Right of reply

I am sorry to note that Tita Natanielsz continues using the print media, namely The Sunday Times and the Daily Mirror, to make disparaging remarks about me, all of which have no factual justification.

1) When Tita's Nathanielsz first article on the subject appeared in the Daily Mirror of Wednesday 25th October, he incorrectly reported that I had given Mithun Perera a walkover in my match against him the previous week-end and added that it was for “unknown reasons”.

2) I telephoned him immediately but perhaps suspecting my reasons for calling, said he would call back later. He returned the call only the next day and immediately apologized for his mistaken report, blaming it on his informant, whose name, by the way, is still unknown!

3) My response was that it was no use apologizing after the damage had been done, not by his mistake, but by the implication contained in his remark; "for unknown reasons”! I suggested that a call to me, verifying the story would have avoided this mistake but he scoffed at that and said he didn’t have the time to come looking for or checking with me.

4) My first email to the RCGC on 26th October, immediately following this conversation was as follows;
“…. Tita Nathanielsz had in his article on the club championship, stated that Mithun Perera was given a walk-over by Nirmal Hettiaratchy for "unknown reasons". Not only was this a complete falsehood of what actually transpired in that I played my match with Mithun and was not surprisingly well beaten, but the implication behind his remark, is not only irresponsible but downright mischievous! As you know, the numbers of entries for the Club Championship are limited and players of our handicap category play only to fill in the numbers knowing full well that the chances of our going the full distance are extremely remote! Some of us still participate and lose either in the first or second rounds, giving the better players a chance of some practice for the tougher games ahead of them from the quarter finals onwards….
And that, as far as I was concerned, was the end of the matter.

5) However, to my surprise and dismay, in his Sunday Times article of over 10 days later on 5th November, he writes on the same subject of my giving a walkover and inter alia, said the following;
“....Many felt strongly that severe penalties must be imposed for these disgusting lapses. This stems from a few non appearances at recent competitions and the latest walk-over by Nirmal Hettiaratchy to Mithun Perera. This was an absolute dislocation of a prestigious event, even though the excuse may have been logical and acceptable. At one table of four, a wag pronounced that “invariably the player giving the walk-over does so for fear of being embarrassingly thrashed by a much stronger opponent”....

6) I received many calls and emails after this second article expressing surprise at my giving a walkover and I thus brought it up again with a second email to the RCGC, which read as follows;
“.... I was sad and dismayed to read this mornings article in The Sunday Times, carrying the same misinformation a good week and a half after I had personally informed Mr. Tita Nathanielsz, that he had made a mistake in saying that I had given a walk-over. This time around he has sought to belittle and humiliate me in public, just because I pointed out to him his error and irresponsible reporting.... The RCGC responded to this email, which was published by you, the heading of which was “Nathanielsz misreading your readers”.

7) Subsequently, he writes once again in The Sunday Times of 19th November with a tongue in the cheek correction about how badly I was beaten and that when he called to apologize, he received an undignified response. There was more in The Daily Mirror of 23rd November and again, fictitious members at the 19th hole are brought into substantiate his scurrilous and nasty innuendoes and accusations.

8) I have not spoken to or seen Tita Nathanielsz after that initial dialogue on 26th October and cannot comprehend his attitude unless he is indeed “all knowing and beyond reproach”. It is also strange that he says he does not know me as we served on the committee of the club for one full year when he was President and I was the Ground Secretary. He had, on more than one occasion, written glowing reports of my stewardship in that capacity.

9) Readers would have noted that in none of these reports/letters, including the one appearing above is there the promised unconditional apology. I just felt it was necessary for me to give you the accurate facts surrounding the sequence of events so tha your readers can form their own opinion of who indeed, has been “rude, crude and undignified”! I have no real ill feelings about Mr. Nathanielsz who, after all is the same age my father would have been, had he been alive.

I wish however he will leave me alone and find some bigger fish to fry while verifying his stories so that unpleasantness such as in this case can be avoided in the future.