It’s something everyone talks about in whispers without daring to say out loud. Now, for the first time, star hockey player Dhanraj Pillay has told The Indian Express why he failed to sparkle in the bronze medal play-off against Pakistan, as he’d done so memorably four days earlier: Groupism within the team led to his being frozen out of the play. ‘‘You must have noticed in the second match against Pakistan that there was hardly any pass given to me in the forwardline’’, he said. The reason? ‘‘I am saying it from my heart that I have put in my best effort whenever I have played for India but some of the youngsters from Punjab, who had played the Junior World Cup, were jealous that I was given the credit for the team’s win against Pakistan,” said the ace striker. ‘‘We have a lot of lobbies in the team and with this kind of problem, how can you expect us to play brilliantly’’, Dhanraj said. Indeed, the two Pakistan matches in Cologne — this reporter was present at both — offer an amazing study in contrast. In the first, he was all over the Pakistani defence, receiving passes from the defence and midfield to set up the goals for others. One needs to watch video replays of the second to remember what exactly, if anything, he did. Obviously, the Pakistanis were extra careful about him and marked him more closely in the second match than in the first but, to mix sporting metaphor, that’s par for the course. It would be overestimating the abilities of the weakest Pakistani defence in years to presume that it was capable of keeping a player of Dhanraj’s calibre on a tight leash for 70 minutes. Suspicions first raised watching the play-off match were heightened when this reporter was told by a player that some players were ‘‘very upset’’ that Dhanraj had been given the credit for India’s win and that led to the rift. “That victory created more rift in the team than uniting us for the remaining matches. It was a known fact to everyone in our team that the players from this faction were not giving passes to Dhanraj in the bronze playoff match,” this player said. The team’s chief coach Rajinder Singh denied that there had been any rift in the team before the second match against Pakistan. ‘‘People say all sorts of things but there is no truth in it’’, said Rajinder on the allegation that there was a strong anti-Dhanraj campaign in the team. ‘‘The team was united. Otherwise, it wouldn’t have been possible to perform well in the tournament.’’ Indian hockey has a history of factionalism based on regionalism and player-officials fightings, the differences being carried on to the field and affecting the team game. During the 1976 Olympics, leading stars fought openly, reportedly over the affections of a particular lady. India, then world champions, failed for the first time to win an Olympic medal. The rift between officials and players on the eve of the 1982 Asiad final against Pakistan — Indian hockey’s darkest hour — became known well after the final. Interestingly, present coach Rajinder Singh, who was then a full back, was forced by the team management to play the match despite an injury.
