Havelocks have little to brag, plenty to play...
by Callistus Davy
It took them 30 years to shatter the doors and break free from a
doomed past and now three years down the road since regaining the title,
Havelocks with very little to brag about are determined to make their
centenary year of existence the most cherished in history.
|
Havelocks captain Sandun Herath (right) holds up the team’s
new shirt with his coach Tawita Tulagaese (Laga) at a launch
held at the clubhouse on Thursday night. Picture by Sudam
Gunasinghe |
If their stage-opener against Police last week is anything to go by,
it appears that what was once the People's Club has something in store
to bring back their once adoring fans who turned away in droves.
For the scattered few who witnessed the curtain-raiser at the Park
last Friday, Havelocks did nothing to put a foot wrong as they wrote the
perfect script to a start of a new season they could have only dreamed
of and that too after coming together a week before the match.
"We were worried at the start (of the match) but within twenty
minutes were realised we could crack them (Police) and we did", said
Herath.
If Herath's analysis can be bought by the experts, there will be no
doubts his band of young players will be tough nuts to crack.
Weight-wise Havelocks may be a team on the lighter side, but what
will separate them from the rest of the competing clubs could be their
fleet-footed and lighting speed with a back-line that will pounce and
swoop through the slightest opening.
Coach Tawita Tulagaese, better known as Laga, will make no secret
that Havelocks is older than his native country Samoa and decided to
make a re-entry into the Park Club hoping to be part of a big
celebration in four months time when the League comes to an end.
"Hundred years is a milestone for any club and I just could not miss
the opportunity to be involved in a club that is a hundred years. Samoa
is only 90 years old", said Laga who was coach of Havelocks when they
broke a three-decade long curse of playing second fiddle to rival clubs.
Laga may be unlike most coaches in that he will make no complaints
that his forwards are not the heaviest around compared to rival teams as
what they lack in size they make up for in speed and agility.
"Gone are the days of the big guys. Today 70 percent of the game is
in the mind, not the size", said Laga.
To match new beliefs, Havelocks have re-designed their pink and
chocolate jersey while tying up with sponsor ABC Networks, a local
broadcaster. |
