The darkest hour!

The inevitable has finally happened. The hockey dream came to an end rather abruptly for many but the truth is that the decline and decay had set in a long time ago. The game had slipped into hands that refused to be accountable and therefore impervious to criticism. The question now is: whereto from now on? Ironically in an era when world football wants to tap the great Indian market, hockey has remained a club to massage the egos of vain officials.

by REPORTER@DAYAFTERINDIA.COM

The facts are ego shattering. But for a win here and there and an odd medal at the Asian Games, Indian hockey had not won any thing substantial since 1975 when the World Cup was won. Yes, there is the Moscow Olympic Gold Medal but that is only for the record books as every one know it was devalued by the absence of the power house teams from the west. We were not only being regularly beaten by the European teams but also by the Korean and more recently by the Chinese team too, not to mention of the Australians and yet somewhere there was that unreasonable hope of the hockey lover that we cannot miss the Olympic berth. The hope now lies shattered in Santiago.

When Great Britain defeated India in the final of the qualifying match it not only booked its berth for Beijing but also denied India the honor of participating in all the Olympics since 1928. Thus died the Indian dream that was first ignited by the British rulers when they introduced their subjects to the game of hockey! It is part of the lore now as to how the disciples mastered the skills of the game and soon eclipsed those who had taught them. It is ironical indeed that it was at the hands of the men from the British Isles that finish was written to India’s tryst with Olympics.

Soon after India had lost 2-0 to Britain the coach Joaquim Carvalho announced his resignation saying the he had already said that in case of failure he would not remain the coach of the Indian team. This is the tradition all over the world: players and coaches own responsibility for not delivering the results and then pave way for fresh blood to do the same. If they refuse to do so they are sacked by the officials who have the responsibility of running the game. This practice has been followed in India too. Since the 1992 Hiroshima Games coaches and players have been changed by the dozen without much to cheer about. The few times that the team has won, as in the 1998 Asian Games, the senior players along with the coach were shown the door for not being appropriately subservient to the officials who have remained a permanent fixture stubbornly refusing to yield space even when it could be seen that their continued presence was increasingly reducing the space for Indian hockey.

There are voices that the blame game would not serve any purpose. It is a shameful attempt to shield the officials from criticism for how can a problem be solved unless it has been identified and understood. Moreover, it is customary to work in a transparent and accountable manner in a civil society. When players and coaches have to give account for their performance why not the officials? It is true that elections, however farcical, are held for the office bearers of the Indian Hockey Federation periodically and K.P.S. Gill and his team has been an elected team but the question is how long can a set of officials be allowed to give a run when they are repeatedly failing in the job they have been elected to perform? Gill and Co. have been in the saddle since 1994 and they have experimented with hare brained schemes so much that today the teams that participate in the Indian Premier Hockey League contain scores of players who have represented the country. Each time fans are told that the core group has been identified and each time the faces change. It is true that when Gill took charge hockey was not only in decline but a state of despair and his record as the person who inspired Punjab Police to combat terrorism in Punjab brought much hope and optimism. But it has been too long now and it is time for him to admit that his best efforts have failed to bring the desired turn around.

It is late but not too late for the youth is still there and the kind of response that Premier Hockey League brings in Chandigarh is a sure sign that the game is still loved and played by the young. Let a new set of people bring new ideas to the game, let new leadership inspire the society to put more in puts to the culture of hockey and let the new generation bring to hockey what they have brought to fields like technology and management! Let the old yield! Let this be the autumn so that the spring follows soon!