Former rugby players Ibrahim Hamid, winner of a Presidential citation for the call of duty, and his son Zulki succumbed to the coronavirus and passed away in hospital this week.
Ibrahim was one of the hardiest prop forwards who played for Zahira College and later for Police to earn the nickname “tanker” for his barging runs through opponents.
At Zahira in the 1960s he was in a team that knocked the daylights out of teams like Trinity, Royal and St. Peter’s and graduated to captain the Police team in the 1970s.
After hanging up his boots he served as a Council member of the Sri Lanka Rugby Football Union where he was also its Secretary before moving on to head the National Selection Committee and later as chairman of the disciplinary committee.
Ibrahim belonged to that rare and fast dying breed known as “Officer and a Gentleman” and was an unmistakable face at rugby matches.
“We are here to serve sport and not ourselves, unfortunately it’s the other way around for some people,” was a remark he made many a time when he bumped into journalists with whom he maintained a very healthy rapport.
Until very recently he was a Citing Commissioner in the Asian Panel appointed by World Rugby and was the recipient of the Life-time Achievement Award presented to him by Sri Lanka Rugby.
He retired from the Police as a Senior Superintendent and was 77 years old at the time of his unexpected death.
Ibrahim was also involved in the sport of shooting and served as the chairman of the Judges Committee of the Sports Shooting Federation of Sri Lanka while officiating at several major international meets that included the Asian Games and the ISSF World Cup in 2018 where he gained high recognition among the world shooting fraternity.
In his native Sri Lanka he received a commendation for bravery, after a grenade was tossed in Parliament, from the country’s first executive President JR Jayewardene who was in the chamber at the time of the explosion.
Ibrahim’s son Zulki played for Royal College in the early 1990s and was also a wicket-keeper batsman who booked a coveted wicket-keeper batsman slot in the Royal-Thomian big match.
-Callistus Davy