Royal Selangor Club storms Pattaya this weekend

“The Spotted Dog”

It was at the turn of the 20th century when the wife of the Chief of Police in Kuala Lumpur, Mrs. Syers, first came to Malaya. Queen Victoria was on the throne in England and had decreed that “real ladies” did not go unaccompanied into establishments that served alcohol. The Royal Selangor Club (or actually the Selangor Club as it was known then) was officially deemed one such establishment.

To heed this decree, the club’s rules were changed and no lady could come into the club’s premises unless hand accompanied by a gentleman. The club further ruled that no ladies or children could come into the Gentlemen’s Bar (later to be renamed the Long Bar). This was because the language that the patrons of that bar had come to get used to was deemed not suitable for ladies whether accompanied by gentlemen or otherwise. Of course children were not allowed so as to protect the youth from being exposed to the evils of alcohol. This has not changed till today and not because of a lack of attempt.

The Dog, in all “its” splendour

So, Mrs. Syers, who used to enjoy her tipple to while away the boredom of daily routine, whilst her distinguished husband was busy battling the intrigues of the secret societies that had victimised the mining communities in Kuala Lumpur, used to ride her horse buggy to the club everyday. She then had the club’s stable hands attend to her horse and buggy whilst she stood at the entrance of the club for any gentleman member of the club to arrive, whereupon she offered her arm to be escorted onto the club’s premises. She used to be accompanied by her favourite Dalmatian who, unfortunately could not be admitted to club premises. This pet was tied to the gate of the club and dutifully awaited its mistress whilst she complained about the weather over a chilled beer.

At that time, the club’s entrance was on the busiest street of Kuala Lumpur, Jalan Raja. Anybody who passed by saw the Dalmatian and thence, the club became fondly referred to as the “Spotted Dog” or just the “Dog.”

That was the version of how the club became known as the Spotted Dog in the club’s annals. However, the members of the Royal Lake Club have a different version.

The Dog takes on the RAAF

According to their historians, the Selangor Club had, at the end of the 19th Century, decided to admit, as honorary members, the ruling state monarch as well as certain local captains of industry. Thus, personages as Sultan Abdul Samad, Yap Ah Loi, Thamboopillai and the Penghulu of Kampung Baru became members of the club, much to the dismay of certain expatriate denizens of the club. They had preferred the club to remain “colonial” and white. The club rules then did not even allow Australians, Europeans and Irishmen to join and this entry of coloured locals went too far and had them most disappointed.

So, to retain the purity of the club, they broke away and formed the Lake Club, overlooking the once-mining lake in the majestic Lake Gardens. Their rules strictly forbade locals, Indians, dogs and non-white British from becoming members. So it seemed that these breakaway members used to imbibe the local libation whilst laughing and ridiculing the Selangor Club. They referred to them as the Spotted Dog, the “spots” being the coloured members who had then joined the latter against a white backdrop and “dog” was used as it was the ultimate insult in the Chinese culture. It would appear that this rule of not admitting locals was changed in the Lake Club only after the Second World War and only after independence was the presidency taken over by local dignitaries.

As to which version is correct is left to the reader to decide. However, Gullick, that renowned historian on Kuala Lumpur, favoured the first version. On the other hand, the Defence Club of Fiji has, till today, the same old rules as the Lake Club, and refers to everyone else as dogs. There is still a notice from the last century over the bar, which read that no Indians, women or dogs would be served in the club.

However, the Spotted Dog marched on. From being a place of solace for the colonials who were thousands of miles away from home, it became a premier place for socialising. Sports were one major way of socialising for the Brits and the club took the shape of a premier sports club in due course.

The Royal Selangor Club pitch

Rugby, cricket, hockey, lawn tennis, lawn bowls, pitanque, football and buggy racing were introduced to the club, although earlier accounts had shown that these were already enjoyed by earlier clubs, like the New Taiping Club and the Penang Club.

Of course due to costs and apathy, certain sports died along the way.

Rugby would have died too as the sport was, towards the early part of the 20th century, confined to the British uniformed services and not civilians, thus not attracting civilian interest. Further, it was also confined physically to army and police camps therefore not lending itself to encouragement as a spectator sport.

