Singapore’s Olympic hockey goalkeeper Anwarul Haque dies at age 85

SINGAPORE – Once hailed as the world’s best goalkeeper by then International Hockey Federation technical committee chairman A.S. Dara, Singapore’s Anwarul Haque died on June 24 at the age of 85.

He is survived by his wife Rita Minjoot, their three sons Shehzad, Tariq and Kamil and three grandchildren.

Shehzad said his father “lived life to the fullest, had a great sense of humour and was dearly loved by friends and family alike”.

Born in Singapore in 1939 as the eldest of seven children, Anwarul grew to become a colossal figure in hockey.

His international hockey career began in 1956 when he was a junior to the Singapore team who played at the 1956 Melbourne Olympics.

He would become a full international a year later and went to the 1964 Tokyo Games as one of four Singaporeans, alongside Douglas Paul Nonis, Kanalingam Sinnathamby and Kartar Singh, who were selected for the Malaysian hockey team who finished ninth out of 15 teams.

He played for Singapore at the 1962 and 1970 Asian Games, where they finished fifth in both editions, and helped the Republic to a silver medal at the 1971 South-east Asian Peninsular Games, the predecessor to the SEA Games.

Anwarul featured in The Straits Times’ list of Singapore sporting greats in 1999. Coming in at 36th, he was described as “the Peter Schmeichel of hockey”, in reference to the legendary Danish and Manchester United football goalkeeper.

In a 2004 ST story, former journalist Jeffrey Low called him “Singapore’s greatest and bravest hockey goalkeeper”.

Anwarul summed up his own fearless mentality when he said in an ST interview in 1993: “I’ve stopped hockey sticks with my face. My friends still remind me how I once headed the ball away. I didn’t know the meaning of fear when I was in goal.”

Interestingly, Shehzad said his father was not particularly keen on him taking up hockey, especially in goal.

He said: “When I started playing cricket seriously, he laughed at the irony of his son excelling in another ‘dangerous’ sport.”

“Just before my debut for Singapore at 19, I was told to cut my long hair or I might not play.

“My dad was delighted because he hated my hairstyle. He took me aside when I was reluctant to cut it and read me the ‘riot act’ so I knew I had to do it.”

Anwarul was also an outstanding personality off the pitch.

After graduating with a law degree from the University of Singapore with honours, he would go on to become a magistrate, district judge and deputy director of the Legal Aid Bureau following his international retirement in 1972.

But hockey was never far from his heart as he served on the Singapore Hockey Association management committee, and was president from 1985 to 1992.

Mathavan Devadas, president of the Singapore Hockey Federation, which was formed in 1992, said: “Anwarul Haque was a pillar of the hockey community for many years. From representing Singapore, playing in the Olympics and then leading the association, he was always a gentleman and a fine sportsman. He will be dearly missed by the hockey community.”

Besides hockey, Anwarul was also active in the sporting community.

A strong advocate for gender equality, he was on the Singapore Cricket Club general committee when the SCC gave voting rights to women in 1996 for the first time in 144 years.

As SCC president from 2001 to 2008, he also witnessed Margaret Cunico become the first woman to be elected to its general committee in 2004, and the opening up of its men’s bar and billiards room to women in 2007.

Anwarul said then: “We are very alive to what is happening in Singapore today. The Constitution of Singapore recognises women as equal to men. We have women Members of Parliament and women judges; how long could we have gone on being a men’s stronghold?

“Times have changed. I had fought for women to be more active in this club since the day I became a general committee member.”

“Women in this club have done a great job organising many events, and helping out whenever they were called upon. Margaret’s election will see the women’s brigade playing a bigger role in the future,” he added.

In 2009, Anwarul became one of six executive committee members of the inaugural Singapore Olympians Association, the inspirational arm of the Singapore National Olympic Council created to mentor all athletes who are or have been Olympians.

His close friend Chandra Mohan, 74, also described Anwarul as a “fine gentleman” who was well-loved by people who knew him.

“He was suave, democratic, and had a certain flair about him that he could convince people to do work for the good of the team...

“He also had a great love for sports and even after his retirement, he was still very involved in hockey and encouraged people to participate in whatever way they can, even if they cannot play.”