GUTS & GLORY
STAR FROM ZANZIBAR
Trevor Fernandes missed being part of the
Indian hockey team for the 1972 Olympics due to an injury. Twelve years later,
he made it, this time with United States. (with thanks to Marcus Mergulhao and Times of
India)
Marcus.Mergulhao@timesgroup.com
In 1965, when the Pakistan national hockey team embarked on a
tour of East Africa for a series of friendlies, they had a stopover in
Zanzibar.
Pakistan was a strong side and took control of the match no
sooner Zanzibar’s initial enthusiasm had died down in the first five minutes.
The Asian champions took the lead too, but the hosts soon levelled scores at
the Mao Tse Tung Stadium.
The equaliser was scored by a 15-year-old Goan school boy,
Trevor Fernandes.
Having seen him make an impressive debut against Dar es Salaam,
the home fans were not alarmed. Pakistan eventually won the clash 2-1, but it
was the “promising, bright forward” – in the words of local newspapers -- who
grabbed all the attention.
Trevor was a champion athlete in school at St Joseph’s Convent.
He played football too; represented Kikwajuni Sports Club in the first
division, but hockey came naturally. His father, Reginald Theoten, was the
national coach, while brother Mervyn and sister Beryl both played for Zanzibar.
The Fernandes family moved to Goa in March 1967 and Trevor, who
studied at St Anthony’s High School in Monte de Guirim, worked his magic again.
“When I came to Goa, it was not just hockey for me, but football
too,” says Trevor, who played football for Academica, a top-division team, and
hockey for Dempo-Souza.
Despite the limited opportunities and poor infrastructure,
Trevor stayed focused and excelled wherever he played. At first it was with St
Anthony’s where he helped them win the Inter-Schools tournament. As goals
started to flow from his stick and everyone took notice, it was only a matter
of time before he was picked for the All-India Schools XI team.
His journey had just begun. “The infrastructure for hockey was
quite poor. There was absolutely nothing, no facilities, no coaching. Whenever
we went for nationals, Goa were in the bottom half,” says Trevor, who has his
house in Calangute, but now settled in United States.
It was while at St Joseph’s College in Bangalore, now Bengaluru,
that Trevor’s career really took off.
At the Inter-Zonal league finals of the All-India
Inter-University hockey tournament for example, Trevor scored the first six
goals as Bangalore University demolished Benaras Hindu University (East zone
champions) 7-0.
In the final, Trevor was at it again, this time scoring the only
goal against Bombay University to deliver his team the title.
The star act meant Trevor was the top pick for All-India
Universities team that toured Australia in 1971. On that tour, he scored
fifteen goals in five matches to emerge as the highest goal-scorer.
Wherever he played, goals followed. Trevor soon broke into the
India team for the Pesta Sukan regional hockey championship in Singapore. He
also played Test matches against Great Britain, all this when he had not even
turned twenty-one.
“Blessed with an athletic body and possessing quick reflexes,
Trevor’s game is a connoisseurs delight,” Sportsweek, a popular sports magazine
in the seventies, wrote in one of its reports.
It was not hyperbole. Trevor was a genuine talent and one of
India’s leading centre-forwards during his school and college days. However, he
was unlucky not to make it to the World Cup (1971, Barcelona) and Olympics
(1972, Munich) with the Indian hockey team.
“In 1972, I picked up an injury during the Olympics camp and was
not selected. I was confident that I would eventually make it,” says Trevor.
Life, however, had different plans for him.
His hockey career was temporarily interrupted when, as a BSc
graduate, he moved to the United States for further studies.
“I could have achieved a lot more in hockey, if I had stayed in
India,” feels Trevor. “I was still very young. Goan families emphasised on
education and mine was not an exception.”
When he landed in Seattle, United States, it was football that
he embraced. There was no hockey in sight, so along with his brothers Mervyn
and Hector, he stuck to football.
“There was no hockey here, so we got together and formed a club
team with those who played the game in their own countries, mostly Ireland and
Scotland,” says Trevor.
That proved to be a blessing in disguise. When Los Angeles
hosted the Olympics in 1984, United States had a hockey team of its own.
Trevor, at 33, was the oldest, and without a doubt, their most influential
player.
Guess who United States played in their opening game? India. It
ended in a 1-5 defeat against the defending champions, but for Trevor, being at
the Olympics was a dream come true.
STAR TURN | Wherever Trevor (left) played, goals
followed. He made his India debut at age 21 when he travelled with the team for
the Pesta Sukan championship in Singapore
"I could have achieved a lot more in hockey, if
I had stayed in India. I was still very young. Goan families emphasised on
education and mine was not an exception."
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