In the fifties, rugby made a revival of sorts and civilian teams were invited to play in local tournaments. Names like the Selangor Club Dalmatians and the Singapore Cricket Club (SCC) surfaced and were the bastions of civilian rugby supremacy. The format of tournaments were the north versus the south, where the club was part of the north together with all the army and police camps here and the SCC, together with army and police camps in the south formed the latter league.

Just before WW2, a Welshman by the name of Jonah Jones came to Malaya as an executive with the Imperial Chemical Industry (ICI) and joined the club. He lamented the fact that the rugby season was too short and involved too few teams and almost no local participation. He introduced the seven-a-side format and it quickly gained popularity in Malaya. The Selangor Club Sevens was born and it became an annual affair with clubs from local and uniformed sides playing. However, this died due to the War. Jonah returned in the sixties as the chairman of ICI and revived this tournament in the club, which again died, after his eventual return to Britain.

However, a group of enthusiasts decided to revive it after that and the tournament eventually became the Jonah Jones Royal Selangor Club Rugby Sevens tournament and the flagship of the Spotted Dog. And the team has since been known as the Dog.

The Spotted Dog to go “woof” in Pattaya Royal Selangor Rugby Football Club from Malaysia is to play in Pattaya, following sponsorship from the Pattaya Mail and Shenanigans. The Malaysian team, affectionately known as the “Spotted Dog” are on tour to play in the Royal Bangkok Sports Club 100th anniversary 10’s tournament to be held on the 4th of August. Captain of the visitors, Richard Dutton, contacted the Pattaya Mail and David Garred of the Dusit Sports Club, and it was decided that it would be a good training run for the renowned Pattaya Panthers to have a game of touch football with the visitors on the 5th. With the added inducement of the Shenanigans famous footy Carvery and several hogsheads of beer laid on as well, the entire touring team of 35 members of the Royal Selangor Rugby Football Club has decided to make the Royal Bangkok Sports Club event the training run, while the real action will be down here in Pattaya. However, there is doubt in some quarters that the “real action” will be seen on the football field, but rather post match. If you would like to meet the visitors, they will be in Shenanigans on the evening of the 5th.

Shenanigans adds more ladies golf to their ‘majors’ calendar

Shenanigans, already firmly established on the golfing calendar with their Funhill Cup in April, Shenanigans Irish Open on October 5th, and the much anticipated second Shenanigans Ladies International Open on November 27th, have come up with another original event for lady golfers.

On Tuesday, January 29TH 2002, Shenanigans will stage the first ever Asian Ladies vs. The Rest of the World Golf Tournament at Eastern Star Resort, Shenanigans ‘Home Course’.

The fast increasing number of Thai ladies playing golf, plus resident and regular visitors to the region from other parts of Asia, makes such an event possible and timely.

January is a time of the year when many lady golfers from Europe and other parts of the world come to Pattaya to play golf, added to which is the resident community of farang lady golfers.

A Stableford competition is planned with the cumulative total of Stableford points, from an equal number of players on each side, deciding the ‘match’ winning team. The players will be teeing-off in groups of four, two players from each team, which achieves the Asian / Farang social objective for the tournament as well.

The alternative format being considered is a ‘Pairs Aggregate’ with the pair having the highest points score in each group winning that group match. The final result being the side winning the most matches overall.

Trophies and prizes will be awarded for the best player performances in each category, together with many technical prizes. Shenanigans, sponsors of the event, will welcome support from local and national companies and organizations that would like to be associated with the event and support this unique tournament. Contact can be made by e-mail to Mike Franklin at: [email protected]

Mike Franklin, Shenanigans tournament director commented, “The idea of running an Asian Ladies match against the Rest of the World has been on the back-burner for some while now, just waiting for the time when sufficient Thai and Asian ladies, living locally, had developed their game from high to mid-handicap level, and were comfortable with course etiquette and a good understanding of the fundamental Rules of Golf.

“That stage has been reached, so the tournament planned for Tuesday, January 29th next year is a very exciting prospect for all involved. The tournament also promises to be a great social event too, as the male partners of all the players, from whichever side, will be keenly interested in the performance of their other halves on the course and the ultimate outcome of the match. It should be a very good party evening back at Shenanigans Pattaya for the prize giving and inevitable match analysis.”

