At just 21 years old, Mr Shaji Philip led one of India’s most ambitious railway projects: The 756km-long Konkan Railway Project that began in 1991 and would cross three Indian states, connecting the coastal town of Konkan to the country’s financial centre of Bombay, now known as Mumbai. (changed the distance to be more accurate)
The project took six years to complete and stationed in Bombay, the civil engineer was 1,500km away from his hometown of Kerala – the distance between Singapore and Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam. During the times he felt homesick, he turned to a familiar source of comfort: Cricket.
Now 55 years old and a deputy director with Singapore’s public transport operator SMRT, he is the man behind a cricket league here that provides recreation and a community for migrant workers who are missing home.
Recalling the memories of himself as a young working adult, he said that he was gathering interested colleagues to play the sport that helped alleviate his loneliness, but it was hard to keep up the practice and find players because of his worksite’s remote location from the city in Mumbai.
So he just had to make do with every opportunity that presented itself.
Mr Shaji, who plays the position of bowler during games, said: “As a passionate sportsman, you keep that flame inside you. Wherever, whenever, whatever facility, you will always play.”
The bowler’s role is to throw the ball at the batsman, aiming to hit the stumps behind him and dismiss the player or prevent the defence from scoring.
After completing the Konkan Railway Project, Mr Shaji moved to Singapore in 1997 to work on the construction of the MRT rail network’s North East Line.
The same thing happened when it came to finding a social life away from the job.
At work, he became the “cricket guy”. Colleagues who wanted to play approached him and he formed a team within the Land Transport Authority, his employer then.
In 2007, he founded the Sengkang Cricket League.
He earned the immediate support of Mr Charles Chong, then a Member of Parliament who was familiar with the sport from his time studying in Australia.
What started as eight teams in 2007 have become 104 today.
In 2012, it was renamed the Singapore Social Cricket League that Mr Shaji now leads as president.
News of this league had spread through word of mouth, so migrant workers and white-collared workers formed teams to join.
Right now, it has more than 3,000 players from countries including Bangladesh, England and Sri Lanka.
Two-thirds of the players in the league are migrant workers and Mr Shaji oversees the match schedules.
They play in Sengkang East, a stone’s throw away from Renjong LRT Station, at an open area smaller than a football field.
Rental fees for cricket facilities in clubs can cost S$100 to S$150 a person for half a day, but this field is available to any player who may not be able to keep up the cost of engaging in this recreational activity.
All a player needs is a rubber ball and a S$30 wooden bat to get started.
Mr Shaji said: “My motivation and mission is to give back to society, especially migrant workers who are toiling for Singapore six days a week. We’ll do whatever is needed to help them relax.”
