Losing Turf

 

 

The dust bowls of the subcontinent were once a cauldron of magical artistry from where emerged hockey wizards like Dhyan chand and Hassan Sardar. they were the stalwarts who dominated the game like invincible giants and the world was left gasping in their wake. In the 1960s, the world was pulled away from under their feet when astroturf was introduced by the International Hockey Federation and the spell of the East lost its sheen. Today, India and Pakistan languish far behind power houses like Australia, the Netherlands and England. Even in Asia, the South Koreans stole a march. Rahul Chaudhary in an interview with Mir Ranjan Negi scans the horizon of hope

Indian hockey did start the World Cup with a bang. Surely, the match against Pakistan was one of the most memorable hockey encounters for an Indian fan…

The first match of this World Cup, I think, was the real story of “Chak De India”, where because of the controversies and things happening away from the field, the team got united. Too many bad things were happening around that time, so the players got so united that they performed like a team. One could see that the entire pace was electrifying, the whole approach of the Indian hockey team was phenomenal. There was so much dominance by the Indian team that in the entire first half, our goalkeeper did not get to touch a single ball. It was like a scene straight out of "Chak De India". (Laughs)

But then, after winning the first game and with the momentum behind us, the performance against the rest of the teams (Australia, followed by Spain and England) lacked total punch and then almost losing to South Africa. A new low for Indian hockey?

The newspapers have written that we put up a very gallant show, we showed a lot of spirit and our team put up a very good fight. But, frankly, I thought the Indian team lacked the rhythm completely. I think it was a big failure on the part of the Indian team to not be able to beat South Africa… As usual, one could see a lot of misses... The basic funda of winning a tournament is winning skills – penalty corner defending/conversion.

If you look at this tournament, you’ll notice that England could restrain Australia because out of nine Australia could not convert even one… In our case that was missing. If you look at the broader perspective you’ll see that many of the Indian players were found wanting in speed and strength. We seem to be light years behind the world class teams…

Like we are in basketball… if a player is not conforming to certain norms, in terms of speed and maybe even strength, then he should not be considered. He can play for the domestic circuit, but not at the international level. Some sort of norms should be in place. Look at the Australian players, the way they run, their speed is amazing. And look at our players! The Asian style of hockey is going now; it has to go. Today a goal with three or four touches is becoming a norm.

So, in what would look like a conspiracy of the West against the magical artistry of the subcontinent players, the world changed from field hockey to Astroturf, and the Asian style of hockey is history…

The hockey played during our time was very nice to watch. The dodges, and the whole pace… it was slow and artistic and the common man understood the game. Now the ball is travelling at such a speed, it goes into the net and the spectator starts clapping because he sees an action replay on the television screen of the stadium. There’s a sea change in traditional Asian hockey and European hockey. How we play hockey at school and university level has to change. You don’t get anything out of those matches. It’s a big conspiracy for sure. Today it has become so mechanical and a power game, it’s not as much fun now. But the game being changed, it’s the need of the hour to change the approach. We need to have super athletes with power and clinical finish. The West has perfected that art whereas we are still playing the old hockey. Not too long ago, Gagan Ajit Singh and Jugraj Singh were touted as the stars of the future. But we seem to have let them and a host of talented others fall by the wayside…

From the very beginning, the policies of the IHF have been a suspect. They don’t let a player become a star. It’s absolutely demeaning to see a Gagan Ajit Singh being pulled out of the team for no rime or reason when he was playing very well. When I called him, he said, “Coach saab, Itna dukhta hai ki mann karta hai ki hockey ko na hi pakdo…” (“Coach, it hurts so bad that I feel like not picking up the hockey stick at all”) And it’s not just him, time and again it has happened to Dhanraj Pillay and others. Many players were sacked after the 1998 Asian Games season. So these things keep happening and clearly some of the players from the current lot were not experienced enough to play a tournament like this.

So, what kind of support system do you think can be provided to the current players?

When somebody holds a hockey stick in this country, he knows he is joining the army, he doesn’t expect too much in return. He does not expect to make one lakh rupees… He prays for an ordinary job in some government office… little things like that. Apart from railways or airlines there is no recruitment for any hockey player in India. I would like to see money for those players playing at the ‘Ranji Trophy’ level in hockey.

Indian hockey seems to have gone from bad to worse. It looks almost as if it is on life support currently. How do we get the spark and most importantly, the professionalism back?

I once met Dr Vijay Mallya and told him, "Sir you’ve just pumped some odd Rs 400 crore into cricket, why don’t you do something for hockey?" And he point blankly said no. Then I said to him that sir, you are a Member of Parliament and such a reputed man. If a person like you says such a thing then I think we don’t stand a chance to win any medal in the Olympics. He stood there looking at me. After a pause he spoke, “Mr Negi, I offered Mr Gill Rs 100 crore and not today, I offered it to him ten years back. He said give us the money and we’ll run it. I told him, Is this the way your federation wants to run? I’m sorry I can’t give you any money. I told him you make teams all over India and then conduct a tournament. Then tell me how much you want and I’ll give you." There is no dearth of people who are passionate about the game and those who are ready to put in the money.