Opinion Hockey transfers: No checks,balances
Players from Karnataka turning up for Andaman & Nicobar Islands; Services athletes representing Mumbai and a Mumbaikar playing for Namdhari XI
Players from Karnataka turning up for Andaman & Nicobar Islands; Services athletes representing Mumbai and a Mumbaikar playing for Namdhari XI. At the ongoing Hockey India senior national championships in Pune players are trying to squeeze into a team,even if it is not their state side,at the first available opportunity.
One of the primary objectives of the nationals is to gauge the standard of the sport in each state.
It gives a picture of the talent pool at the country’s disposal and is often used as a springboard for a player to graduate to the national team core group.
However,the current state of affairs presents a very distorted picture.
The tussle between Hockey India and Indian Hockey Federation means that the some very basic administrative duties have been ignored. The concept of player registration,which helps keep a record of and tab on inter-state transfers no longer exists.
So Yuvraj Walmiki,for instance,who should ideally be playing for Mumbai,ended up representing Namdhari whose presence in the nationals is debatable even though he does not have any connection to the team he played for.
A popular argument in favour of this is since there is no written rule that bars a player from playing for a state where he is not domiciled,there is no reason to stop him from doing so.
But a conservative approach is that it hampers the growth of local talent. This is not a recent trend. Like other sports,player trading has been a part of hockey for decades but the only difference now is that there are no checks and balances in place.
In the past,those players who are not the first-choice for a state team got a No Objection Certificate (NOC) from the association concerned and was free to play for a team of his choice.
While the rule still exists,it’s no longer mandatory,giving the players and teams a free hand. The ambiguity on the domicile rule has allowed the teams and players to take advantage of it. Hockey India would do well to fix up the problem.
(Mihir is a senior correspondent based in Mumbai)
mihir.vasavda@expressindia.com
Share
