Show time for hockey

Former Indian goalkeeper Ashish Ballal, who’s working on corporate hockey in Bangalore, says he’s received requests recently from companies and PR firms to conduct more such tournaments for executives and, if possible to take it to other cities as well. One of the current Indian players, Viren Rasquinha, says the recent performances have created a buzz in Mumbai’s Bandra district, where he lives. ‘‘Kids in my neighbourhood are asking their parents to buy hockey sticks for them. It’s a great sign for the game.’’

The winning curve can soar: next year has a clutch of key tournaments, culminating in the Olympic Games at Athens. If the team can maintain, or replicate, its current form at vital moments, the sky will be the limit.

Yet this is also the time when, organisationally, the game is down on its knees in India. When the team was winning in Australia and Germany, fans back home had to follow the matches on the Internet. Reason? The Indian Hockey Federation lacks any arrangement to show India’s international matches live.

And that sums up the IHF’s preparedness to take hockey to the masses. PR wisdom dictates that the way to public consciousness is through blanket TV exposure; the more telegenic of the Indian players could — should — have been taken to the different news channels and shown to the public. In the absence of big cricketing news, when David Beckham’s transfer can dominate the sports pages here, why can’t our own hockey stars?

The power of television shouldn’t be underestimated. The success of the English Premier League lies in its deal with Sky Television and the high revenues generated from that; similarly, the BCCI’s coffers are filled thanks to the contracts it has for the telecast of India’s international matches. As Lal succinctly points out, the man who holds the remote-control also holds the purse-strings.

Sanjay Lal, CEO of image-marketing firm Percept D’Mark, says hockey will work only if is promoted at a mass level. ‘‘The mantra of cricket’s success lies not in Sachin Tendulkar but in the man in the penthouse and the man in the chawl who both hold him in the same veneration.’’

‘‘The more customers there are for the game, the better the response of sponsors.’’ And he adds that the performance of the national team is only a complementary factor in increasing the popularity of the sport.

Lal’s interest in hockey runs deep: his firm has been asked by the IHF to find a sponsor for the game after Castrol pulled out last month.

If successful, that could take care of IHF’s complaint that the high cost of a live telecast deal keeps the game from the audience, and the deal with DD covers only domestic hockey. Ballal, during whose playing days the IHF came close to signing a deal with ESPN, says the game can be popularised only when the federation looks beyond depending on the public broadcaster (read government dole).

The solution, says the Asiad gold-medallist, is in tying up with private channels, like cricket did after the 1983 World Cup victory. ‘‘The IHF should now seriously consider tying up with a private channel to promote the game.’’

The one channel that does show hockey is TEN Sports; it telecast the India-Pakistan match at the Champions Trophy played at Cologne last year, and it was a runaway hit. They have the rights for this year’s tournament also but they feel that viewership increases only for India-Pakistan match.

The channel’s Peter Hutton says that current ad-revenue figures don’t justify an increase in live coverage but adds that TEN is keenly watching trends. ‘‘The Indian team’s recent form will clearly help the game and we will be looking very closely at the response to our forthcoming broadcast of the Champions Trophy (in August). If we receive a good response from viewers and sponsors, then we can hopefully go on to televise more of the sport.’’

There are also unconfirmed reports that talks are on between IHF and ESPN, whose officials were not available for comment as they were out of the country.

Is it a case of too much too late? Many experts feel that Indian hockey should have taken tied up live coverage of the game years ago when it was still controlled by the subcontinent. ‘‘Why just talk of hockey’s telecast now because the team is doing well at the moment’’, asks former India captain Zafar Iqbal. ‘‘The IHF needs a more dynamic approach for promotion of the game. Live telecast is a long-term plan to cultivate viewers and irrespective of the team’s performance.’’

The federation seems to have woken up. How fast it can move now to make up for lost time will decide just how far Indian hockey can go. It’s a penalty corner that the IHF can’t afford to miss.