Tags:
Journalism of Courage
There8217;s an old saying in the world of marketing: trying the same thing the same way over and over again cannot produce different results. The lesson is simple, success lies along the route of fresh approaches.
Recently, the Indian Hockey Federation IHF sent out an SoS to the FIH, the world body of the sport. 8216;Help us, show us the way, for we are lost,8217; was the theme of the message. Finally they know they have run out of options. While FIH president Madam Els van Breda Vriesman is right in saying that she appreciates the honesty of the federation in admitting it, it nevertheless shows the national body in poor light. No problem in seeking The Shepherd, lambs that we are in this stew of thick, mushy 8216;history8217;, but it isn8217;t really necessary to sacrifice self-respect.
In a press briefing that also had foreign media representatives, he said that he wanted to 8220;talk to the IHF8221; on this issue and see what help could be given to the federation to see to it that the national sport does not lose its credibility and following in the country.
In both Madam Vriesman and Kalmadi8217;s statements we get clear signals that something8217;s rotten in the state of Indian hockey. It also should bring to Gill8217;s fading sight that soon this two-man decision making committee of the apex body of the national sport could become the laughing stock of the sporting community.
More importantly, though, there is a distinct possibility that the two in question don8217;t even realise that obsolescence isn8217;t a term that applies to others only.
What does the current situation mean for Indian hockey? Gill is a 8216;duly and democratically8217; elected office bearer, so removing him isn8217;t an immediate option.
It is not clear what advice the FIH president sent to the IHF but the very fact that an unbelievably high number 8220;over 4008221; of meetings have already been held between the FIH and the IHF is reason enough to believe that all have been merely suggestive, done only to produce a dossier for the president8217;s perusal.
It is also strange that the IOA president should come out in public, virtually suggesting that the IHF badly needs a life-saving transfusion8217;. Where does that leave Gill 038; Co?
If, as expected, coach Vasudevan Baskaran is sacked on return, it will only prove the sheer last-ditch effort of the ageing duo at the top. There is no evidence of vision. When Kalmadi said to a correspondent of a foreign media 8220;surely, we cannot ignore the needs of our national sport,8221; he was definitely being patronising. Probably because the IHF8217;s callousness allowed him to.
Interestingly, there are barely any dissenting voices inside the IHF, except from senior vice-president Narinder Batra. Even sacked coaches fail to come out in the open and speak their minds. When coach Rajinder Singh was sacked midway the preparation for the Athens Olympic Games, Gill offered no explanation. And, going against his own ideas of not having a foreign coach, he invited Gerhard Rach from Germany, who may have been a good player in his time, but was a nobody as a coach. In Qatar, looking around at the Emirate and at the unquestioned authority of the Emir, one finds similarities within the IHF.
8220;These two Gill and Jothikumaran must be thrown out,8221; says Batra, speaking to The Sunday Express from his New Delhi residence. 8220;How can the government tolerate a person in a throne for around 16, especially when he hasn8217;t brought any glory except minor ones to the country? Yet he is not satisfied. Kalmadi has uttered strong words, but one must also remember that he gets three votes from the IHF. He has to keep those ballots in mind.8221;
Batra calls this the IHF8217;s dukandari, or selling of services. 8220;Really, this is a situation that shames us, and our hockey community. You should see the five-star comfort the officials enjoy on tours, and what the players get in comparison. Who are we voting for, who are we cheering for? The players, the team, or the officials?8221;
Batra may be a trifle on the extreme left of centre, but minor rumbles have already been heard within the IHF, all anonymous. One coach, obviously preferring anonymity, says: 8220;The priorities are all wrong. In fact, there are no priorities. We aren8217;t even sure what we want. How will we prepare for it?8221;
Recently, international goalkeeper Ashish Ballal hit out at the administration, saying that the high-handedness of Gill has not allowed any team to settle down. He remembered, how, when he spoke his mind, even his stellar performance at the Bangkok Asian Games, where India earned gold, was not considered. He was sacked.
Ballal has been quoted as saying: 8220;The remarks were made before the team left Bangkok. Before the Games itself they wanted to drop some of the senior players. We seniors knew it and that8217;s why a lot of hard work went into our efforts as we had to prove that we had the stuff in us.8221;
All that came to nought.
Today even the Asian Games medal is a dream. And there are the Chinese and the Koreans and even the bronze-winning Pakistanis are into the Beijing Olympics. India have to qualify. A situation rather difficult for all to digest.
Possibly that is the reason for the moves. Possibly Kalmadi wants a bargepole to touch government nerves regarding hockey. He knows one day the juice is going to dry up. It8217;s time to pull up the socks. For Gill and Jyothikumaran, though, it is good time for a swansong.
10
THINGS TO DO
These have been the common refrain across the board:
1. Remove Gill and Jothikumaran
2.Restructure the IHF for a more democratic set-up
3.Bring about transparency
4.Appoint a good coach and give him all powers. Also give him an extended term
5.Make the IHF accountable for all the money in sponsorship and in government grants it receives
6.Prepare a vision statement
7.Prepare a national target and more short-term targets in between
8.Have a panel to oversee the entire preparations and follow the blueprint, including adding facilities like astroturf
9.Have a wider net for selection
10.Go all out for exposure: foreign trips, invite foreign teams.
There is an interesting 11th commandment, so to say, some want included: Make the players and coaches accountable, and force the players to obey the coach.
