26 June 2021 01:53 am Views - 1178
Twelve years have passed since June 22, 2009 when we lost our dear friend Nizar Haji Omar to a massive heart attack. When I think about my time with Haji, it was like we lost him yesterday. On that fateful day, Haji and I had breakfast together at 22 Layards Road, as we often did. I had rented his other house, the older house with the entrance on both Layards Road and McLeod Road for a year and half. In fact, we had spoken to each other around 1pm on that fateful day and by 3pm, he was no longer with us. Tragically, he had fallen from the chair in his office and because the bales of cloth blocking the view into his office room, none of his office colleagues realised that he was experiencing a heart attack.
Haji loved to travel and we have done so many trips together, either just the two of us or in a group. Yala, Haputale, Wilpattu, Udawalawe, Nuwara-Eliya and numerous beach locations ‘down South’ were a few of our favourite locations. During most of these trips the wine flowed and the food was exceptional. There were many a times when we had a midnight scotch on the beach or peered at a shape through the bushes assuming it was an elephant when it turned out to a harmless but very startled cow.
The day before his death on June 21, 2009, we all met up at our favourite place, the CR & FC bar to watch the T-20 finals where Sri Lanka was playing Pakistan. It was not to be for Sri Lanka as Shahid Afridi took the game away from us with an unbeaten 54. Whilst our top order fizzled, Sangakkara and Mathews took us to a challenging total, but it was still insufficient. By the time the game was over, so was the booze with copius amounts being drunk by all present. Haji was having his customary red wine with loads of ice.
Haji’s two daughters are doing well, both living in the USA, in Pennsylvania and New York respectively. I stay in touch with both of them.
Haji first represented St. Peters in 1962/63 and went on to play for CR & FC in 1964. He continued playing for CR for the next 10 years as the most feared loose head prop forward in Sri Lanka. Interestingly, he captained Sri Lanka (1969) before captaining CR (1970) and was the Sri Lankan captain when our country first played in an Asiad (1969/1970). He went on to play in three consecutive Asiads. He was the youngest President of CR & FC, taking the helm at the age of 36, the youngest President of the SLRFU (38), and eventually was named a Honorary Life Member and Trustee of the CR & FC. He also was the Manager of the “Bowl” winning Sri Lankan rugby team led by Hisham Abdeen at the Hong Kong Sevens’ in 1984, which to date is the only team in Sri Lankan Rugby history to-win an international trophy outside Sri Lanka. He was a National Selector and Chairman of the National Selection Committee on numerous occasions. He also served on the Appeal Committee of the SLRFU. He was about to be appointed as a Life Member of the SLRFU, but sadly, fate decided otherwise.
Haji, you are still missed and I often think of you and talk about you with our mutual friends. As the adage goes, “Only the Good Die Young” and this was truly meant for you. You were a gem of an individual and I cherish my friendship with you and the time I spent with you to this day. May your soul Rest in Peace.
Jehan CanagaRetna