Kim Fletcher, Shenanigans landlord, was also asked for his views which, not surprisingly, turned out to be pretty good news for the ladies. Fletcher said, “As with the Shenanigans Ladies International Open, we plan to give the ladies a day to remember. The players will be looked after royally, and we will no doubt be popping the cork again at the halfway stage and topping up with refreshments on the course. Original ideas for tournaments are hard to come up with, but this is really breaking new ground and we hope it will become a regular seasonal event to compliment the Ladies International Open which teed-off successfully for the first time in February earlier this year.”

For further information about Shenanigans, The Irish Pub, and Shenanigans Very Friendly Golf Society fixtures for the year, log-on to their web site at www.shenanigans-pattaya.com

Classroom Cricket

The Classroom Bar, in Soi Pattayaland 2, is organising a Cricket Sixes Tournament to be held on Sunday, 5th August, at The Arena on Siam Country Club Road.

Meet at the Classroom at 11 a.m. and transport to the ground will be provided. There will be food and drink served at the Arena.

A free buffet and presentation is arranged for 7 p.m. at the Classroom to award the team, most valuable player and worst player (!) awards.

Anyone wishing to participate please contact Scott in the Classroom or telephone 038-421432 (bar), 01-3551647 (mobile), e-mail: [email protected]

Fitness Tips: Mixed bag of tips (part 2)

Even more gold to be won in ‘Diana Gold’ 2001!

For the third year the ‘Diana Gold’ Charity Golf Tournament will be offering technical prizes of at least one baht gold on every hole, plus many performance trophies and spectacular lucky draw prizes.

Diana Gold 2000 attracted a record field of 164 players, and this in spite of a sizeable exodus of regular golfers to the Johnnie Walker Classic at Alpine either to marshal at the event, or just to see the amazing Tiger Woods perform.

With such a large field the shotgun start took far too long, so this year the field will be split with two shotgun starts, each with a maximum of 96 players to ensure a smooth round of golf.

The venue will be Eastern Star Resort, traditionally on the third Friday of November (this year the 16th), with the prize giving party and presentation ceremony staged back at the Diana Garden Lodge and Driving Range, North Pattaya.

Diana Gold is now an established ‘major’ charity event on the golfing calendar and all proceeds from this year’s tournament will go to provide 20 scholarships for children at Banglamung schools.

Make a note of the date, Friday November 16th, Diana Gold 2001, to support Banglamung children’s education.

Total chaos at Sattahip!

IPGC Pattaya Golf Society from the Bunker

On Tuesday, 24th July, a large field of Bunker Boys went to the Royal Thai Navy course at Sattahip. It was to prove everything other than plain sailing. A Stableford competition was played over the South and East courses and this resulted in absolute confusion. The course cards do not match the yardage, and the individual hole handicaps have no relevance, making it impossible to play anything other than stroke play. Even the caddies are unsure of which greens are in play on any particular hole!

Nearest-the-pin awards went to Gordon McKnight, Danny Greer and Ian Phillips, approximately. The Bunker Banana Booby was inevitably awarded to Mr. Loy for taking everybody there!

Problems for Stan “The Man” at Phoenix

On Friday, 27th July, the Bunker Boys travelled the short distance to Phoenix Golf Club for a medal competition. The field comprised of two divisions and in very windy conditions the scores were not a low as expected.

Only one player managed to shoot below 70 and the honours went to Peter Renggli with his round of net 69. He was followed by Stan “The Man” Axon with net 73. Little cheer for Stan, however, when it was discovered he had signed an incorrect scorecard and he was disqualified under the Rules of Golf. This resulted in six people sharing second place with net 75!

Division two saw Gordon McKnight and Fireman Dan share first place with net 71. Nearest-the-pin awards went to Hannu, Chris John and Aaron Johanson.

The famed Bunker Banana Booby went to former banker Chris John for his incorrect calculation, thus aiding and abetting the disqualification of Stan “The Man”. The lucky draw was won for the first time by the transport manager, Mr. John.

Follow the fortunes of the Bunker Boys at http://www.thebunkerboys.com

Maiko wins the Monthly Mug

PSC Golf from the Cafe Kronborg

Monday, July 23 Treasure Hills (Stableford)

Low scoring was the order of the day at Treasure Hills despite a brief but heavy downpour in the middle of the day. Derek Brook took first place with an excellent 42 points closely followed by Rick Evans with 39 points. Anders Karlson was third with 38, Ebrahim fourth with 33.

