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With the World Cup only a few weeks away, hockey fans want all controversies resolved at the earliest and India to regain its lost glory, writes Prabhjot Singh It could not have been worse. Most of the participating nations in the 2010 World Cup have already named their squads but the hosts, India, instead of taking advantage of the home pitch and crowd and other factors, have been rocked by avoidable controversies, inordinate delays in decision-making and, above all, total apathy on the part of all those responsible for administering the sport in the country. Indian hockey, because of its accomplishments in its 82-year-old history of triumphs and failures in international competitions, has thousands of knowledgeable fans worldwide. As everyday a new unsavoury controversy erupts, this strong fan-base has been left wondering whether we still have it in us or not. Can we put behind all these controversies and present to the world a glimpse of what we were and what we can be in this sport? True, controversies are nothing new to Indian hockey. Even when India were the undisputed world champions, player-federation conflicts were frequent. There were also conflicts or controversies between the federation and the Central government over issues pertaining to the holding of camps, sponsorship for participation abroad, appointment of coaches, constitution of selection committees as well as continuation of civil servants in federations as office-bearers for terms exceeding those prescribed in guidelines issued from time to time.
If one looks at the history of the Indian hockey as an independent observer, one can divide the administration of the sport in the country in two categories, one, where the control remained with the people, who were in a position to hire and fire players, and two, where those in power had the money and influence but no background in the sport. For a larger period, the control of hockey remained with the police and, needless to say, most of our national players used to come from the police, especially Punjab Police or Border Security Force. Once the police monopoly was broken, there came on the scene a South Indian businessman-cum-race course enthusiast, Dr M. A. M. Ramaswamy. But since he was not well versed with the game, its ethos and those dominating it, he could not make an impact and the control of the game returned to a retired police officer — Inder Mohan Mahajan. It was Mahajan, who, as president, played host to the 1981-82 World Cup Hockey Tournament in Mumbai. That was the first time India had organised this prestigious event. Unfortunately, India failed to make it to the semi-finals because of a late second half goal by Australia in their last pool match. A draw would have carried India through. Then a new force arrived on the national hockey scene, the Indian Airlines. A.V. Prasad of Indian Airlines was then the natural choice to be the next chief. Again Prasad was in a position to hire and fire like Ashwani Kumar. Prasad paved way for K. P. S. Gill, again from the police and the Hockey Federation came under his control when he was at the fag-end of his career. But right from 1928, players vs federation conflicts have continued unabated, though many of these conflicts never became public because of the tight administrative controls and limited media exposure. If one looks back, the players have always got a raw deal from the federation. There has been a reason for it. Hockey players mostly belonged to the lower middle class. Police head constables and constables, besides sepoys, havildars and subedars in the Army, constituted the main core of our national teams. Because of their accomplishments in the sport, some of these players rose to become the Deputy Inspector-General of Police (Balbir Singh, Punjab Police) while many others progressed through ranks to retire as Superintendents of Police or at best as Sub-Majors in the Army. There were exceptions like those who got into officers’ cadre in the Army and rose to the rank of Brigadier like H. J. S. Chimni, while Jaswant Singh, Gurmit Singh Kular, Harcharan Singh, Haripal Kaushik and Balbir Singh (Services) retired as Colonels. Balbir Singh Senior, though from police, was shifted to the Sports Department and retired as Director. But there are not many such examples where hockey players could get anywhere near what their counterparts in other sports, especially cricketers, reached. I remember in 1975, when I interviewed World Cup probables at Panjab University, Chandigarh, I was told that there were only three gazetted officers in the team — Ajit Pal, Harcharan Singh and H. J. S. Chimni. The rest came from non-gazetted cadres. In the initial years, players were reluctant to air their demands till about 20 years ago when the new generation of players started asserting their right to allowances and match fee. This was a sequel to the flow of a huge amount of money to the coffers of the federation from sponsorship, including TV channels. Starting in mid-1990s, Doordarshan initiated a plan where it offered to cover finals of all major grade-I tournaments held in India by paying a huge amount to the Indian Hockey Federation (IHF). The federation then decided to offer cash money to those teams ending on the medal podium. Since organisers of grade-I tournaments either received no money or less than what was promised to them, the experiment fizzled out after a couple of years. The federation, however, got all its money from Doordarshan. Once Doordarshan started covering all major hockey tournaments, sponsorships from industrial and business houses started pouring in. It certainly alerted players and they intensified their demand for match fee and a share in sponsorship money. It was during this period that players’ movement got conceptualised and the Hockey Players Association of India with Pargat Singh as its founder-president was formed. It received instant acceptability as most of the national players at that time and others joined this body. But since Pargat did not stay for long in the team afterwards, the body died a natural death. But an awakening had been ignited and players like Jude Felix, Mukesh Kumar and Dhanraj Pillay carried forward the torch and continued to confront the IHF officials by raising the demand for better perks, match fee and a share in sponsorship money. It was because of this persistence in demand that the IHF, probably under pressure from its main sponsor Sahara, decided to share a part of the logo money and started paying Rs 25,000 per month to the players. Initially, Sahara made this payment directly to the players as Dhanraj Pillay, the then Indian skipper, was considered close to the top bosses of the Sahara Parivar. But once Dhanraj decided to quit the game, the federation insisted on disbursing this money to players. That proved to be the end of road for players as they did not get anything afterwards. Another ray of hope was rekindled for players when the concept of Premier Hockey League (PHL) became a reality and players started getting some money for playing in the elite league. This provided them with some respite. But since the IHF management continued to work indifferently, the PHL did not get the anticipated number of sponsors and it also folded up. Unfortunately, during all these years, Indian teams, too, did not perform that well, both at home and abroad. Failures continued to pile on as the hockey squad failed to qualify for the Asian Games medal round, followed by the team’ failure to qualify for the 2008 Beijing Olympic games. For the first time in 80 years, the popularity of the sport reached rock bottom. It was at this stage that even the International Hockey Federation (FIH) got worried over developments in the Indian Hockey Federation. It then started a special mission for reviving or rebuilding Indian hockey. Appointment of Richard Charlesworth was a part of this programme. It was, however, resisted by the Hockey Federation more than even the inhospitable Sports Authority of India. A man, who volunteered to come to India as a great friend of hockey, went back fuming. India, under pressure from the FIH, ultimately agreed to have a foreign coach, Jose Brasa from Spain, the country to which the FIH chief J. Negre belongs. Whether this step will help the Indian hockey or not is the million-dollar question? As of now, the major worry is timely completion of work at the National Stadium, the venue for the World Cup. Synthetic surfaces are still to be laid there. How much time the home team gets to practice there also remains a mute question. It takes time to adjust to a brand new synthetic turf. Being the host, India should have ensured timely completion of work at the venue and shifted its last camp there. With the World Cup just a few weeks away, hockey fans want all the controversies resolved at the earliest and India to regain its lost glory. Good luck, Hockey India. |
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Subversive controversies marring elections to the unified Hockey India, incomplete stadia and national players alleging a step-motherly treatment sum up the dismal scenario just six weeks before India holds the prestigious World Cup.
