The year of

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The year of the Lam

By Atama Raganivatu

season for Sydney City Roosters in the Winfield Cup, rugby league’s toughest domestic competition; played a major role in Queensland’s surprise State of Origin series success over New South Wales; been voted top halfback at the World Cup in England and become a national hero in

Png.

One only slightly-flippant Port Moresby journalist told Lam, after he trav elled to the country of his birth recently, “Adrian, rugby league is a religion in this nation. And you, my friend, are God.” It takes visitors to PNG very little time to realise this assessment of Lam’s status there is very near the truth. His face can be

seen everywhere - on advertisement

hoardings for meat, cigarettes, apparel and

petrol; on poker machines; on potato chip packets and on best-selling calendars. He is almost as omnipresent on local radio and television.

Adrian, though, is not the only family member to achieve fame. PNG prime min ister Sir Julius Chan is a distant relative and his father, Fred Lam, was once known as “The Elvis Presley of P N G”!

Fred is still remembered in PNG as the lead singer of a group called “The Tremors”. Although based in Rabaul, they

were immensley popular throughout the

country and released several hit records.

Papua New Guinea rugby league cap

tain Adrian Lam could have been forgiven if he celebrated New Year with less enthusiasm than most. Not that he had any philosophical or religious rea sons for failing to enter into the spirit of the occasion; just that Lam would have been reluctant to see 1995 end.

When the year began, Lam’s career appeared to be going nowhere. He was

playing reserve gradefootball in Sydney

and second-fiddle to Aquila Emil in the PNG national selection.

Since then, Lam has enjoyed a superb

Seeking to further his musical career, Fred moved with his immediate family, includ ing then infant Adrian, to Brisbane in the early 1970’s and it was at the Queensland capital that the younger Lam first dis played his considerable sporting talents.

He helped Wests win the Brisbane Rugby League Premiership in 1992 and 1993 and also gained a place in the Australian national touch football team.

However, Winfield Cup clubs were slow in displaying interest in him and, in Australia, the Winfield Cup was the only club com

petition that really mattered.

The Roosters made a tentative move to bring Lam into the big time in 1991, before deciding that they preferred New Zealand international Gary Freeman as their half back. Three years were to pass before the Bondi Beach based club again approached him. Within 24 hours of receiving their second call, he had moved to Sydney.

The initial few months in Australia’s largest city and rugby league’s greatest hotbed were not easy, though. It took Lam a full season to win a regular place in the Roosters’ first team line-up but, once that had been achieved, he made momentous strides.

Lam stepped into the Queensland shoes of the great Alan Langer, who had been discarded after aligning himself with the

outlaw Super League organisation, when

“The Maroons” met New South Wales in the 1995 State of Origin series. He was a revelation; playing brilliantly in all three games of the series. The northerners achieved a rare clean sweep and Lam won the Man of the Match accolade after the final encounter.

October saw Lam gain further Man of the Match awards for both PNG’s games at the World Cup in England - their draw with Tonga and unlucky defeat by New Zealand. What is more, he was named as the tournament’s top halfback. 5000 people greeted the PNG team at

Port Moresby airport as they returned

home from their Cup expedition. While leading the team he had captained down to the tarmac, Lam was almost overwhelmed by the fans’ noisy welcome.

Lam has a following in PNG that only pop superstars can dream of elsewhere.

When in his home nation, he can anticipate

being continuously contacted by admirers

just wishing to speak to him and, if travel ling by car, it is essential for him to lie

down on the back seat, for the vehicle would be immediately swarmed should he

be recognised.

Lam is beloved not only because of his playing ability, but also due to his dedica tion to PNG rugby league. He has turned down opportunities to be involved with the national teams of Australia and Britain (his mother’s birthplace) to continue wearing the Kumuls’ jersey and believes time will prove that he made wise decisions.

“I choose to play for my country because I am certain we are on our way up,” he said recently. “The squad which travelled to the World Cup learnt a lot in England and there are many promising

young players coming through, including

some based in Australia who will be much keener to represent the Kumuls after we played so well last October.”

Time will indeed tell whether or not Lam’s faith in PNG rugby league is justi fied. Even if it is not, he has at least proved the country is capable of producing a play er of the highest calibre and that is itself a very important milestone.

Lam’s immediate future is as difficult to predict as PNG’s long-term prospects.

The Roosters have just added John Simon, a NSW representative halfback, to their playing staff and he has pledged to oust Lam from his favourite position.

Lam is equally resolved in his determi nation to keep the halfback spot, although there is considerable speculation in

Sydney rugby league circles that Roosters

coach Phil Gould will switch him to hook er - a position he loathes. The PNG has

rejected the soft option offered by

Queensland Crushers, who attempted to bring him back to Brisbane. Lam would have been virtually free to dictate his own terms had the Crushers’ overtures been successful.

Most observers believe that Simon enjoys an edge in tackling and positional kicking, but Lam proved at the World Cup he has no peers in organisational ability,

passing and making territorial gains with

his hallmark darting runs.

One thing can be guaranteed however.

Irrespective of what number is on the back of his jumper during the coming season, Adrian Lam will have immense difficulty in capping his feats of 1995. ■