Joshi, hockey’s unofficial encyclopaedia

In the meantime then, like all trivia-hungry fans, Slade himself will have to approach the likes of B. G. Joshi, unofficial statistician at practically every hockey match of any significance in the country and an encyclopaedia of hockey’s best moments.

During the lemon break while India was playing Australia last week, Slade asked Joshi: “What’s the record for the quickest goal in the Champions Trophy?” Joshi had the answer at the tips of his fingers: “Ten seconds. Pakistan scored over Holland at the Champions Trophy in 1984.”

For 50-year-old Joshi, it all began with an innocuous conversation at a tea stall in Rajgadh, 120 km away from Bhopal, 35 years ago. “Bulbul chaiwallah,” recounts Joshi, “pointed out to me and a few group of gawky hockey enthusiasts that the national game’s fans had no number trivia to mull over.”

That set him thinking and what followed was a journey of hockey-related numbers-goals, wins, losses, margins, all these records for various combinations of playing countries -that has brought Joshi to Chennai now.

“Since 1970, I’ve spent every Sunday sitting at home and computing all the latest hockey results available from all over the world,” says the engineer with Madhya Pradesh’s Water Resources Department posted in Shahjahanpur district. But while the web is useful, Joshi’s records are still on paper, digitisation a dream he simply can’t afford without official backing.

“We have used a few statistics from Joshi in the past,” said Slade later, on whether the FIH has an official statistician or record-keeper. “But obviously, he’s not FIH-recognised.”

The other Indian hockey statisticians in the business: K Arumugam, Arun Arnab, Subroto Sircar, names Joshi, who has been contributing regularly to a sports magazine since the 1988 Olympics. Needless to add, all amateurs.