Grewal’s illustrious long life in East Africa cricket
Left, A young Jasmer Singh Grewal walking off the pitch after a league match in the 1960s; and right, Grewal with the Menzeer Quadrangular trophy in 1971 in Dar es Salaam. Kenya beat Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia. PHOTO | COURTESY OF THE FAMILY
What you need to know:
Jasmer Singh Grewal had the honour of managing the East African cricket team at the first ever World Cup in England in 1975. The team comprised legendary players from Kenya, Uganda and Zambia. Away, from cricket, Jasmer’s other passion was reporting on sports and publishing.
The passing away of Jasmer Singh Grewal on September 21, marked the end of 50 years of his involvement in cricket. Due to his many years as a cricketer as well as an administrator in the game, he was known as the “father of cricket” not just in Kenya but the region as a whole.
Grewal’s love for cricket was obvious to all those who knew him. It was this passion for the game that saw him manage the East African cricket team at the first ever World Cup in England in 1975.
The team comprised legendary players such as Zulfiqar Ali, Don Pringle, Jawahir Shah (Kenya) John Nagenda and Sam Walusimbi (Uganda) Hamish McLeod and P.C. Nana (Zambia). At a reception for all the eight participating teams at Buckingham Palace, Queen Elizabeth stopped to talk to Grewal and marvelled at how he managed to keep a team comprising four countries united.
Grewal was also behind the setting up of the Quadrangular tournament (initially Triangular Tournament in 1966) which was keenly contested between Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Zambia between the years 1968 and 1982.
Kenya had the highest success rate in the tournament, managing to win it on five occasions, and Grewal managed the Kenya team for most of the victories. From the tournament emerged lifelong friendships with R.D. Patel, C.D. Patel, Kurban Bhaloo (Tanzania) Prince George Mwanda, John Nagenda, Sam Walusimbi (Uganda), Yusuf Dhotia and Tarzan Patel (Zambia).
After Kenya broke away from the East Africa team, to become an independent member of the International Cricket Conference, Grewal represented Kenya on the ICC for many years besides being chairman of the Kenya Cricket Association and managing the team to the 1986 Associate Countries trophy.
He again led Kenya to their first ever appearance in the 1996 World Cup in India when they stunned the world by beating the West Indies (so big was the upset that a UK newspaper led the story with the headline: “Kenya believe it?”) Away, from cricket, Jasmer’s other passion was reporting on sports and publishing.
He was the cricket correspondent for the East African Standard for over 20 years and was a regular commentator on hockey and cricket on both radio and television for Kenya’s then national broadcaster Voice of Kenya. In later years he also contributed to Wisden, the cricket premier almanac, and The Guardian newspaper on Kenyan cricket.
In 1968, Grewal joined Drum, which had been set up the previous year by the founder of Drum South Africa, Jim Bailey. Drum was struggling to make ends meet selling hardly 8,000 copies; Grewal took up the challenge to increase its circulation and profile and turned it into East Africa's largest selling magazine, with a circulation of 120,000 copies by 1971.
Drum then opened offices in Dar es Salaam, Kampala and Lusaka. One of Grewal’s biggest challenges in publishing came in 1972 when the magazine was banned by the Tanzanian government for what they considered an inappropriate picture of a woman.
Grewal used his diplomatic skills to organise various meetings with the Tanzanian authorities and was able to call upon Jim Bailey’s close association with President Julius Nyerere (Bailey enjoyed a close relationship with Mwalimu having worked with him during Independence struggle), and thus had the ban lifted within three months.
After leaving Drum in 1992, Grewal helped to set up the first ever full time executive role for a sports association, at the Kenya Cricket Association, and was the first chief executive till 2005.
