955 . In 1958 I was requested by the
administration of Port – Fouad Sporting Club to join the club and form a hockey
team . the team was formed and during 3 years became the runner up of Egypt’
s Hockey championship and the champion of the Suez Canal Zone : Port-Said ,
Ismailia and Suez .
In late
1961 I left Port-Said to live all the time in Cairo . My activities in Hockey
continued on and I formed hockey teams in Steel and Iron club
and Shemto club during the period from 1962 to 1987 .
As
an Umpire :
I
started umpiring in Port – Said in 1959 as third grade umpire , continued in
Cairo and promoted to second then first grade umpire . In late 1969 I umpired in
East Africa hockey championship D.E.S Tanzaniz semi final and final match . Mr.
Hardial Singh Kular was the TD he recommended me to be promoted to International
in 1970 , then in 1972 I was promoted to International grade 1 on the W/O list .
I retired from umpiring in 1977 preferring to follow and continue my
administrative career in hockey .
Q. ( 3 ) What
was your first contact with hockey ?
A.
( 3 ) In 1944 ( see Q. 1& A. 1 )
Q. ( 4 ) When
was that ?
A.
( 4 ) In Port- Said , Egypt ( see Q.1 & A. 1 ) .
Q. ( 5 ) What
are your early recollections about the sport of hockey ?
Q.
( 6 ) So do you have any special memories about the sport ?
A.
( 5, 6 ) During my early age in Port – Said when I used to pass beside the
fence of Port – Said Sporting club and watch the hockey team playing I became
very fond of the game .
When
the opportunity existed in Port- Said secondary school by Mr. Klensy the English
master who formed the hockey team of the school I was a pioneer member of the
team , and very enthusiastic. At that time we used the equipment forwarded by
Mr,. Klensy Thinking of having my own stick . I managed to persuade a tennis
trainer in the club to provide me with a used hockey stick for which I paid one
Egyptian pound , an amount at that time with a student was unbelievable !!! this
happened in 1944 . the stick was a maxi ply brand , English type which I used
continuously for 10 years till it was broken !!
Q. ( 7 ) What
made you go into administration ? and what position had You hold ?
Q. ( 8 )
How did you first became involved with the FIH ?? When was that?
A. (
7,8 ) I retired as an umpire in 1977 because at that time legislation in
Egypt were issued requiring people involved in sports to choose between working
in administration or being umpires or coaches. Having good experience in
administration , I preferred to follow this channel. In Port-Said from 1950 to
1961 I was involved in administration being a council member of several clubs
and supervising different disciplines such as basketball ( I used to play also
this game ) Volleyball , Ping pong , also I was the general secretary of the
tennis association in the Suez Canal area including Port-Said , Port -Tawfik ,
Port- Fouad , Ismailia & Suez .
When I
transferred my life from Port- Said to Cairo in 1962 I concentrated my
administrative activities in Hockey being :
1.
Member of
Cairo Hockey Zonal association till 1964 .
2.
Assistant
Secretary of Egyptian Hockey Federation till 1966 .
3.
Hon general
secretary of the Egyptian Hockey Federation till 1985 .
4.
Member of
Egyptian Hockey Federation till 1989 .
5.
Vice president
of Egyptian Hockey Federation in 1990 .
6.
President of
Egyptian Hockey Federation from 1992 to 1996 .
On
the standard of the African continent I became :
1.
Assistant
Secretary of the African Hockey Federation by election from 1983 to 1987 .
2.
Hon general
Secretary of the African Hockey Federation from 1987 to 1999 .
3.
President of
the African Hockey Federation from 1999 to 2003 , when I decided to retire and
give the chance to new comers .
As
for the FIH :
1.
In 1977 till
1987 I was appointed member of the FIH juniors competition committee .
2.
In 1987 to
1992 I was appointed by FIH member of the Equipment Committee .
3.
In 1992 to
1994 I was appointed by the FIH member of the Development Committee .
4.
In 1991 I was
elected for the first time member of the FIH council , re-elected in 1995 ,
I remember that during the congress of 1995 I obtained during election 129
votes the highest votes among the men’s candidates .
I was
also a member of the FIH Executive Board after amending the FIH status
representing Africa . I did not ran the election of 2000 .
