Debacle

I hav’t seen Dhyanchand play, but he must have been a real magician with a hockey stick, even by Indian standards. Those were the times when hockey was played on natural turf, on real grounds. It was rumored that the introduction of artificial surface was intended to speed up the game and thus out maneuver the Asian teams who had wonderful natural skills to dribble the ball on normal grounds. Any how the game became visually pleasing by the introduction of Astro Turf. In the age of TV sponsorships such innovations may have to be expected. The Indian hockey went on a note of decline from that period onwards. The payers did not have the stamina to adopt to the new style of play and their opportunities were also limited in the early years of Astro Turf because we did not have many in the land to play on. All the upcoming players had to play on normal surfaces before being selected for the team and then graduate to Astro Turf when they play faster and fitter foreign teams on the alien surface. India was not alone in this. Pakistan faced the same problem. But they coped with it much better than we did.

But this year is the worst in the history of Indian hockey. Our teams in the past had faced humiliating defeats, but they have always managed to keep their nose just ahead to be in the reckoning for a spot in the finals of the most prestigious tournaments in the world like the Olympics and the world cup of hockey. This year changed all that. After a long 80 tortuous years we are finally out of the Olympics in the qualifying stages itself. The failure of the team does not come as a surprise. The team management was such that even a good team would find it difficult to gel together. These guys have been at the helm for far too long. They have not brought anything new to the team and still labor under the mistaken assumption that the players are talented enough to do it on their own against the best in the world.

The players too have come into a bit of money by sponsorships and the plethora of tournaments in the land. But they tend to forget their total lack of preparedness when playing the teams with better stamina and strength. Some of them take their place in the team for granted.

There is something very rotten in the management. But things are not going to improve by replacing the present one with a new one with the same credentials. Some people should sit and take stock of all that is happening in the game in this land and devise a pragmatic strategy to bring us out of this sorry plight. This could be done given the level of interest in the game at present in the land. Children with an interest in the game have to be picked at an early age and given the facilities to practice with best in the world. Find money for it with sponsorships or by state funding. This is the national game of the land, not just any game. We are spending enormous amount of dough to keep cricket in the fore front. The Board has money to throw away for spectacles and other functions. Why not devise a method by which some amount of the dough gets into the national game in some way, at least for improving the facilities in the land. I know it is difficult to make it happen. But a change in the whole concept of team management is imminent.

Come on guys our national prestige is at stake!