Away goals don’t count when one plays at home

ARCHAIC SYSTEM

WHILE most of Europe’s players haven’t even seen hockey on grass – forget playing – in India even the top teams don’t get to play on astro-turf all the time. The Junior Nationals which was held at Raipur in October was played on hard and muddy ground. The boys are well aware that when the time comes to play international hockey the ground realities will be different. With astro-turf dreams, they aren’t keen to master their skills on grass.

As Indian Airlines’ coach Harender Singh points out: ‘‘In modern hockey one needs to release the ball fast and change flanks. But it is missing in our domestic competition. The national coach is bound to face problems while hunting for fresh talent.’’

Not just the juniors even seniors events are held on grass. Next month, top teams will be at Kota and Nabha to play tournaments on grass. But the risk of injury while playing on a surface they aren’t used would mean a less committed effort. As a leading striker from the Indian team said, ‘‘The demand of astro-turf hockey is different and this makes playing on grass very dangerous.’’

LACKING FITNESS STANDARD

Fitness trainer, one of the vital back-up staff in modern sports, is no where to be seen on the domestic circuit. No team has a permanent trainer. This means players prone to injury and a general lack of energy on the field. But the most puzzling part is none of the teams give the usual excuse of financial constraint for this.

Former Indian captain and the Punjab Police coach Pargat Singh says that the players lack the interest for intense fitness training. While listening to the Indian Airlines’ coach Harender Singh one gets the idea that the decision makers aren’t too keen on the fitness aspect. ‘‘Our team used the service of a SAI trainer for the Bangalore league. But we haven’t got long-term clearance from our top bosses,’’ he says. Indian Oil’s Bansal said there were not many qualified trainers in the country he has been forced to do a dual job. ‘‘I have a M.S degree (Masters in Sports) and a three months course in ‘general conditioning’ in Hungary. So, it gives me some basis for training my team.’’

But what’s the scene abroad? As a senior player said, ‘‘In the European league every team has a professional trainer, a psysiotherapist and a doctor. They always travel with the team.’’

NO FIXED CALENDAR

The international calender needs to be announced in advance so that the organisers of local tournaments and the coaches of the top teams can plan their schedule. IHF president KPS Gill said that the National League which will be started next year will solve many of these problems. ‘‘With the National League we will take up these problems and address them.’’