Indian Hockey

The hockey world cup for India came and went before one could as much as bat an eyelid and in its wake bared the many skeletons that have crept into the cupboards of Indian hockey.The organisation (or shall we say mis organisation) of this most important event of Hockey itself bared the reasons that afflict Indian Hockey today. Right from the word go, there was mismanagement. Firstly, the organisation of the premier event of hockey in India was being handled by an ad hoc committee which has more politicians wrestling for power in the same arena than the bunch of wrestlers in a Royal Rumble. If it had not been for the principal sponsor, Hero Honda's publicity(where you had celebrities like Olympic medal winner Rajyawardhan Singh Rathore and celebrities like Priyanka Chopra exhorting Indians to support India in the world cup) attempts in January and February, all of us would have believed that the biggest impending Indian failure in the field of sports organisation in 2010 would just be the Commonwealth games to be held later on the year. Hockey India too helped in publicising the world cup but through means that it cant be proud of - the captain controversy and the players payment issue. Add to it the threat of violence by terrorists and furore created in governments across the world about the safety of playing in India and the publicity was more complete than it could ever be.

Sadly what was needed to avoid all the above controversies was a little bit more vision on the part of the leaders(huh!!) of Hockey in India. But then had vision and efficiency been that easy to come by amongst the rulers of Indian Hockey, we would not have found ourselves in such a depressing situation in the first place, where all we can talk about are our Golden and Glorious past and how it has fallen from the high of the Olympic triumph in 1980 to failure to qualify for the Beijing Olympics for the very first time since 1928 and now the world cup. The spate of obituaries on Indian Hockey has not ceased for a very long time now.

The downfall of Indian Hockey in particular (and Indian subcontinetal hockey in general) has been blamed upon changes made to the game since the early 70s. Steps like introduction of artificial turf and changes to penalty corner rules are cited as case in points. But then is it not our fault that we have failed to change with the times. And which game has not evolved. Look at cricket - from test cricket to 60 overs and then 50 overs and now 20-20, hasnt it evolved? Yes it has and fortunately the powers that be in cricket have realized that changing times require changing strategies.

Another stated reason is the lack of support to Indian Hockey from the masses. But then again this is nothing more than hogwash. A very important reason for any game to be successful is the presence of a good support structure. A youngster taking up a particulat sport seriously must be first convinced of a future in that sport. Sadly Indian Hockey lacks this conviction except in certain pockets of India. And it is nowhere reflected better than in the composition of the present team representing India. It has an over representation of players from the states of Haryana and Punjab. Obviously hockey in these parts of India is well structured and supported. But what about the rest of India.

Under these circumstances being placed a lowly 12th in the world rankings and playing a world cup should be seen as achievements. Add to it, a world cup victory against a higher ranked team in the very first match and spirited performances against Spain and England and there is still time before we declare Indian Hockey dead and out.

By the time you read this post, India would have played a very important world cup match against lowly South Africa. No it is not mockery I intend when I say "important". Its is important vis-a-vis the future of the current bunch of hockey players and the present Indian hockey coach, Jose Brasa. A failure and it will be vintage Hockey India action if it decides to sack the present Indian coach without as much as giving him more than 7 months to mould the team. A foreign coach is an easy scapegoat. But the Indian hockey needs change right at the top.

Despite being a national sport, there are hardly a handful of schools which encourage this game. The people from Indian subcontinent have been natural hockey players. Proof of this has been the total world domination that we enjoyed in the early and mid twentieh century. But then modernity struck hockey in every part of the world except ours. And if we are to keep pace and bring back the wonder days of hockey, we need to display a killer instinct not just on the turf but also on the tables on which the future of this game is shaped.