Police veterans host hockey tournament as tribute to past players
The Hindu
Teams from around Chennai played in the event organised by Mount Veteran Police Friends
For one searing sunny day you could almost relive that greatly loved, but slowly vanishing world of Anglo-India. On the tree-lined Magazine Road that curves around the foot of St Thomas Mount, dotted with Raj-era buildings and villas as faded as the bougainvillea creeping up them, stands Mohite Park. From inside, shouts of “C’mon boy” can be heard as boys and men in coloured jerseys dribble the hockey ball, sending clouds of red dust into the air.
At the dawn-to-dusk hockey tournament organised by Mount Veteran Police Friends (MVPF) over the weekend, 16 teams battled for top honours to take home trophies named after hockey stalwarts from the police service.
“We are a group of hockey players, mostly retired policemen, from the suburbs of Adambakkam, Pallavaram and Alandur, and we founded MVPF in 2019. We play on weekends and, before the pandemic, used to coach children for free. This is the first tournament we have organised, mostly to remember the fine hockey players from the Police service, some of whom have played at the National-level and the Olympics,” says AV Clement, organising secretary, former State-level mid-fielder and a retired sub-inspector whose father A Velanganni was a National-level player.