Thurs, July 26 Phoenix (Stroke)

Twenty-seven players made the short trip to Phoenix Golf Club for the Cafe Kronborg Monthly Mug competition. Despite the windy conditions the scores were respectable. Doug Maiko took the top prize with a 67 winning on count back from Claes Ernlund. Claes took some consolation in winning the B Flight. Tony Cashman took the A flight honors with a 70, winning on count back from Anders Karlsson

Results:

Monthly Mug Winner
Doug Maiko, 67

A Flight

1st Tony Cashman, 70
2nd Anders Karlsson, 70
3rd Wayne Koch, 73

B Flight

1st Claes Ernlund, 67
2nd Roland Piechchoki, 72
3rd Frank Polizzotto, 72

Near pins: Lakes 2 Frank Polizzotto, Lakes 7 Claes Ernlund, Ocean 5 Steve Smith, Ocean 7 Jim Barclay,

Long putts: Lakes 9 Rob Brown, Ocean 9 Max Arlen

Callaway conversion pays off

The Three Sisters outing on Monday July 22 was well attended as always with 20 players hitting off for the weekly competition. Three Sisters were pleased to see Mike Riley in town and ready to join in as well as Vic Cross recently back from a Stateside trip after visiting Las Vegas to finalize a personal contract. Also on tap was Mike McKay on a rushed trip from Bolivia at the behest of his charming daughter, and Paul Kraft returning from his annual sojourn to New Jersey.

Perennial friends and sometime business partners Izzy Freedman and Dick Caggiano scooped the honors for the day with Izzy grabbing first spot with 41 points; he really is getting the hang of those new Callaway irons. Former CANAM champion Caggiano was barely behind with a strong 40 points to take second place while the aforementioned Mike McKay took the “Ugly Sister” honors hands down.

Gay Horan makes it a double

Shenanigans Pairs Better Ball on Tuesday 24th July produced the anticipated high Stableford points return from the winning pairs.

Les (CAN-AM) Walsh, making a rare appearance with Shenanigans Very Friendly Golf Society, found the day to be even more friendly than expected. His nominated partner, Mike Schultz, was unable to play so Les made a three-ball with Mike Riley (briefly here from Singapore and a new member), and Gay Horan, Gay having the good luck to be the better ball partner for both Mike and Les and, as it turned out, it was pretty good luck for them too.

Les and Gay returned the best card of the day with a 48 Stableford points total. Richard Dumas with partner ‘fast improving’ Jampa, won the tie-break with 44 points (24 back nine) to take the runners-up spot.

Mike Riley and Gay Horan were in third place, also with 44 points but only 21 on the back nine.

Near pins were claimed by young Ed Trailing on signature hole #4; Barry Winton on hole #8; George (‘just the one’) Jackson on #12 and Prasan Boonsiri on hole #15. Long putts went to Barry Winton and Richard Dumas.

The weather was kind and the course greened up after heavy overnight rain. Further improvement to the greens was evident, and gave every indication that they would be back up to their normal high standard very soon.

Shenanigans have another very friendly day out at Eastern Star on Tuesday, August 7th for a Pairs Aggregate Stableford. Sign-up at Shenanigans.

Dan O’Donnell lands big pompano

PSC Deep Sea Fishing

June and July frustrated many of the fishing section owing to frequent storms threatening our waters.

However, on July 20, Captain Dang confirmed to J & M Bar that fishing was on. What a good day it turned out to be with the team landing forty-nine pounds of lovely game fish; pompano, queens, tuna and carvelly being prominent.

Dan proudly displayed his catch with team members Middy Campbell and Rob Bonser.

Dan O’Donnell from the USA, who is a frequent visitor to Pattaya, landed the fish of the day, maybe even the month, with an eleven pound pompano. Not bad for his first ever deep sea fishing exploit. Dan also landed two queens and a further two pompano. PSC fishing feels sure that he will be back for more if the comments made in the J & M Bar afterwards could be believed - talk about fishing tales!

