Ajaib Matharu
Ajaib Matharu represented the Ugandan Hockey Team. He lead the team to the 1972 Olympics. Here, he reminisces about his time in Africa
Q: What was it like being a young boy growing up in Africa?
I was born in Punjab India; from there I was brought by my father to Tanzania when I was only ten years old. I studied in Tanzania and after my school certificate I moved down to Kampala Uganda, where I enrolled in an Asian teaching training college. Uganda was where I matured myself in every aspect, both playing hockey, and teaching at different schools. Hockey was my main interest.
Q: Could you describe your career as a national team hockey player in Uganda?
I was seen by the selectors and picked up for the national team in 1959. At that time the Queen Mother was touring Uganda, and had come to the lugogo stadium to inaugurate it and as an 18 year old I had the chance to meet her and shake hands with her, I was so delighted! In that game I did extremely well even though we didn't win, Kenya won that championship, but from then on I was a regular member of the Ugandan national team. I played for them for between 50 to 60 matches, I have lost count! But I captained the national team 33 times. We had the chance to go to the Munich Olympics in 1972, normally only one team from Africa would go and that was Kenya, but this time they wanted two teams so we got a chance to compete for a place. There was a tournament held in Zambia, Africa and all the African countries competed and we worked very hard and with luck we came second so qualified to go to the Munich Olympics.
Q: Did you experience any difficulties due to the political upheaval in Uganda at that time?
There were some hurdles because during that time Idi Amin had taken over Uganda, so we were unsure if we would even be allowed to go to Munich, but we carried on training nevertheless. Three weeks before the Olympics, Idi Amin came to visit us, and noticed that the team was mainly Asians, and so he told his administrator that the team had to have at least 6 Africans in it. So we had to cut down the number of Asians in the team which meant we lost the strength of them team but we were very fortunate that he did not stop us from going to Munich.
Q: How was your experience at the Olympics?
It was a wonderful experience, we saw all of the world's best elite players, and in the evening all the athletes would get together, evryone was so friendly. We did very well as far was hockey was concerned, we put Uganda on the map, very few people knew where Uganda was, the Germans thought we were from India, because all the Asians were there with turbans on! So we were very pleased with our performance, we came 14th out of 16 teams and some of the games we played exceptionally well, especially against Germany. We drew against Germany, who went on to win the gold medal. Because the Olympics were being held in Germany this was big news, we were on the television; everybody was asking 'who is this unknown team that has drawn with Germany?'
Q: What is your best memory?
Playing at the Olympics has to be one of them but there are also a few others. My father was working for the Ministry of Works. His job was to connect villages by building roads, and most of these villages were far out in the jungles where there were lots of wild animals. Every holiday me and my friends would go and visit my father and we would come across all of these lions and wild animals, we used to see them from very close up! At night when you were sleeping you could hear all of these noises; lions and hyenas, it was spectacular. Those days were God given gifts to us. They were really wonderful days.
Q: How did you feel when you left Uganda to come to the UK?
It was very traumatic. I never ever dreamt that I would leave Uganda. We had made that country our own country. I know some business people used to filter out money to bank accounts in other countries but we never thought about that, we hadn't sent any money out of the country. We certainly were not ready to go. It was really traumatic we were all so shocked. In fact, when we came back home from the Olympics the team had planned to meet up and exchange photos, but within 2 days many of the players had gone. Some had gone to Australia, others back to India, and quite a lot to Canada. Those of us with British passports came over here, it was very sad to leave that country. I kept on dreaming about Uganda for over a year after I came to the U.K. I really wanted to be in Uganda.
Q: Would you like to go back to Uganda?
Yes, I would love to go back. I don't know if I could stay there, although there is a small Indian community there still, looking after the Temples, and there are some business men there as well. However, the hockey playing community has all gone, hardly any Asians play hockey there now, I think a few Africans have started playing hockey now although, I have heard that Uganda has generally improved quite a lot.
