Derek Johannes (WCG Life member and ex-chairman) recounts the early years when WCG was still forming and evolving. He shares some of the initial struggles the founding members of the Gymkhana went through to set up all the facilities we currently enjoy.
Prior to 1971 the Gym was very small and had very few members. Activities consisted basically of cards and billiards and very few families visited the facility. In 1971 Ivor Martin decided to come in and change the Gym. They needed money to build a wall around the Gym as there was only had a hedge and were worried that the slums would take over part of the land. Ivor went from door to door asking people to become life members at RS 250. He needed about 100 members to cover the cost of the wall. I joined because he sold the idea to us. Both Mike Saldhana and I became life members.
This was the first move to rebuild the GYM. We finally had a wall with a gate; however Ivor Martin got busy with his work and had to drop out of further initiatives. This then sent the gym into an era which we would like to forget. Between the year1976 – 1979 there were no elections held and no accounts done. We lost the municipal ground and the Trustees gave it up. It was in September 1979 that late one night I got a knock on the door. It was Victor and Ivor and they came by as they wanted me to join them in reviving the gym. I accepted as the strategy was going to be focus on sports to bring credibility back to the organization. That meeting was very stormy and heated and the current committee was voted out and Ivor Martin came in as Chairman and Victor D’Mello as General Secretary. I came in as Sports Secretary and Rudy Fernandes came in as Entertainment Secretary. There were only 9 members at that crucial time and many of them like Johnny Mathias, Kenneth Britto, and Hall Lopez are no more. All played a significant role in reviving the gym. We had our first Diwali dance in Oct 1979 and were marking buttons as most of the previous shows had been a flop as people did not want to come to the Gym owing to the fights that always occurred at the end of a dance. That show was a success and we made a profit of Rs. 5000. This amount helped us to have shows for Christmas and we made more money.
We were the first to start the rink hockey in the suburbs and had all the top Bombay teams come and play. We ran football, basketball and athletic meets and had coaching camps and slowly parents started sending their kids to the club for various sports activities. In the early eighties we increased the life membership fees to RS 500 and then a year later to 1000. Very soon we moved it up to 10,000 and by the late eighties to Rs 25000. Manuel Menezes had just retired as chairman of the railway board and he came in as Chairman. It was only because of his influence with the railways were we given permission to build and in the first phase the cafeteria on the first floor was built. We had the hall above the cafeteria which was named after Mr Moraes who was the editor of the Indian Express. We used to have our talent contests out there and all the musical functions and plays.
In the late eighties we decided on having a swimming pool and do the squash and badminton court. The swimming pool came in for a lot of resistance and there was a group that did not want it as they felt the pool was for the rich and we were a middle class community. We worked very hard to get members to come in and vote and we managed to win by just a few votes. That same year Bandra Gym general body turned down their swimming pool proposal and we got a number of their members who wanted a pool. In June of 1995 Manuel Menezes died of cancer and I got thrown into that post. Nobody wanted the position as it was a hot seat. We had no occupation certificate and were illegally occupying the building. I hardly came in and things began to crumble. Victor D’Mello died and the Gym got slammed with the wall being broken down by the municipality and a major threat that half the land had to be given back as a setback which would cut into the tennis courts and swimming pool. We decided to go to the press and plead our case using the sports front. Since I knew most of the press they came along for the press conference and we got some great publicity. We also had some influential people who helped us with getting a stay order. The Municipal Commissioner was a sports person so he met Franky and myself and helped us. We were told that we would have to pay 50 lacs in bribes but we never paid a rupee thanks to this honest govt official. We also got our occupation certificate and then went on to build the health club and the hall which is above the badminton court.
Come 2001, I got moved out to the U.S. and there my story ends. 1979 we started with Rs 3000 in the bank account and in 2001 we had over 8 crores in our bank account!!!! Plus, the building the swimming pool and the sports facilities.
Quite an achievement!
When people work with a passion and not look for anything in return the results can be astonishing. The challenge now is how to maintain and take it forward without getting destructive as the current generation have not seen the toil sweat and tears that went into creating the Gym.
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