7 reasons why Hockey India is not right for Indian Hockey

Once hailed as the messiah of Indian Hockey, Hockey India has turned out to be the bane of the national sport, for the organization has proven incapable of even carrying out its very basic duties. True to Indian hockey tradition, Hockey India made numerous promises but failed to deliver any of them. Since its inception in the year 2009, Hockey India has done more harm than good to the sport in the country.

Here are top 7 reasons which clearly suggest why Hockey India is not the right board for Indian Hockey.

1. No central contract/salary/dues for the playersOne of the first things that Hockey India promised after being declared as the NSF was to award central contracts to the players. But today, two years since that promise was made, players still do not have contracts. In order to get their due, the players went on strike just before 2010 World Cup as they were not paid their salaries by Hockey India.

If that is a big issue, there is also the problem of gender discrimination. The Indian men’s team, while being treated badly by the board, still get better deals compared to women players. The women’s team, which protested by wearing black armbands in order to get their dues of Rs. 3 lakhs, were offered just Rs. 50,000. The board did not even pay the train fare of the women players who came to attend the national camp. If Hockey India cannot even pay the players, how can they expect the players to win for them and the country?

2. No live coverageThe one good thing in the regime of Indian Hockey Federation was that the fans could watch games live on TV. Enter Hockey India and TV coverage of the tournaments stopped completely. From the year 2010, except the World Cup, no other tournament was given live TV coverage in India (leave out CWG and Asian Games, for they are international sporting events). Today, live TV coverage is a distant dream for the Indian hockey fans, without whose support and interest, the sport is doomed.

3. Step-motherly treatment towards women and junior hockey

Since its formation, Hockey India has done well in regularly overlooking both the women’s and junior hockey teams. From offering just Rs. 50,000 to clear their dues worth 3 lakhs (for each player) to not providing them proper coaching, Hockey India has done nothing for women’s hockey.

A huge racket was made by everyone (including the former players) when the men’s team performed badly in the invitational tournament, the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup. Hockey India stepped in to weed out the negatives responsible for the debacle, asked for reports from the coach, players, managers and even sacked the coach after just one tournament, but it failed to do anything remotely useful to promote the women’s game, most notably failed to take charge of the situation after the dismal performance in the Champions Challenge where India lost all but one game.

Hockey India failed to send the junior team for Asia Cup due to sheer negligence, for they allegedly ‘thought’ that the tournament was unsanctioned. India is set to to host the Junior Hockey World Cup next year (FIH did not consult Hockey India before awarding it to India), but Hockey India has not conducted one single national in the last three years for the junior team. The board was supposed to conduct nationals in July, but nothing materialised and as of September, the Indian team is woefully under-prepared to take part in the tournament. Instead of organizing nationals for the team to prepare, HI’s solution on how to select a team for the World Cup is a ridiculous one: Ask each state to send its best 2-3 players for national camp. Yes, this is exactly what Hockey India is doing; that is exactly how unprofessional the organization is!

4. Not renewing Jose Brasa’s contractJose Brasa is widely considered as the best coach India has had in the last decade, but Hockey India termed his stint a failure and did not renew his contract. A coach who helped the nation get back on the world hockey map by winning its first medal in CWG (men), bronze in Asian Games, was deemed a failure by Hockey India. The organization never gave him what he asked for, never listened to what he said, but the coach still delivered against all odds, only to see the rug pulled from under him.

Brasa was an extremely loved figure by both players and fans, but he was unfairly removed from the position of coach, making it unable for him to continue the great work for which he sowed the seeds He was even not invited to the felicitation ceremony after CWG. Moreover, stupid reasons were given by the board in explaining his sacking, such as “We had to bring a PC expert as he had nothing much to give”. My question to Hockey India is this: How many penalty corner experts do you need in a team: 5, 10 or 15??

5. Discrimination against playersDiscrimination is one thing which is not new to Indian hockey. From the days of Sanjeev Kumar, Dhanraj Pillay to Sandeep Singh and Sardara Singh, be it IHF or HI, Indian hockey officials have always discriminated against the players. Prabhjot Singh, India’s best left winger has not played even once for India since the World Cup and we don’t even have a replacement for him.

Add to that not selecting players who went for the WSH meet, to banning Sandeep and Sardara, Hockey India has constantly discriminated against the players. Even Mamta Kharab could not get spot in the team after she spoke about the apathy she received from the hands of Hockey India. Due to this unfair discrimination, India has lost many good players. But the officials are still not concerned, for they fail to realise that good players are the backbone of the sport in the nation.

6. Poor financial managementOffering a paltry sum Rs. 25,000 to each player after winning Asian Champions Trophy was Hockey India’s way of insulting the players. When a furore arose about it in the media, the board’s statement as to how it can afford only that paltry sum says a lot about how poorly run the organization is. If you cannot pay the players or generate funds, leave the administration to someone who can generate funds and give it back to promote hockey.

For the financial period of 2009-10 (April 2009-March 2010) Hockey India supposedly spent Rs. 11,65,233 for the promotion of the game. Numbers speak everything. It is clear that these funds were poorly used, for there is little improvement seen in the state of the game. If money is spent on umpires, where are they, and how does ‘medical aid’ help in promoting the game? HI spent Rs. 6000 on player photographs. (The funny part is that I have never seen any official photograph of the team)

Hockey India has spent more money in fighting legal battles with Indian Hockey Federation than it has spent on paying the players who fight for the nation’s pride. With such a callous attitude towards management, no one in Hockey India, especially Narinder Batra, should be allowed to run hockey even for a day.

7. DictatorshipAfter KPS Gill, Indian hockey has got another dictator in the form of Narinder Batra. The treasurer of DDCA (Delhi & District Cricket Association) and general secretary of Hockey India, Batra is beginning to be the new dictator of the national sport. Whatever he says happens in Indian hockey and everyone has to toe in line and listen to what he says.

Recently when former India captain, 3 time Olympic Gold Medal winner and Guinness World record holder Balbir Singh Sr. made some casual comments about Narinder Batra at a dinner, Batra became angry and summoned Balbir Singh to explain his remarks. Well, everyone has freedom of speech and if Narinder Batra has done something wrong, he must listen to what an experienced person like Balbir Singh is saying about him. With this egotistic attitude, it would not be long before he takes over the spot vacated by KPS Gill: that of the arch dictator.

Both Hockey India and Indian Hockey Federation have not done anything credible for which they can be granted the status of NSF for hockey. Indian hockey needs someone who is serious enough to work for the upliftment of the sport. The hockey fans are tired of seeing administrators come to power, whose only motive is personal gain and destroying the national sport.

Edited by Zico