The Marine Sports, India’s oldest sports bookstore in Mumbai, established by Bruno Braganza in 1946, is a retail, and service provider of sports books, cricket books, etc. A real institution for cricket fans, it is currently located in Dadar, though started initially in Marine Drive, from where it derives its name.
It is a hole-in-the-wall place with lots of old sports books from around the world, magazines, and other mementoes including bats, stumps, etc. It even publishes books.
Theodore Braganza, the present owner CEO of the bookshop spoke with A.Radhakrishnan about the joys of being a bookstore owner.
Tell me a little about yourself
I was not very fond of sports nor was a voracious reader like my dad. But when he had a second eye operation, he asked me to take over. With a DME from MS University, I was then working for Hindustan Brown Boveri at Baroda (now Vadodara).
But having got to know a lot of cricketers through Sunil Gavaskar, a regular visitor, I found the trade enjoyable and so I joined my Dad in 1972. I did two short-term courses in Bookselling and Publishing and also did a short term course in Publishing in England. I continue to take books to cricket matches, chess tournament and other sporting events and have visited almost every sports institute in the country.
How did the book store get its name Marine Sports?
My father Bruno Braganza started Marine Sports in 1946 in the Dhobi Talao area as a sports equipment dealer and named it after the area.
As an insatiable reader, he used to go to sports meets and found a demand for rule books, and began importing them. The first title he imported from England was 12 copies of the Athletic Official Guide, and managed to sell one copy. Y. A. Gole, the Secretary of the Athletic Association bought all the remaining eleven copies for a pretty big sum of Rs 10!
Buoyed by the first success, he imported the Football Referees Chart and later MCC Laws of Cricket, which took off tremendously. From 1946 to 1956, he kept both sports goods and the books.
So how did the idea for the switch to only sports books come up?
Unfortunately, 10 years later, in 1956, he had to vacate his premises as sub tenant and move to Dadar, which was something of a cricket hub then. Those were tough times but he kept the shop going. The new premises being small, he realised that catering to sports books got a far better clientele than goods.
Attending Athletic Meets pan India generated good business and also helped him build a contact list for a mail order business. Soon he went to cricket matches, chess and bridge tournaments and his network and staff grew.
Around this time Dr. Kanga Memorial Library was started by the Bombay Cricket Association (BCA) at the Brabourne Stadium and Homi Contractor, its secretary, ordered all sports books in multiples. Major cricket Associations were contacted and many sports libraries were set up and business flourished. Meanwhile, local publishers approached us and we marketed books published in India and started an export trade for Indian books.
British publishers too approached us to market and distribute their sports books like Wisden Cricketers’ Almanac, Playfair Cricket Annual and several other annuals. In the 60s when cricket magazines were booming, we handled the distribution of The Indian Cricket Field – Annual co-edited by Dicky Rutnagar and Anandji Dossa.
Marine Sports thus created a mind space for a whole generation of sports fans, players, young journalists and officials.
How many footfalls per day?
Our footfalls were very high in the 60s and 70s, close to 100, but today our business is by mail and we get 40 to 50 orders daily. Less individuals visit the store in search of books nowadays. Most will head to some mega shop. But they keep only current best-sellers. However, there is a certain allure to simply leafing through books without any particular intention. In many respects, you frequently learn about topics you were unaware of. However Marine Sports has a wide variety, new and old, well-known and little-known.
Bookstores continue to struggle; will they always be around?
Bookstores do struggle and some very good ones have closed. Fortunately our specialisation helped us survive. There are only three such booksellers in the world and we are the oldest.
Survival, though, isn’t easy. The core audience has changed as well.
Before the 1970s, there were books, then there were videos, and now we are in the digital age. With rising prices, buyers have become selective and it is a surprise that technical and instructional books like umpiring; about the rules of the game or even technique are outselling biographies. And there’s always demand for Don Bradman’s The Art of Cricket – a manual on how to play cricket – Bradman style.
We reprint and distribute books to institutes and dealers; and buy and sell rare sports books.
What do you enjoy most about being a bookseller? What are skills needed?
The greatest pleasure I derive is to cater to the mental development of sportsmen, and satisfy their needs and assist them in their growth.
Just passion for books and reading.
At one time it was finance, today it is number of readers.
How do you manage to stay relevant in the market?
Recently we added a second-hand section. We buy big and small collections. Marketing becomes easy as single copies are sold, margins are better too and we can depend on the rarity and demand.
What do you think makes a great book? Describe your personal reading preferences.
It has to be written with passion and be frank, bold and share experience, skill and inputs from the heart.
I love Cardus, though I enjoy Arlott, Fingleton and in recent times Gideon Haigh. I enjoyed Gavaskar’s Sunny Days. It wasn’t very popular when it was initially printed, but it has since persevered and grown into a classic. I see a lot of fathers come in and buy the same books that they had once read, for their sons to read. Seeing it gives me hope for a small shop like
mine, which is encouraging.
Your publications?
We published several books including one on C. K. Nayudu, Sachin Tendulkar and 1983 World Cup and a book on the 75th Anniversary of the Brabourne Stadium.
Do you invite authors for a book signing at your shop?
We used to do that earlier, but when readership dropped, we avoided as it became very embarrassing.
Famous sportspersons who have visited your bookstore?
It was a different time period; there was no internet or television, and
listening to radio commentary wasn’t the best way to understand the game.As a result, practically every decent cricket player would head straight for Gokhale Road in Dadar West to our bookstore.
Cricketers and other sportspersons have always visited our store. Vijay Merchant, Sunil Gavaskar, Sachin Tendulkar, Vinod Kambli, Dilip Vengsarkar, Bishan Singh Bedi, P.R. Mansingh, Sanjay Jagdale, Raju Mukerji, Joaquim Carvalho, Jal Pardivala, to name a few.
Gavaskar, a regular visitor, before any match, would read up on his opponents. Once, before leaving for Australia, he asked me for a book which was sold out. In those days books were imported by sea as airmail was costly. Dad refused to order just one copy. But I insisted as I felt it would make a positive contribution to Gavaskar’s growth. Finally, when we got the book, I realised why he wanted it. It contained articles on Lillee and Thomson and techniques to face them.
I realised then that Marine Sports was developing sports through books and helping sportspersons mentally develop themselves. Actually, we were more than just another business!
On Sundays, when Kanga League matches were cancelled, instead of resigning to another day cooped up at home, waiting for the rain to end, Gavaskar dragged all his team mates from Dadar Union to my bookstore. Even today if in the city, he sneaks in – carefully making sure that he isn’t facing the door, so that no one recognises him. In a similar
manner, Bishen Singh Bedi would frequently stop by while en route to
the airport.
Chatting with me about the old days; their eyes would scan the shelves filled with sports books. Every once in a while, they would pick out a book and read – comfortable in the knowledge that no one will trouble them here. During the 1980s, prior to their getting star status,
Sanjay Manjrekar and Sachin Tendulkar would stop by in search of videos. My people in England and Australia would record matches and then send me a copy immediately. I catered to a much-specialised audience.
How do you handle customer complaints or negative feedback?
We strive to satisfy the customer the most, even at a loss. Money is insubordinate to keeping the relationship alive. Many a times we have given books free to institutes, club, libraries, helping boost the appetite of the readers. Since I live just three buildings away from the bookstore, I oblige the customer anytime and, on all days, if I am around.
What next?
The journey of Marine Sports will go on, till a successor takes over.
Contact details:
Whatsapp/Email 9323421282, theobraganza@gmail.com