For further details of PSC fishing, contact Frank or Les Collins at the Fish and Trips Bar, Middy Campbell at J & M Bar, Selwyn Leightly at Bull Ring 2 Bar, all in Soi 6, or Rosie O’Grady’s in Soi 7, or Cafe Kronborg in Soi Diana.

Germany wins the war

Hockenheim a shockin’ time for most

German driver Ralf Schumacher, with his German BMW engined Williams, was the winner of the German Grand Prix held at Hockenheim last weekend. Ferrari number 2, Rubens Barichello was a distant 2nd and a surprised Jacques Villeneuve (BAR) 3rd.

It was a race of attrition with only ten of the twenty-two drivers managing to get to the chequered flag. It was also a race of drama with Michael Schumacher’s Ferrari failing to select gears at the start and being rammed by the Prost of Luciano Burti, which then flew through the air, over one of the Arrows and into the wall. Schumacher gained a few Brownie points by going up to Burti to make sure he was alright. At this point the race was red-flagged and a complete restart was called, with Schumacher and Burti sprinting for the pits to climb into their team’s spare cars.

When Michael Schumacher’s Ferrari failed to select gears at the start, he was rammed by the Prost of Luciano Burti, which then flew through the air, over one of the Arrows and into the wall. (Photo courtesy of Planet-F1 and Bothwell Photographics)

At the re-start, pole sitter Juan Pablo Montoya led away (BMW Williams), with team mate Ralf Schumacher in behind. Both the Ferrari’s appeared to have a top speed advantage over the McLaren Mercedes of Mika Hakkinen and David Coulthard and took up positions 3 and 4, leaving the McLarens 5th and 6th. Sauber’s Nick Heidfeld got no further than the first chicane where he was mauled by Pedro de la Rosa’s Jaguar and the entry list was down to 20.

By lap 5 Ricardo Zonta (Jordan), standing in for the sacked Heinz-Harald Frentzen got over-excited and took his front wing off on the rear of an Arrows and promptly retired. 19 cars left.

Schumacher stopped to make sure Burti was ok. (Photo courtesy of Planet-F1 and Bothwell Photographics)

On lap 13, Hakkinen’s luck ran out yet again as he popped another engine, and three laps later Irvine (Jaguar) and Raikkonen (Sauber) appeared together in the pits and executed synchronised retirements. 16 cars left.

Meanwhile, at the front, leader Montoya, setting new lap records all the way, pitted on lap 22, only to have the fuel hose malfunction and he spent over 30 seconds in the pits. His annoyance was only minor compared to two laps later when he too blew an engine, followed by Michael Schumacher stopping with no fuel pressure and Burti sticking the spare Prost into the wall. 13 cars left!

Coulthard’s delight at seeing the championship leader sidelined was to last only a couple of laps, as he too managed to pop another Mercedes engine while way out in the boonies and had to walk home. Marques never in contention Minardi expired in the pits, though this was hardly earth shattering news, Marques having been a solid last place runner all year. 11 cars left.

With 10 laps to go, Trulli’s Honda engined Jordan called it a day, leaving now 10 cars to fight it out to the finish. But Ralf Schumacher was by now a country mile in front of Barichello and Villeneuve and took it easy to score his 3rd GP victory. Behind them the next place getters were anyone who still had cars running, and by this stage a well driven VIA Rentacar Daihatsu Mira would probably have been in the points; however, it was the Benetton’s of Fisichella and Button and Jean Alesi’s Prost that filled the minor placings.

The world championship points are now M. Schumacher 84, Coulthard 47, R. Schumacher 41 and Barrichello 40. With five races left, these are the only drivers who have a mathematical chance of taking outright honours.

After the race, Michael Schumacher had this to say, “At the first start I had a problem with the gear selection. I did not know where to go and when I saw Burti in my mirrors I couldn’t move out of the way. It was a difficult situation but it could have been a lot worse. After the pit stop I had a fuel pressure problem and I had to retire. I am not too disappointed as the situation in the championship remains the same and there is one less race to go. It was a shame not to finish the race and pick up a further six points. Of course I’m very happy for Ralf as this is our home race and it was good to see him win here.”

