Morappakam Josyam Gopalan (6 June 1909 – 21 December 2003) was an Indian sportsman who represented India in cricket and hockey. Gopalan hailed from the village of Morappakam in Chingleput district, some 50 kilometres from Chennai. His family moved to Triplicane in Chennai when he was young. Gopalan was discovered by C. P. Johnstone, one of the founding fathers of Madras cricket. As was his practice with promising players, Johnstone gave him a job in the Burmah Shell. Gopalan soon switched his allegiance to the Triplicane Cricket Club. He owed his fame in local circles mainly to his performances here. He was a fast medium bowler who moved the ball both ways. When he was selected to make his first class debut in the Madras Presidency tournament, it was not a popular decision. The crowd barracked him when he did not take a wicket till lunch on the first day, but he went on to take five wickets in each innings. He also impressed against Arthur Gilligan's MCC team which was touring India at the time. Another performance of some significance were the two matches in 1930 for Madras against the Vizianagram XI which included Jack Hobbs. In the first, Gopalan dismissed Hobbs in both innings; in the second he clean bowled the great man with a leg-cutter that pitched on the leg stump and took the off bail. Against Ceylon in 1933, he took a famous hattrick, the first in Chepauk. This came in his eighth over when he took wickets with his first, third, fourth and fifth balls, hitting the middle stump each time. When Ranji Trophy was inaugurated in 1934, Madras and Mysore (now Tamil Nadu and Karnataka) played the first match. To Gopalan went the honour of delivering the first ball of the tournament. His only Test match was against England at Calcutta in early 1934. Gopalan's hockey career was helped by Robert Summerhayes who was to hockey in Madras what Johnstone was to cricket. In 1935, he toured New Zealand with the Indian hockey team which enjoyed enormous success. The next year he was selected for the cricket team to tour England. It was known beforehand that Gopalan would have a small role to play in the England tour because of the presence of Mohammad Nissar and Amar Singh. He might have been picked in the hockey team for the Berlin Olympics but chose to