Upto the Gills
During his entire tenure as IHF boss since 1994, KPS Gill has seen only four trophies come in, all minor achievements 8212; the Azlan Shah Cup in 1995, The Bangkok Asian Games gold in 1998, the Junior World Cup in 2001 and the Asia Cup in 2003. During this period he has also sacked several coaches, and overseen countless shameful debacles of the national team. During his tenure he has also overseen the sponsor-managed Premier Hockey League, which has become pretty popular with national and international players, simply because a the amount of money involved. While foreign players have run away with big booties, the standard of Indian hockey has remained stagnant.
Elected president of the Indian Hockey
Federation in 1994
Performance at the Olympics since then
1996: Atlanta- 8th
2000: Sydney-7th
2004: Athens-7th
Performance at the World Cups
1994: Sydney-5th
1998: Utrecht-9th
2002: Kuala Lumpur-10th
2006: Mouml;nchengladbach-11th
Performance at the Asian Games
1994: Hiroshima-Silver
1998: Bangkok-Gold
2002: Busan-Silver
2006: Doha-5th
Afro-Asian Games
2003: Hyderabad-Gold
Performance at the Asia Cup
1994: Hiroshima-Second
1999: Kuala Lumpur-Third
2003: Kuala Lumpur-Champions
Junior Hockey World Cup: 2001-Hobart-Champions
Some highs
Instrumental in getting oil-major Castrol as the team sponsor in 2001
Got Sahara India Pariwar as the team8217;s sponsor in 2003
Along with ESPN-Star Sports and Leisure Sports Management introduced a new domestic competition called the Premier Hockey League in 2005
8212;Phalguna Jandhyala
COLONEL BALBIR SINGH
1966 Asian Games gold winner, 1968 Olympic bronze medal winner
IT is heart wrenching to see the way our team plays; quite disgusting. Experts used to say that it was our fitness that was the main reason for our failure and not our skills. I say we also lack in skill. There is a serious need to restructure our national body. We need people who have knowledge of the game at the helm of things. Change is required at the grassroots level. Get your best coaches for the junior players because we have the talent in the country just no guidance. It will take time and we have to be patient. The jokers at the Indian Hockey Federation have to change their attitude or all I see is failure in the future for our team.
ASLAM SHER KHAN
World Cup winner and former selector
I am sitting here in a state of shock like everyone else. Hockey is our national game and look where we stand now. It8217;s easy to sit back and point a finger but I think now is the time when we should all unite and save the game. I am an optimistic person and believe we can still rise from the ashes.
I have read that the Indian Olympic Association is concerned about the debacle, and in the first hand, the ball is in IOA8217;s court to start the correction procedure. The IOA has in its constitution that they can adopt any organisation that they think is ailing or not performing upto their standards. I would say, IOA should take into account those powers and appoint a new ad-hoc committee and start the overhaul.
I remember before the Athens Games, there was pressure from the government to at least form a selection committee, because for almost ten years we didn8217;t have any. And even when a committee was formed 8212;- I was part of it 8212;-the entire power remained in the hands of the president. I firmly believe that selection committee should be an independent body and no president should be part of that.
There are many ways to restructure hockey but we have to ensure there8217;s quick remedy to this situation before we start looking at other small but important issues. The coaches we appoint lack the calibre and their qualification to coach is always in doubt. That should not be the case. Tell me why was world renowned coach Ric Charlesworth8217;s offer to train India, turned down by the IHF? Of course, he will demand money but if you look at all other sports, you have to buy professionalism and quality, if you don8217;t have it in your home.
Let the Federation bring a reputed coach from outside, appoint a few of our own coaches to assist him, let them interact with him and soon they will also know the latest trends of fitness, coaching. We have to accept what we are in the world today rather than talking about our past achievements all the time.
On a short-term basis, if we set right our selection committee and give them a free hand and get best expertise, we can at least match step with the rest, rather than sitting and waiting for another big debacle to shake us. I don8217;t know if hockey can sustain another shock.
PARGAT SINGH
Former India captain
Hockey has reached such a bad state that there is no quick solution to our problems. I suggest that we have a short-term and a long-term plan for the team. The short-term being that we qualify for the Beijing Olympics and the long-term that we need to develop our junior and sub-junior players. We need to train our coaches because they are highly untrained. The IHF, state associations and the Sports Authority of India have to work hand in hand. They must know their own duties and stop accusing each other whenever the team fails.8221;
ASHOK KUMAR
Olympian
I believe that we should leave the top layer to themselves and get to work at the grassroots level. One needs extensive work to put into place the system and infrastructure that gave the country such a steady flow of quality players.
I would like to start from the schools, colleges, resurrect the university level tournaments and revive their importance. We need to assemble all Olympians and get to involve their knowledge at respective state associations. Our domestic hockey needs to be strengthened. We should conduct competitions at regular intervals and give each one its own unique importance. The selection committee needs to be formed first and make them accountable. Let them go from place to place to watch the talent. Every tournament organiser should be made to submit the list of notable names to the selectors. This way, we have a track of potential talent.
The focus is suddenly on giving the players maximum comforts and luxuries. I am not denying them that right, but I find the demand from the players is more than the output. We need to plan more exposure trips on small budgets. There should be more seminars involving coaches and we should use the expertise of those who are involved with big institutions where our players play most of the time in the domestic circuit.
The infrastructure too needs improvement. We need more astro-turfs so that right from the start, our boys are in the frame, rather than switching base from grass to astro-turf in the middle of their learning phase. All this involves a lot of money but once everyone see there8217;s action, the money will automatically flow.
8212;G.S. Vivek and Sandeep Narayan
