(A tribute to The Sanmar Group’s patronage of cricket for nearly four decades by S Thyagarajan, published in The Hindu Metroplus dated 13 October 2005)
Corporate sponsorship acquired a touch of sophistication when the major industrial establishments in the State pitched in to enhance the quality of city league cricket about four decades ago. If India Cements gets portrayed as a trend-setter of this vibrant change, a good measure of credit to pioneering this concept and perfecting a system should go to the quiet, soft-spoken N Sankar, chairman, Sanmar Group. The company sponsors the two major forces in the city–Jolly Rovers CC and Alwarpet CC.
For Sankar, sponsorship is an article of faith and commitment rather than a vehicle for purveying a commercial message. This stems from the insatiable love for a sport that he devoutly played and practised in school and college, both here and abroad. Eventually tennis claimed his attention ahead of cricket. Coaching sessions with T K Ramanathan, father of tennis ace Ramanathan Krishnan, consumed quite a bit of time; but the passion for cricket refused to die down. He found time to wield the willow in the ground near his residence.
The Sanmar pavilion at the IIT-Sanmar cricket ground, Chennai.
It is difficult to gauge how many in this generation are aware that Sankar, along with N Srinivasan,
president, TNCA, and current managing director, India Cements, formed one of the most formidable collegiate doubles combinations in the 1960s, donning the colours of A C College of Technology. Sankar even had a stint as president of the Tamil Nadu Tennis Association.
Unalloyed love for sport prompted Sankar to court cricket and support its practitioners. Picking up the threads from his father, K S Narayanan, himself a club level tennis player, Sankar redefined the whole aspect of sponsorship after India Cements began supporting Jolly Rovers Cricket Club in 1966. Since then, India Cements, Chemplast and Sanmar have been in the forefront of sponsorship for nearly four decades. And continue to be vibrant as ever. A fact that needs to be singled out for approbation is this; while several high profile corporate units began pulling out of the sponsorship net for one reason or the other, Chemplast and Sanmar, under his leadership, emerged as role models for professional efficiency. Mafatlal, Sungrace, Tata, JK Tyres, Nirlon, Punjab Communication Ltd., State Bank of India, TVS Chennai, Kunal Engineering, Godrej, Pentasoft, Mohan Meakins, Escorts and SAIL are some of the units that faded from the scene after making a stunning impact in several top notch tournaments. Sankar shows no hesitation in acknowledging the contribution of TVS, The Hindu and Dasaprakash in fostering city clubs, and speaks appreciatively of MRF for the efficacy of promoting a brand with outstanding success. While admitting the strains of maintaining the tempo, level of efficiency and putting in place an effective assembly line of talent, Sankar reveals that the cost of maintenance and infrastructure hovers around Rs. 1.5 crore annually.
What satisfies him, however, is the success rate of the teams, be it in the city league, The Hindu Trophy, or in away tournaments such as Moin-ud-Dowla. He is happy that both the Sanmar sponsored outfits, Jolly Rovers and Alwarpet, will fight for the Palayampatti Shield this year.
To catalogue players who benefited out of the sponsorship programmes is not easy. From K R Rajagopal to P K Belliappa and B Kalyanasundaram, to Test stars such as S Venkataraghavan, Bharath Reddy, B Arun, and L Sivaramakrishnan, down to Robin Singh, Harbhajan Singh, Hemang Badani, Dinesh Mongia and Lakshmipathy Balaji, the galaxy mirrors the confidence and trust enjoyed by players working with an understanding leader like Sankar.
One more area where Sankar spent a lot of energy as cricket administrator–he was also president of Tamil Nadu Cricket Association in 1993-94–related to increasing the number of turf pitches in and around the city. While encouraging the institutions to adopt school and college grounds, Sanmar set an example by developing a superb facility matching international standards at the Indian Institute of Technology. The IIT-Sanmar ground earned the appreciation of players such as Sachin Tendulkar, Richard Hadlee and Neil Harvey. Said the Kiwi legend, “ The IITSanmar ground is an outstanding one, the pitches and pavilion there can compare with the best anywhere.”
Sankar’s mission continues with the focus on helping deserving youngsters. Assisted well by Bharath Reddy, the administrative manager, Sankar is endeavouring to give sports promotion a high priority in his company’s milieu designed to offer society a platform to grow.
Reproduced with permission from The Hindu.