British Club’s annual visit to Chiang Mai is always a good time to look back on old matches and for recent arrivals to ask about the history of the Dick Wood Cup. Jack Dunford is of course one of the major authorities on the subject and provided some photos from that first visit in 1982 and also reflected on Dick Wood shortly after his death in 2002.
The British Club cricket team played its first match against the Chiang Mai Gymkhana Club on 4th April 1982 and this was also when most of us met “Dick” Wood for the first time. Dick was a delightful ‘old fart’ of his own admission, a relic of a now almost extinct generation of expats who found romance and adventure in a remote and exotic Far East. Dick was the sort of character you would expect to find in any novel featuring sports clubs during colonial times. He could be found sitting on the veranda or at the bar with his drink, wearing his blazer and cap to watch the cricket … happily telling raunchy tales of by-gone days to anyone with the time of day to listen. He was instantly an essential attraction of our wonderful twice-yearly cricket tours to Chiang Mai over the next decade.
Dick loved his cricket and the comradery of cricketers and took a liking to the slightly mad BC team who seemed to enjoy their cricket all the more, the worse we got beaten. In 1983 he presented the DICK WOOD CUP to be played annually between the CMGC and the BC. In his usual lovable, stuffy, old-fashioned way, he insisted that it must be a “proper” cricket match (“none of this 25 over nonsense”), played seriously “in whites”. For many years this game was a highlight of our season and Dick was always on hand to present his trophy to the winners.
At this time no less than 6 members of the British Club General Committee were cricketers. (Ah, … those WERE the days!) and, although Dick had spent most of his time in Chiang Mai and had relatively little involvement with the BC, we unanimously agreed that we should make him an Honorary Member (I believe he was the last BC Honorary Member to be elected and I think it was in 1985 or 1986). Dick was a link to a wonderful bygone era when his sort had established the clubs and traditions that were handed down to us for our enjoyment. I think we would have had him stuffed and mounted as our mascot if only he would have agreed!
BC cricket faltered and the Dick Wood Cup was unplayed for a number of years, much to Dick’s regret. But last year David Sinclare-Jones scratched together half a team of mostly retired BC players and we returned to Chiang Mai once again. Dick’s health was in decline and he warned us that he would only be able to attend for a couple of hours. But of course he loved every minute of it, stayed to the end and presented the trophy. Most of us sat with Dick at various times during the match and were delighted to recall incidents of earlier games and some of the characters we played with. His memory was sharp, his humour intact and, as always, coming through was his sense of fare play and good old-fashioned gentlemanly values.
We all enjoyed the weekend so much that we vowed to try to reinstate this as an annual event and this year we have found a full team of mainly ex-British Club players to return to Chiang Mai on 18/19th January. Dick was delighted that those of us who had enjoyed those 80’s tours were trying to reinstate the fixture and was looking forward to being with us on the 19th when we will play for his trophy.
Sadly Dick will not be there now and we will miss him. But surely his spirit will be with us. We will now be playing the match in his honour. We will enjoy our cricket and our drinks and Dick will feature in many a yarn and reminiscence.
Rest in Peace Dick. You are affectionately remembered by all your friends and we will hopefully go on playing for your trophy for many years to come.
The published obituary for Richard ‘Dick’ Wood also makes interesting reading and we must thank Jack for his efforts over the years to keep this momentous fixture going and for giving us an important history lesson. The life of Dick Wood and the Cup he provided for two Cricket Clubs to play for says a lot about Chiang Mai the historic Chieng Mai Gymkhana Club....
Obituary
Richard Wood
Richard Wood passed peacefully away at the age of 86 in December 2002 in Chiang Mai. He joined the British Club Bangkok on 1 November 1948, but had been in Asia well before that date. He came in Asia in the footsteps of his father who had been in charge of the Chiang Mai District for the Bombay Burmah Trading Corporation from 1889 – 1900 and was also a founder Member of the Chiengmai Gymkhana Club.
Richard was educated in Cambridge where he read “Greats” (Latin and Greek). In 1937 he arrived in Burma as a forest assistant. On the outbreak of the war he was commissioned into Burma Rifles. He served throughout the retreat of 1942 and there after intelligence patrol work on the Chindwin front. He rose to the rank of Major and was awarded a Military Cross and a Mention in Dispatches. He stayed on in Burma after the war with the Burma Frontier Service
In 1948 he joined the forest staff of the Borneo Company and was posted in Chiang Mai.
When the Thai forest were nationalized, he was transferred to East Malaysia where he married Fongklam Nantiwongse. On his retirement in 1965, Dick returned to live out the rest of his life in his beloved Chiang Mai.