From
2000 till 2003 I was a member of the President’s Forum , representing Africa
till I resigned as President of African Hockey Federation .
Q. ( 9 )
What is your earliest recollection of working with the FIH ?
A.
( 9 ) The confidence , respect , friendship , fellowships and collaboration
amongst all those who had been concerned in FIH activities all over the five
continents .
Q. ( 10 ) Who
were some of the people involved with the FIH at that time ?
What did they do within the FIH ?
A.
( 10 ) During my time in the FIH I had worked with :
§
Rene Frank as
President .
§
Etienne
Glichitch as general Secretary and president .
§
Juan Calzado
as general Secretary and president .
§
Els van Breds
Vriesman as general Secretary and President .
§
Peter Cohen as
general Secretary .
As for the
treasures :
§
Albert
Demaurex
§
De Buren
§
Phil Appleyard
§
Robert Lycke
§
Douglas Gray
As
for the Vice president :
§
H.R.H Azlan
Shah
§
Alan Danet
§
M.Raafat
§
Hardial Singh
§
Brig Atif
§
Toni Ondarza
§
Pam Tye
As
for some of the members as I remember :
§
Peter Crane
§
John Wright
§
Peter Pouritt
§
Allan Woods
§
Moneyshi Ueda
§
George Croft
§
Ivo Zlatar
§
Albert Lyken
§
Leandro Negre
§
Bob Davidzon
§
Theo Ykema
§
Patric Rowely
§
Morley Pecker
As
for some of the Female members ;
§
Miss Lancester
§
J. Couteau
§
Rosa De Massa
§
Brenda Reed
§
Sue Neill
§
Anna bell
Dillon
§
Claire Pestess-
Monseu
Q. ( 11 )
Tell me whatever looks interesting to you about the people you met through
the FIH and in the FIH ?
A.
( 11 ) Most of them are the hockey people who had deserved to be true
members of the global hockey family , through their enthusiasm and experience ,
they had managed to serve the game and strengthen friendship and collaboration
all over the five continents .
Q. ( 12 ) What
are the differences between how the FIH was administrated then and now ?
A. ( 12
) We must respect and appreciate those who had devoted themselves to serve
hockey in all its phases in the past , at present and even in the future. Each
of them had done what was supposed to be at his time ideal and practical . When
time goes by with the fast growing of technology all over life activities ,
circumstances have to change and not to be kept stand still . That is what is
happing in the FIH following these facts by creating new infrastructure of the
FIH , applying modern technology in administration and giving the chance to new
faces and younger age people having new and modern ideas and plans but not
neglecting the past experience and affirmative experiments .
Q. ( 13 )
Which tournaments have you attended from the earliest to the latest ?
A.
( 13 ) As umpire
§
The 3rd
world cup in Amstelveen, Netherlands 1973
§
1st
Africa cup for nations 1974 , Cairo , Egypt
As Judge
§
M.A Jinah
international tournament Lahore, Pakistan 1976
§
5th
World cup , Bombay , India 1981
§
2nd
Junior world cup , KL Malaysia 1981
§
Seoul Olympics
, Korea 1988
§
4th
Intercontinental cup , Madison , USA 1989
§
4th
Junior world cup , Ipoh , Malaysia 1989
§
BMW
International tournament , Nether land 1990
§
Champions
Troply , Melbourne , Australia 1990
§
Inter-Continent tournament , KL , Malaysia 1990
§
All Africa
games , Cairo , Egypt 1991 .
§
Champions
Troply , Lahore , Pakistan 1992
§
Barcelona
Olympics , Spain 1992
§
Atlanta
Olympics USA 1996
AS ATD
§
All Africa
games Nairobi , Kenya 1987
§
World cup
Brisbone , Australia
As TD
§
International
tournament Rovigo ,Italy 1982
§
European
Juniors championship Riano, Italy 1984
§
3rd
junior world cup , Vancouver , Canada 1985
§
Azlan shah
international tournament Ipoh, Malaysia 1986
§
Indira Ghandi
memorial tournament, New – Delhi , India 1992
§
Qualifying
tournament to international cup , Cairo , Egypt 1993
N.B :
I had
officiated as Judge , ATD & TD in Africa in the main AHF activities during the
period from 1983 to 2002 .
