PARAMARIBO — In two weeks the sports world has been hit by the deaths of two people who meant a lot. It is possible that the names mean little or nothing to the younger generations, but Errol Ernest John Stuger and Sydney Joseph Monticeuex have been invaluable to the development of Surinamese sport in the 1970s and beyond.
As men from the very beginning, they were very active within the Foundation for the Development of Sports in Suriname (Sosis; founded on June 29, 1963) in its heyday with, among others, Willebrod Axwijk (director from 1970 to 1982, after whom the sports center was later named), Lesley Rogers and Hugo Ment.
“As chairman of the indoor football committee, Errol Stuger managed the competitions with a strict hand for years”
Stuger especially had a big hand in the development of indoor football. After the sport was introduced by Dick Staphorst in 1973, the first indoor football competition in Suriname was organized in January 1977 on the initiative of Stuger and Monticeuex. The organization was in the hands of the Sosis. 28 teams participated: seven juniors and 21 seniors.
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Hard worker
Ment, with whom Stuger studied together at the sports training of the CIOS (Central Institute for Sports Leaders) in the Netherlands and later worked together at Sosis, calls him ‘Mister Indoor Football’. In an in memoriam Ment describes his good life mati as “serious, fanatical, disciplined, a hard worker, funny, principled and stubborn as hell”.
In 1972, Stuger and Ment returned to Suriname. “For ten years he was a highly respected, disciplined and hardworking colleague. As chairman of the futsal committee, he managed the competitions with a strict hand for years. He rightly worked his way up to ‘Mister Futsal’ in Suriname and years ago received a well-deserved award from the futsal association,” Ment writes.
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From Guyana to Suriname
Monticeuex has made a name for himself in (cycling) sports both in his native Guyana and in Suriname, where he migrated to. He has been one of the tireless driving forces behind cycling in Suriname for many years. The Sydney Monticeuex Race named after him, usually celebrated on or around his birthday on May 6, had a permanent place on the national cycling calendar for many years and was the grani for his work.
Even in his old age he could still be found on his bicycle. Not strange for someone who, at the age of thirteen, found work at Fernandes in Guyana and started working in the bicycle department. His first experience was not on a bicycle, but on a motorcycle, with which he immediately became champion in Guyana.
He then started cycling at the age of fifteen. Three years later he rode for the first time in Paramaribo on the cinder track in the Suriname Stadium and was repeatedly attracted by the Surinamese Cycling Federation/union to settle in Suriname.
When he finally decided to switch after years, he initially came for a few months, but it became a permanent stay. He later joined Sosis, where top players such as Walter Brathwaite and Humbert Boerleider worked.
He was passionate and committed to the sport. He also contributed his strength to Sosis and later Sports and Youth Affairs for many years, including during the Inter-Guyanese Games, which were only completed in Suriname. Monticeuex received a state award years ago for his efforts.
‘End of match’
Stuger moved to the Netherlands in the early eighties, but subsequently came to Suriname more often. Born on August 20, 1947, he died quite unexpectedly in Haarlem on October 24 at the age of 79. He was cremated on November 2.
Monticeuex, born as the eldest in a family of four children in Guyana on May 6, 1942, died on November 7, two weeks after his former friend and former colleague, at the age of 84 after a short illness. It is not yet known when the funeral will take place.
