ARMENIA RETURNS

Indian Express, India
June 23, 2007 Saturday

It was a sporting rivalry where one cheekily accused the other of
snobbery, and in turn got told off for possessing just a pretty face.

Then the two sets of boys went into a ruck, gallantly risked losing
both-the stiff-necked highbrow and the drop-dead Greek God looks.

What flourished was rugby in Kolkata. That was till the clean-cuts
started disappearing from the scene, leaving the snobs to stare at the
backs of secretly-respected rivals.There wasn’t much silverware up
for grabs then, just pretty girls to impress. And as a 15-year-old,
that counted as mighty important.While La Martiniere Old Boys
(LMOB) maintains uppity authority over schools rugby in the eastern
metropolis, the Armenians are back in action this year with a new
crop, signalling the revival of Armenian rugby.How a group of boys
who’ve never held the rugby ball back in Iran, Iraq or Armenia,
came to Kolkata’s Armenian College and transformed themselves into a
feared unit beats all scepticism.A history that can be traced back
to 1890-when the Old Armenians Club kick-started rugby and carried
it over to the college hosting Armenian children fleeing persecution
in different parts of the world.

And it continues to inspire as the team returns to where it belongs: in
the centre of the mainstream. The first youngsters-all 7,8 year-olds
and too young to play-arrived in 1999, a year after the Armenian
seniors last won the All-India. Eight years on, they have grown up
strong and sturdy.The National U-19 Rugby Sevens in its inaugural
edition in Mumbai witnessed a fresh batch of Armenians lift the cup,
and an apt summation came from national coach David Wiggins, who while
only in his second week in India noted, "The important thing is how
everyone was happy to watch them win. The Armenians are a special
team." Handed a rugby ball-alongside a sporting spread of hockey,
football and cricket from Day 1 of school-the Armenians are known
to pick rugby over the rest. Maybe rugby picks them, like in Harry
Potter’s Sorting Hat at Hogwarts, though there’s no ceremony here,
merely rough tackles.School coach David Purdy guesses that for a
group of children wanting to desperately prove their worth, rugby is
handy.Taking Armenian rugby to greater heights is Emil Vartazarian,
India’s charismatic fullback, who graduated from school ranks and
was part of the last batch that did duty for the Mayo Road club. A
regular in the national team, he can claim to have made the most of
his stay in India. "We seem to excel because of the physicality. Also
we playing for clubs at 15-16, so we start thinking like adults,"
he says."The main thing is to instil control in them-because they
are very physical. It’s a job to discipline them," says Purdy.Playing
with unique flair, the Armenian school boys picked their maiden U-19
national title-soon after beating an army side in a warm-up game
in Kolkata.Recalling the last few days of the Armenian supremacy
in early 90s, team-member Supratik Sen says, "The camaraderie’s
huge. We’d sleep, eat, date, fight, have fun together and that showed
on the pitch." Rivals feared them, adds Sen-only the second Bengali
to have played for the Armenians-the first being his uncle Col
Dasgupta who played alongside the club’s legend Ashram Sookias.The
rivalry between the affluent LMOB and the rugged Armenians might
have started hotting up 70 years ago, but Sookias was immortalised
after he had twenty stitches sew up his head after being kicked at
during a game at Bombay Gymkhana in the 60s. Now 77 and president of
the Armenian Club, he turns misty-eyed returning to the venue. "I
didn’t know it would be so bad. I thought first-aid would do. But
then the doctor examined it and packed me off to Breach Candy," he
says.Brother Malcolm Sookias captained the first Armenian team that
won the Calcutta Cup in India’s independence year, while Ashram, a
wing-forward in his heydays, was also mentor to younger sibling Haik,
who became a legend in his own right.There is no dearth of fables at
the Armenian campus-though little has wafted out of the four walls,
owing to the community’s low-profile. Vahik even cracked a few walls to
reach school-superstardom. "When playing a pass-and-touch game inside
the hall, he would run straight into walls. The mortar would chip off,
but he never hurt himself," recalls Sen.It wasn’t all about muscle
though. Another contemporary, Peter-a considerably smaller boy who
played hooker, had in defiance of his size attained great skills with
which he brought down Vahik and was made captain.Another legend was
Fred Babakhanaian, who besides looking like Rambo, had also gained
immense respect after fighting a war and coming back as coach. "He
would make us train for four hours then jump into the pool, do swim
laps and come out and train all over again. But we loved the rigours,"
says Sen.Till date, the Armenian ruggers sniff at suggestions of
working out in the gym, but can boast of supreme fitness. "We got
into the game because we liked the toughness," says current captain
Armen Markarian. A flyhalf who aspires to become a pilot, Markarian
(19) admits his friends waste little time in classes as chits are
routinely passed around, enlisting for teams. Scrum leader Ejuien
Ebubijuen (17) plays cricket so that running around wearing pads
helps him build endurance. The preference for wild sport is hard
to miss when he insists that with the ball in hand, only hitting a
batsman or watching the stumps fly wouldn’t hold his interest.In fact,
the Armenians had in their ranks a fast bowler who would bounce out
batsmen at Kolkata’s cricket Mecca CC&FC and derive great pleasure from
that. Henrik Terchoonian-Vartazarian’s teammate and the man who coached
the cubs in their first year of revival, had done his bit to wipe out
the fancy for cricket. And while there were no pretensions to line
and length when he bowled, "everyone knew him to be a wild bugger,"
Sen laughs.It’s not all smiles, though, for youngsters separated
from families when very young. "They all have histories-cannon-fire,
brothers with broken arms. They forget nothing, but don’t let it
show. Rugby’s a huge outlet," says Sen.Bitter rivalries have also
been known to melt on the rugby field. As captain Markarian recalls,
"We had 7 players from Iraq. The first few days, we used to fight a
lot with them and those from Armenia. But then during a rugby game,
we saw them being tackled by the opposite team. We couldn’t stand
that our team-mates were being beaten up-so we went and defended
them. Now we are brothers."As a minority in almost all countries
in the world, the Armenians know the feeling of being ruled.’ They
are ready for the sacrifice of forgoing a threatened upbringing with
parents for the Kolkatan shelter. "They should be naturalised. They
spend half their lives here, and one day they’re just asked to leave
like foreigners. There’s so much they contribute to rugby that it
doesn’t seem fair at all," rues Sen.As a teenager, he would hang out
with the Armenian bunch on Park Street at eateries and discos; the
dapper colts never being charged a paisa. As someone privy to their
aspirations now, Sen knows they’d love to stay back.On the field, the
scrum leader Ebubijuen basks in the team’s first glory, post-revival.

"This is the first title, so it’s special," he wraps up, hinting at
the grand return of the Armenians when the All-India championship
travels to Kolkata in 2008.Till then, LMOB need to watch out.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress