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| Sunday, 26 September 2004 |
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Eddie Gray will be sadly missed in Sri Lanka by A. C. DE SILVA Sri Lanka's sporting fraternity in general and boxers of yesteryear in particular were certainly stunned to know of the death in Australia of a great supporter of sport-Edward Ian Gray-affectionately known as 'Eddie' to all of them. He was 85 years of age and would have celebrated his 86th birthday on December 21. He died last Tuesday in Melbourne, Australia from cancer. To imagine that Eddie Gray has left us for good, never to be seen again here in Sri Lanka, is sad as he had a soft corner for all sportsmen and sportswomen in this island, especially after his active participation in sports was over. The sporting capabilities of Gray was known and seen as a schoolboy at Royal College. He was the captain of boxing, athletics and rugby football and speaking of the last sport. He was captain of the Combined Colleges rugby team against the Ceylonese in 1937. Speaking of Royal College, he was head prefect of the school in 1936/37. While in school, he was recruited to the Ceylon Police Force in December 1937 as a Sub-Inspector and then became the first ever Ceylonese Inspector to be in command of the Ceylon Mounted Police which at that time was the prerogative of the European Police (Colonial days). He had the privilege of riding regularly in the company of the first Prime Minister of Ceylon-the late Don Stephen Senanayake as a Police Body Guard and Eddie Gray had somewhat the painful task of taking the late Prime Minister to hospital after a fall from horse-back in March 21 in 1952 at Galle Face Green. After retiring from the Police Force in 1957, Gray joined the Mercantile sector as an insurance executive at Colombo Assurance Limited and won a six months (November 1959 to May 1960) scholarship under Colombo Plan Programme to further his interest in insurance in Australia and there too he rode race horses regularly in 1960 at Randwick and Rosehill Racecourses in New South Wales for trainer T. J. Smith. Very keen Eddie Gray has been an extremely keen and versatile all round sportsman practically all his life. He started boxing at the age of 9 years and ended up being a champion. He was a regular schoolboy champion and was on many occasions awarded the Most Scientific Boxer's Trophy. His boxing prowess besides schooldays spread far and wide and he represented Ceylon at the Commonwealth Games in Auckland (New Zealand) in 1950 in the Lightweight division. He was manager of the Ceylon teams at many international sporting events and was thoroughly involved in the sport thereafter, being Secretary, Vice-President and then President for many years and boxing in this country thrived a great deal. Some unknown facts about Gray's sporting career to many people-he represented Royal College at the Public Schools Athletic Meet in pole vault, hurdles and in the half-mile, but his interest had to be in athletics when he joined the Police as he was posted to stations outside Colombo. He, however officiated at athletic meets whenever the opportunity came his way. In rugby football, he was a wing forward for Royal College in 1937 and after playing for Police and in 1939 he played for Kandy Revers under the captaincy of late Philip Bultjens and after a lay off from the game due to his outstation postings, he came back and played for CR and FC in 1950 and 1951 as a wing forward in Clifford Cup matches besides other inter-club games. He was a keen marksman too and came into rifle shooting as a schoolboy in the cadet corps and climbed the ladder of success. Tremendous contribution Mr. Gray's contribution to sport in Sri Lanka is unequalled, particularly in boxing. He was successful in 1965 in obtaining for Sri Lanka the honour of hosting the Third Asian Boxing Championships in Colombo in December 1967. In this connection Mr. Gray's untiring efforts and tenacity resulted in the construction of the original Sugathadasa Indoor Stadium. When things were not going on smoothly for the construction of the Stadium, Gray took the bold step in approaching the then Prime Minister late Mr. Dudley Senanayake in consultation with the then Minister of Sports the late Mr. V. A. Sugathadasa and the Prime Minister next day released Rs. 3 lakhs for the construction, and the stadium was ready for the meet. Besides being an active competitor at the London Olympic Games of 1948 as a boxer in the Lightweight Division, he was elected to various committees of the world controlling body for Amateur Boxing and also went as manager of Sri Lanka teams for International Meets and as an official for Ceylon teams for various International Games. He migrated to Australia in February 1977, but that did not prevent Eddie Gray from helping the country in their attempt to move forward in sports. He had done much and worked for the Sri Lankan Community personally through some Sri Lankan Association in Victoria of which he is a member. Royal College Old Boys Association was instrumental in forming the body in 1979, having rounded up over 200 old boys. The Association is now on a good footing. Sri Lanka Cricket Foundation of Victoria was formed in 1985 and now is performing well with Dr. Quintus de Zylva as Official Representative of the Sri Lanka Cricket Board and Eddie Gray has been one of the Trustees too. Since its formation, the Foundation has brought out to Australia quite a few Sri Lankan cricketers of test level for coaching and participation in high level cricket in Melbourne to enhance their experience and improvement in the game and Eddie Gray with the assistance of Dr. Quintus de Zylva have worked well in organising trips to Australia for Sri Lankans to further their interest in the game. The Duncan White Sports Foundation was inaugurated in 1991 and Eddie Gray was appointed to the Liaison Committee for Australia and he donated many awards to be awarded to the top sportsmen in the country. Married to Ms. Ivonne Smith in 1940, Eddie had three sons-Errol, Brian and Jeremy. |
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