Ajaib Matharu represented the Ugandan Hockey Team. He lead the team to the 1972 Olympics. Here, he reminisces about his time in Africa
Q: What was it like being a young boy growing up in Africa?
I was born in Punjab India; from there I was brought by my father to Tanzania when I was only ten years old. I studied in Tanzania and after my school certificate I moved down to Kampala Uganda, where I enrolled in an Asian teaching training college. Uganda was where I matured myself in every aspect, both playing hockey, and teaching at different schools. Hockey was my main interest.
Q: Could you describe your career as a national team hockey player in Uganda?
I was seen by the selectors and picked up for the national team in 1959. At that time the Queen Mother was touring Uganda, and had come to the lugogo stadium to inaugurate it and as an 18 year old I had the chance to meet her and shake hands with her, I was so delighted! In that game I did extremely well even though we didn't win, Kenya won that championship, but from then on I was a regular member of the Ugandan national team. I played for them for between 50 to 60 matches, I have lost count! But I captained the national team 33 times. We had the chance to go to the Munich Olympics in 1972, normally only one team from Africa would go and that was Kenya, but this time they wanted two teams so we got a chance to compete for a place. There was a tournament held in Zambia, Africa and all the African countries competed and we worked very hard and with luck we came second so qualified to go to the Munich Olympics.
Q: Did you experience any difficulties due to the political upheaval in Uganda at that time?
There were some hurdles because during that time Idi Amin had taken over Uganda, so we were unsure if we would even be allowed to go to Munich, but we carried on training nevertheless. Three weeks before the Olympics, Idi Amin came to visit us, and noticed that the team was mainly Asians, and so he told his administrator that the team had to have at least 6 Africans in it. So we had to cut down the number of Asians in the team which meant we lost the strength of them team but we were very fortunate that he did not stop us from going to Munich.
Q: How was your experience at the Olympics?
It was a wonderful experience, we saw all of the world's best elite players, and in the evening all the athletes would get together, evryone was so friendly. We did very well as far was hockey was concerned, we put Uganda on the map, very few people knew where Uganda was, the Germans thought we were from India, because all the Asians were there with turbans on! So we were very pleased with our performance, we came 14th out of 16 teams and some of the games we played exceptionally well, especially against Germany. We drew against Germany, who went on to win the gold medal. Because the Olympics were being held in Germany this was big news, we were on the television; everybody was asking 'who is this unknown team that has drawn with Germany?'
Q: What is your best memory?
Playing at the Olympics has to be one of them but there are also a few others. My father was working for the Ministry of Works. His job was to connect villages by building roads, and most of these villages were far out in the jungles where there were lots of wild animals. Every holiday me and my friends would go and visit my father and we would come across all of these lions and wild animals, we used to see them from very close up! At night when you were sleeping you could hear all of these noises; lions and hyenas, it was spectacular. Those days were God given gifts to us. They were really wonderful days.
Q: How did you feel when you left Uganda to come to the UK?
It was very traumatic. I never ever dreamt that I would leave Uganda. We had made that country our own country. I know some business people used to filter out money to bank accounts in other countries but we never thought about that, we hadn't sent any money out of the country. We certainly were not ready to go. It was really traumatic we were all so shocked. In fact, when we came back home from the Olympics the team had planned to meet up and exchange photos, but within 2 days many of the players had gone. Some had gone to Australia, others back to India, and quite a lot to Canada. Those of us with British passports came over here, it was very sad to leave that country. I kept on dreaming about Uganda for over a year after I came to the U.K. I really wanted to be in Uganda.
Q: Would you like to go back to Uganda?
Yes, I would love to go back. I don't know if I could stay there, although there is a small Indian community there still, looking after the Temples, and there are some business men there as well. However, the hockey playing community has all gone, hardly any Asians play hockey there now, I think a few Africans have started playing hockey now although, I have heard that Uganda has generally improved quite a lot.
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