Ranatunga with Councilor John Goddard, Deputy Lord Mayor of Oxford, after delivering his speech at the Oxford Union. (Pic courtesy Bandula Manage of www.sesatha.co.uk)

"The address was made at the historic Debating Chamber (of the Oxford Union). James Dray (President – Oxford Union) inaugurated proceedings by stating that it was indeed an honour to have Arjuna speak on this day. Delivering the Welcome Address, Dilan Fernando (President – Oxford Sri Lanka Society), detailed Arjuna’s tremendous contribution to the game, starting from the inaugural Test match in 1982 to the World Cup final in 1996. He thanked the distinguished gathering, including diplomats and university dignitaries, who had come from far afield to listen to the great cricketer speak.

Addressing a large gathering, Arjuna narrated his experiences as an 18-year old playing in Sri Lanka’s inaugural Test match in 1982. He spoke of the trials and tribulations during the incipient years of Test cricket to the blossoming of the game (in Sri Lanka) in 1996. Describing the 1995 Australian tour as the most difficult in his career, he credited his devoted wife, Samadara for helping him through this period. He enthralled the audience by vividly re-living that historic day, the 17th of March 1996, when Sri Lanka comprehensively defeated the Australians to lift the World Cup, much to the awe of the entire cricketing world. His anecdote of how the Sri Lankan players spent the morning of the final haggling for carpets left the audience in stitches.

A lively question and answer session, moderated by the President of the Oxford Union followed. In response to a query of how he viewed the Twenty-20 version of the game, he wittily stated that it was akin to Maggie noodles – easy to cook, good to eat, but not filling! He emphasised that, in his view, Test cricket and One Day Internationals had to be safeguarded to prevent an erosion of the game.

Fielding a question about the spirit of the game being corrupted by money, Arjuna stated that in his day, players were not bothered about money. They played for the honour of representing one’s country. Money was secondary. However, now the situation has been reversed. The first question even schoolboys ask, on being offered to play for a club, is ‘how much will we be paid.’ This is the present situation." - A news report which appeared in a UK based website, www.sesatha.co.uk, Nov. 4, 2009

Now he is there on every road, byroad and junction. Ludicrous! He is Sri Lanka’s cricket captain. A load of commercials that portray him as an easy-going youth makes Kumar Sangakkara devalue his reputation. All his intellectual and classy upbringing —a rare feature in most of our cricketers nowadays — seems to have gone for a six. And much more was expected from ‘Sanga’ when he took over from Mahela Jayawardene. It was more than being a commercial icon for mobile phone services and a brand ambassador for a soft drinks manufacturer.

Enter Arjuna Ranatunga. On Tuesday, Nov. 3, Ranatunga spoke on cricket at the prestigious Oxford Union Society, better known as the Oxford Union, at Frewin Court.

Arjuna thus created history by becoming the first Asian international sportsperson to address the renowned Oxford Union in its 186-year history. The event was jointly organised by the Oxford Union and the Oxford Sri Lanka Society in England.

What is the Oxford Union?

The Oxford Union is known as a world famous debating society based in the city of Oxford, UK, whose membership is drawn primarily — but not exclusively — from the University of Oxford.

Founded in 1823, it is considered the oldest University Union in Great Britain. Oxford Union is often confused with ‘the Oxford University Student Union (OUSU).’ The ‘Ausu’ is the officially recognised student representative body of Oxford University. The Oxford Union, on the other hand, has an international reputation as a podium for debate, mainly on current political issues.

The Oxford Union has over the past century hosted world renowned personalities ranging from great scientists and acclaimed politicians to pop stars and international celebrities.

The list includes Sir Winston Churchill, the Dalai Lama, Mother Teresa, former US Presidents Richard Nixon, Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan, scientist Albert Einstein, physicist Stephen Hawking, Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams, actors Pierce Brosnan, Clint Eastwood and Martin Sheen, US Black activist Malcolm X, rock star Jon Bon Jovi and Michael Jackson. Some of the famous sports personalities who have addressed the Oxford Union before Ranatunga were Geoff Hurst, Teddy Sheringham, Mark Foster, Murray Walker, Ron Dennis and football legend, Diego Maradona.

This famous Union is headed from time to time by prospective personalities. Famous past Presidents of the Oxford Union include Hilaire Belloc, Anthony Howard, the late Benazir Bhutto as well as two well known Sri Lankans, the late Lalith Athulathmudali and Lakshman Kadirgamar. James Dray, a D. Phil student at the Oxford, is its present President.

Why only Arjuna?

The Treasurer of the Oxford Sri Lanka Society, Kremlin Wickremasinghe told this newspaper that his organisation tried to get down some leading members of the Sri Lanka cricket team recently, when the Lankans were touring England, but that did not materialise.

But Arjuna addressing the Oxford Union was of great symbolic importance. He could be regarded as the only sports personality in this island who maintains and fights for a certain common social goal. In spite of certain flaws and shortcomings, Ranatunga has remained a thorn in the flesh of many unhealthy and corrupt elements in local sports.

After setting aside the cricket bat, he followed in the footsteps of his politician father, Reggie Ranatunga, to enter Parliament. He changed his battlefield from cricket to politics. The Aussie rivals are now in the form of either Thilanga Sumathipala or Hemasiri Fernando, the National Olympic Committee Chairman. It would not be wrong to say that he is ‘hated’ by those two gentlemen.

Ranatunga’s radical, non-conformist nature elevated him to a different level. An outspoken personality by nature, he has become — with all his shortcomings — the one and only mouthpiece of what is just and right in the local sports world.

He has stood up for the underprivileged, the outstation cricketer and clashed head-on with the upper-middle class and elitist forces, especially in cricket.

He didn’t want to bend down before domineering English forces in cricket. He called a thief a thief without any second thoughts; he was not concerned whether it was at Lord’s or the MCG.

Arjuna tried to inculcate traditional Sinhala Buddhist values to cricket, at least symbolically.

There is a difference, they say, between Maradona and Pele. Inzi was not another Imran Khan, Ponting is not really a Steve Waugh and there is a huge socio-political disparity between the roles played by Bandula Warnapura and Duleep Mendis in cricket here. Arjuna falls into this more-than-sports spectrum in sports. His role spills out of the peripheries of sports and spreads to society at large.

One might argue that he is power-hungry, arrogant, selfish, dictatorial and foolhardy, but in this country full of cheap conmen in many a top slot, Arjuna is close to being an epitome of a true social role model of Sri Lankan sports, probably the one and last to be so. A quintessential last man.