Q. ( 14 ) Which
tournament do you remember as being memorable and why?
A.
( 14 )
A)
European junior championship Riano , Italy 1984 .
I was
appointed by FIH TD to this event , which was qualifying to the 3rd
JWC 1985 . Coming from Africa and specially from Egypt where hockey activities
are not comparable to those in other continents or countries . I felt that all
those who had been concerned in the event might regard me from this view . So it
was my responsibility to acquire their confidence and collaboration to bring the
tournament to a big success by running it very smoothly and with full efficiency
. The target had been achieved and to full satisfaction of all .
B) 3rd
Junior world cup , Vancouver , Canada 1985 .
I was
appointed TD together with Bob Davidzon the very active hockey personality full
with enthusiasm and experience . Beside us there had been a well experienced
group of ATD’s , judges , and umpires , also members of rearranging committee
the tournament ran in the famous DOM of Vancouver very successfully except that
Bob and I had encountered a VERY STRANGE PROBLEM !!
During
the tournament there was a very important match of American foot ball to be
played in the Dom which meant that the artificial turf should be removed . On
the other hand we could not change the hockey matches schedule specially that
for the first time there was 14 teams participating . NO WAY !!
Bob
accepted the challenge , the football match was played in the evening . During
the night Bob managed to re-instal artificial turf and so the first hockey match
that was supposed to start at 8 h. in the morning was played , most of the
people never felt what had happened !!
I
cannot forget that incident which never happened in any other hockey major event
.
Q. ( 15 )
Describe some of your greatest challenges during your time with the FIH ?
A.
( 15 ) Being the Hon- Secretary of the African Hockey Federation for 12 years
( 1987 – 1999 ) then president for 4 years ( 1999 – 2002 ) . It was my
responsibility to place African continent on the hockey world map . this had not
been an easy task considering that Africa had been the poorest continent among
the other continents , and not all the National Hockey Association affiliated
with the African Hockey Federation had been active in a satisfying way . As a
member of the FIH different committees , council member, Executive Board member
, Member of the President’s forum from 1977 to 2002 my main option all the time
to serve hockey in Africa and acquire the full support of the FIH in this regard
, but on the opposite side I never neglected my responsibilities towards the FIH
.
Q. ( 16 )
Which accomplishment in hockey made you the most proud ?
A.
( 16 ) There is a certain proverb which I have been always following during
my life saying : “ Science is not meant to serve only science , it is meant to
serve the society” .
In my
view this means that a person must not keep his knowledge and experience to
himself , he has to give these to his society .
During my time with hockey :
a)
I used to
translate the hockey rules from English to Arabic to serve the Arab countries
involved in hockey .
b)
I used to give
lectures about hockey and the rules in Egypt , Oman & Morocco .
c)
I had edited
several hockey books in Arabic .
d)
My top
accomplishment had been editing in English a book for “ The African Hockey
Federation’s History “ from the start in 1970 to 2002 .
Q. ( 17 )
What did / will you take away from your years of involvement with the FIH ?
A. ( 17
) Now as I am living in retirement many times I sit by myself trying to
remember and evaluate my trip on the hockey train since 1944 when I started as a
player . I had spent many long years involved in hockey with the Egyptian Hockey
Federation , the African Hockey Federation , and the International Hockey
Federation . Consequently I posses a wealth of memories and souvenirs that
represent my insclopedia which deserve a novel to be edited . This is my history
in Hockey which I had spent not less than 60 years involved in .
Q. ( 18 )
Are there any awards you had obtained during your hockey life ?
A.
( 18 ) Yes ; several :
v
Regional
-
Diploma of
Port-Said governorate on the occasion of sports festival in 1981 & 1988.
v
National
-
Diploma of
Egyptian National Sports festival from the Egyptian Supreme Council of Youth &
Sport in 1978 .
-
1st
Category award of Sport in 1984 & 1994 presented personally by president of
Egypt “ Hosni Moubarak” .
v
FIH
-
FIH diploma of
Merit 1994 .
-
FIH order of
Merit 1999 .
v
AFHF
-
AFHF order of
Merit 2003 .
v
Appreciation
-
Hon President
of Egyptian Hockey Federation .
-
Hon President
of African Hockey Federation .
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