SRI LANKA A.F.L.MISSION

by Desmond Kelly “the Star of eLanka”

On the 4th of February, 2017, our 69th anniversary of Independence, at around 8.20 pm, the State of Victoria’s political reporter of the Melbourne Herald Sun, Tom Minear sat down to write what he probably thought would be the “scoop” of the week, in that it was a “story on Sri Lanka”& a Sri Lankan.

As fate would have it, the “Social Media” right now, is in the doldrums . ALL Newspapers are “doing it tough”. There is no need however to “flash” a big, heart-rending “HEADLINE” that went something like this.

“VICTORIAN M.P.JUDE PERERA
SPENT TAXPAYERS’ MONEY ON
ILL-FATED SRI LANKAN A.F.L.
MISSION.”

At first glance, people reading this will think, naturally, oh no! , not again. Another “Pollie” using taxpayers’ money! , Sri Lankans will start to crawl under the bed, but, hang on, folks, & hang on, Tom, IT WAS, INDEED,
AN ILL-FATED MISSION. Had Jude Perera been successful in this mission, would he have “earned” the same Headline, congratulating him on introducing Aussie-Rules Football to Lanka? , not on your Nellie,
Kelly. Other State, Federal, & Polly-wolly-doodles have spent “oodles” of taxpayer dollars for absolutely bloody nothing at all(as they say, in Australia). Jude Perera, who has been an Australian Citizen for many long years & served as an M.P. in his area for decades, wanted to bring the greatest game in the World to his birthplace because, thus far “Cricket” has ruled the roost. He wanted to PROMOTE AUSTRALIA’S FAMOUS GAME and he did try, but because of disinterest in Lanka ( they still prefer their cricket, I suppose), he failed. Also, Tom, you might have deferred your “scoop” until all of the.details of Jude’s trip were available for scrutiny.

I well remember that, as a school-boy at St.Peter’s College in 1950, at most lunch-times we would play a game similar to Aussie-Rules, using a tennis ball to pass on to each other as we ran helter skelter on the big “quadrangle” in the centre of the College grounds.
We didn’t make this game up. It was quite possible that someone had heard of, or seen “Aussie.-Rules football of that era and had, in turn, introduced the game to us.
AUSSIE-RULES is a superb game and it is a shame that those who were interviewed by Jude in Lanka have, so far, shown little or no interest in promoting the game over there. It would have been a huge success.

Congratulations Jude Perera. As a previous tax-payer myself, I could not possibly expect you to “dip into your own pocket” to travel to Lanka to do what you wanted to do. As I always say, the fact that you failed was not your fault. You “win some & you lose some”. Keep going & should your intentions be always honest & true, I’ll close now, saying “good luck to you”.

Desmond Kelly
“Star of eLanka”