Caribbean News, Cricket

EULOGY FOR RUNAKO: A FRIEND AND COMRADE IN CRICKET

The Late Runako Morton

My friends and fellow mourners, it is said that the good die young.  It is so in the case of Runako Morton.

His life might have been troubled.  His career might have been threatened.  However, his heart was always in the right place.  He was acknowledged by all as a really kind and helpful person. His loyalty to his friends was legendary.  When he got into trouble it was almost always because he was fighting someone else’s battle.  It is true that he was one of those young men who kept pushing the tolerance limits but over the past year especially he sought to retake possession of his own destiny and to win back the support of those who were finally losing patience with him.

However, to all of us who knew him, his team-mates, his friends, Runako Morton was selfless.  He might not have been the ideal person, but he loved his family and his friends as much as he loved his cricket.  There are times when he failed us all but we never gave up on him.  He had a caring side to his personality that helped to provide balance even when his life could have been better.  He always tried, not always successfully, to be the best he could be and, to me, that is what really counts in the end.  Circumstances might have sometimes backed him into a corner but his will to survive and succeed was his saving grace.  I can say, in his case, that he was a friend, faithful and just to me. 

WIPA as an organization helped Runako in his darkest days.  It is ironic that just as his future prospects brightened, his life ended – too soon perhaps and maybe too abruptly.  However, God’s will be done and destiny’s train is out of our control.   Runako was always a servant of God.  In the last few months, when many of the institutions he served and the people he befriended turned away from him and his state of mind was not as peaceful as it should be, Runako once more put his faith and trust wholly and solely in God.  He had tried to turn his life around and was finding that the path to the future passes through the Church.

Runako’s story is a lesson to all of us who are, or have been, professional sportsmen.  There are many temptations, many dangers and many who would seduce you and cause you to betray yourself, your game, your country and your ideals.  There are some who would succumb.  The flesh is weak and sometimes when the spirit is low, we give in to temptation.

There is also a heavy weight of expectations that every sportsman representing his country or the West Indies carries.  Much is expected of us – sometimes, too much.  When we are doing well, we have the adulation of the crowd.  When we fail, the burden of our own failure is made worse by the public anger that is sometimes directed at us.  We go through the whole cycle – from hero to zero – from celebration to crucifixion – in our sporting careers.  This rapid change in the way the public perceives us is not easy to manage if the rest of your life is in turmoil.

However, we believe that although there are times Runako may have strayed off the straight and narrow path, he should never have been written off by those for whom he played and those he represented. 

I ask, “Did Christ castigate the wayward sheep?”  I ask again, “Did the father kick out the prodigal son?”  No.  A friend in need is not an orange that you throw away after you squeeze all the nutrition out of it.  A friend in need is a friend indeed. 

Runako’s story, in his own words to me the Friday before his death, was that after his problem with the law he could count on two hands the number of people who had anything to say to him.  He played cricket for several organisations all of which were significantly absent when he needed them and when they felt that they no longer needed his cricketing skills. 

It is to the credit of Bruce Aanensen and Queen’s Park Cricket Club, and to WIPA and his fellow cricketers, that we all rallied around him when all the other influences on his cricket were noticeably missing.

The irony is that Runako and his friend Tonito Willet were due to be cleared of the charges laid against them.  Had Runako lived, he would once more have been able to resume his regional and international career.  I was expecting a legal advisory which I was sending to the TTCB and the Ministry of Sports on his behalf.  I know that he still had a lot left in him as a cricketer.

My friends, none of us here today is perfect.  My friends, none of us here today is without sin.  My friends, Runako was wounded to the core by those who were his friends and who found him guilty without a trial and who condemned him without due process.

My friends, Runako needed help and many of those who made much of him when he was on top of the cricketing world, deserted him when he was down and in need of support.  He is not here to see all the tributes now pouring in but had he been here he would have shaken his head in sadness.  Where were they all when he needed them?  Where were they?

I want us all here today to remember the lesson of Runako Morton.  The lives of those who play cricket or any other sport professionally have their ups and downs, their trials and tribulations.  Amidst the moments of glory are episodes of uncertainty and self-doubt.  From the heights of success there are those of us who descend into the depths of despair.

Runako is now in the valley of the shadow of death dependent on none but his Creator for his final salvation.  Though some abandoned him, he is safe and secure in the hands of the Almighty. Even as we mourn him we need to remember his wife and his beautiful children who survive him.  They need our help and support and WIPA pledges its assistance. We will do whatever we can to assist.

Runako, my friend and brother, my comrade in cricket, rest in peace.        

As Martin Luther King said, “Free at last!”  My friend Runako is free at last.

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