In the McLaren camp, Ron Dennis said, “An obvious race of attrition and unfortunately we were part of it which makes any prediction of our potential finishing positions quite pointless. As always, though, we win as a team and lose as a team. We will now make good use of the short break in the intensive race schedule to focus on the problems and get some physical recuperation which all of the teams have been looking forward to.” Obviously McLaren are under Union rules these days - One out, All out!

The next GP is in Hungary on the 19th of August.

The Square Ring

by Howie Reed

While on assignment here in the Kingdom I have been visiting a number of “Water Holes” (TQ, Tim’s, Paradise Road, Classroom, Bull’s Eye, Pleasure Dome) to see if there’s a lot of excitement building for the big fights in China. I found Nada, Nothing, Zero and not to mention Zip. Very surprising when you have a heavyweight championship fight with Holyfield. The fight cancelled, so one can say that “Watering Holes” of Pattaya reflect the thinking of the world. The official reason for the cancellation was that “Ruiz hurt is neck and is unable to fight.” He was examined by the Brothers Li. Dr. I B Li and Dr. Me Tu Li. Promoter Don King (whose name in Chinese is “I Li Lot”) was going to stay behind in case the injury mysteriously healed or the departure of the first plane anywhere.

A truly great card featuring Bones Adams (43-3-3)-Paulie Ayala (31-1) for the IBO Super Bantam crown will now have center stage all to itself. That’s backed up by Wladimir “No Heart” Klitschko (36-1) vs. Charles Shufford (17-1). Another fight on the card pretends to be Juan Carlos Gomez (32-0) vs. Al Cole (31-7-2) stepping up to heavyweight but A. Cole is a light heavy and not a very good one.

Those that got up Sunday morning saw Korean Inju Chin try to wrestle the flyweight crown from Erick Moralas but came out on the short end of a 116-111, 117-110, 116-112 decision. The Pattaya Mail had the fight 114-113 for the winner. Chin showed lot of courage and stamina. He should have obtained a moral victory as not only did he have to fight a rejuvenated Morralas but a totally incompetent bumbling referee named Jose Corbin. Roy Jones put on his usual performance with a UD over Julio Gonzales.

Pigs flying! Maybe? Thai southpaw Pongsaklek Singwangcha, 112, kept his WBC flyweight title as he dropped Japanese Hayato Asai like the Elona Gay did in 1945. The challenger from the Rising Sun was down twice in the 4th and once more in the 5th to stop him at 0:47 of the 5th in Nagoya. The 23-year-old Pongsaklek, making his first defense, kept himself aggressive from the outset, stalking the trotting Japanese. “Trotting Japanese?” Thai fighters usually have trouble on the road but “Ponghie” could be the exception.

This is Thailand. An investigation by the Japan Boxing Commission (JBC) found that the boxer who fought in a bid for the OPBF 140-pound title under the name of Singthong Nonthachai in Hiroshima, Japan, on July 2 was actually another Thailander named Pichai Panita, Lumpinee Stadium’s #4 lightweight contender. Therefore, the result should be corrected as Masakazu Satake’s 7th round KO win over Pichai Panita.

Reportedly, a Thai matchmaker who arranged the title bout was in a predicament to see Singthong weigh more than 147 pounds and unable to reduce any more about two weeks before the OPBF title fight in Japan. He urgently contacted Chitalada Gym in Bangkok to look for a substitute for him and asked Pichai Panita to go and fight on his behalf in Japan. “No Problem”, which ought to be the country’s motto.

Anyone that’s driven, walked, trotted or ambled down Second Road has noticed the ‘boxing” ring across from Soi 13. Well, Ray Charles wouldn’t but then he’s not here now. Well it finally opened last week with a full card of free Thai Boxing. The opening night crown was boisterous, loud and had a heck of a good time.

UBC something is showing fights every Thursday Night. The are the FOX Sunday Nite Fights from the week before. Now some would check out the results and then wager “Bob or Two”. Me? Never entered my mind.

Updated every Friday
Copyright 2001  Pattaya Mail Publishing Co.Ltd.
370/7-8 Pattaya Second Road, Pattaya City, Chonburi 20260, Thailand
Tel. 66-38 411 240-1, 413 240-1, Fax: 66-38 427 596

Updated by Chinnaporn Sungwanlek, assisted by Boonsiri Suansuk.
E-Mail: [email protected]