Warrior Hockey Keeper And Maker Of Champions Many Never Heard Of

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James D’Cruz, fearless hockey goalkeeper, creator of champions and star players, turns 78 today.PETALING JAYA: In the 1973 Tun Abdul Razak Cup hockey semi-final, an unknown goalkeeper displayed outrageous saves, stunning reflexes and rampaging challenges.
Playing for the defending champions, Armed Forces, against his home state Negeri Sembilan (NS), burly James D’Cruz stopped nine penalty corner shots by international fullback Brian Sta Maria.
D’Cruz was unbeatable in the madcap encounter which his team won 1-0, and also kept a clean slate in the final, only to lose on penalty flicks to Perak after a scoreless game.
The national selectors had never heard of D’Cruz until the tournament as he was based in East Malaysia as a senior aircraftman with the Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF).
They were quick to get him into the Malaysia side that was in training for the 1973 World Cup in Amsterdam.
At the 1975 Razak Cup competition, Seremban-born D’Cruz turned out for NS for the first time after a 13-year service with RMAF, which began in 1964.
The rampant reigning champions Selangor made like a firing squad as they lined up to take shots, but D’Cruz caught all their bullets.
See Mun Peng’s goal gave NS a 1-0 win, and the press reported that the cathartic roar that greeted the victory attested to the frustration D’Cruz had caused a team loaded with national players.
As a reward, the state team, under coach Lawrence van Huizen, and with national stars like Brian Sta Maria, N Palanisamy, Franco D’Cruz and Michael Yen, was sent to India to represent Malaysia in the Nehru Memorial Tournament.
D’Cruz, who turns 78 today, recalled his heroics during a recent visit from Perth, Australia, where he had migrated to in 1987.
(Left) Armed Forces goalkeeper James D’Cruz beating off this challenge by Perak striker KT Rajan (left) in the final of the Razak Cup in 1973, and (right) in the centre after winning the competition two years later. (James D’Cruz pic)Warrior and hara-kiri
In an era when being a goalkeeper was a far more hazardous occupation than it is now, he stood out like a warrior on rampage.
You’d expect nothing less from a man who had served in the frontline in Tawau, Sabah, during the Malaysia-Indonesia Confrontation from 1963 until 1966.
D’Cruz, as only he could, made himself big enough to block shots, divert stingers by flicking out a hand with phenomenal speed and tip-over swirling drives acrobatically.
“All the acrobatics resulted in severe spine problems and I had to undergo major surgeries later in life,” he said.
D’Cruz, the NS captain from 1979 until 1986, said: “Many said my goalkeeping was hockey’s version of hara-kiri but I never felt fear, always thinking positive, always sure to get the ball.”
“That is why in Perth opposing team players shouted to their forwards: ‘don’t go near the feral cat’.
“The Aussies were all big boys and when I started playing with them, they used to flatten me and I realised that I had to protect myself.
“So whenever they were coming I used to go all out with flying kicks and things like that. So they named me the feral cat to warn their players not to come near me.”
In Malaysia, he was known as the “black panther” because of a frightening fearlessness and strength, his dark skin and for wearing a distinctive all-black strip.
His unorthodox approach was a distant cousin of the style of courageous goalkeeping that made Peter van Huizen, Ho Koh Chye and Khairuddin Zainal famous.
The younger brother of the late Johor hockey goalkeeper, Austin, who died in a road accident at the age of 36 in 1971, played for the RMAF in the Selangor league in the 60s, Armed Forces in the 70s and for NS from 1975 to 1986.
A young James D’Cruz (left) and (right) presenting the man of the match plaque as a legend at the Sultan of Johor Cup last year. (James D’Cruz pic)Maker of champions
D’Cruz can boast title triumphs in national championships but he ranks the prizes he won as player and coach with local clubs and schools as unforgettable achievements.
In the 1970s and 80s, he rebuilt teams, formed new ones, and coached and captained them to capture the state men’s hockey league titles, frustrating the mighty Seremban Rangers and Kilat clubs.
The successful clubs included the Negeri Sembilan Chinese Recreation Club (NSCRC), Negeri Sembilan Ceylonese Association, Seremban Municipal Council, Negeri Sembilan Indian Association and Jelebu district.
D’Cruz said in 1979 the national side, in preparation for the Esanda international hockey tournament in Perth, required a friendly game and NSCRC, being the state league and knockout champions, was given the honour to play them.
D’Cruz invited three ex-internationals, M Mahendran, KT Rajan and Savinder Singh to play for them. They beat Malaysia, led by defender Foo Keat Seong, 2-0.
The same year, Pakistan, on their way home after winning the 10-nation Esanda championships, requested a match, and NSCRC were again given the honour.
The visitors with players like Samiullah and Kalimullah had beaten Malaysia 9-0 in the pool stage at Perth. NSCRC lost 6-0.
The hosts were down 2-0 when D’Cruz was taken off in the first half after he suffered a broken wrist while making a save.
D’Cruz talked proudly of the time when he took a Tamil school girls’ team in Labu to the state schools title, embodying true volunteerism while being an employee of the municipal council.
He said: “The players hardly had hockey sticks when the headmaster, Hardial Singh, approached me to train them.
“But they went on to beat Seremban Convent, the top team at that time, coached by William Fidelis.
“A bigger joy came when a number of players later represented the state and Malaysia.”
In the two years D’Cruz coached the NS women’s team before his migration, he took them to the final of the national championships but lost to Selangor on both occasions by 1-0.
Most of the players in the team eventually played for the country, including K Maheswari, HK Parameswari and Elizabeth Gomez.
He also trained the state squad who became champions of the national government services hockey meet, then another component of grassroots development.
In his late 40s, D’Cruz represented the Sultan Ahmad Shah veterans’ hockey team in competitions in Hong Kong and New Zealand.
For his contributions to making NS a hockey powerhouse and developing the sport at all levels, D’Cruz has received recognition from the state government as a hockey legend.
James D’Cruz with a news clipping from his trove of memorabilia during his playing days. He believes among the things a sportsman ends up getting are newspaper cuttings that fade away.Get James!
They say: “Have no fear when you are going to Perth because James is there.”
Various hockey and football teams have on numerous occasions called on D’Cruz to arrange for games and accommodation in Perth.
D’Cruz said he once arranged for four hockey matches between Malaysia and Australia in early 2000 when the Malaysian Hockey Confederation (MHC) could not do so.
D’Cruz could do all these because he is held in high esteem by the Scarborough, Mundaring and Harlequin hockey clubs that he played for and coached.
He added his wife, Barbara, had never failed to provide meals for junior and senior club and veterans teams that had gone there on playing tours on a shoe-string budget.
D’Cruz, who retired as the depot manager at the shire of Mundaring after 21 years, is also sought after when it comes to laying hockey turfs in Malaysia.
He has been involved as a consultant in eight new hockey turf projects, including two which were laid in a record one month for the 2009 men’s junior world cup in Johor Bharu.
One is enough
His daughters, Sharmini, Sabrina, and son Mark, all in their thirties, are professionals in various fields and not into sports.
“I believe a sportsman’s life is a short one where people sacrifice a lot, but at the end all they get is the trophies that gather dust and the newspaper cuttings that fade away.
“Most of them cry alone with a lot of injuries. I suffered a lot of injuries and I did not want my children to go through that,” said D’Cruz. - FMT

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