Cricket, not hockey as India's National Game

For the first time in the history of hockey in India, the Indian Hockey team — once known as the group of finest stick wielders in the world — has failed to qualify for the Olympic Games.

Great Britain booked its place at the Beijing Olympics with a 2-0 win over India in the final of the qualifying tournament in Chile. Britain scored the first goal within 10 minutes as the Indian defence failed. Britain won all six qualifying games, while India failed to qualify for the first time since 1928.

Once the symbol of Indian sporting nationalism, hockey, India's National Game might fast become our national shame.

The question that was being debated on CNN-IBN's Face The Nation was: Hockey Debacle: Is India in danger of losing her national symbols?

On the panel of experts to try and answer the question were Managing Director 21st Century Media, Lokesh Sharma; Former Indian hockey coach, Jagbir Singh; and Senior Journalist, Novy Kapadia.

The Beginning of the End?

At the beginning of the show 53 per cent of the viewers said yes, India was in danger of losing her national symbols, while 47 per cent disagreed.

India has won eight gold medals so far, six of them in consecutive years. Hockey is reminiscent of a nationalism that is uniquely desi and the decline of hockey is also the decline of an old India.

However, this time India should forget about winning any medals because the team failed to even qualify to play in the Olympics.

Former Indian hockey coach, Jagbir Singh said that Britain was not a weak side. "They are not an ordinary side to play with. They have won three gold medals and a lot of medals in the Olympics. They have a good history of hockey. However, it's pathetic that we could not even qualify this year."

However, he added that this was not something which has happened just this year. It was something that has been coming for years now.

Hockey has remained in the past for some time now. It is a prisoner of a nationalism of the past and is not a futuristic game and not in the present. The game has not modernised, infrastructure has not bettered and the management is poor to say the least.

Senior journalist Novy Kapadia said hockey has changed a lot. "Earlier it used to be played on grass, now it is played on an astro turf. Wrist work matters a lot and the game is much faster now, but that is not to say that Indian players have not adapted to this change. However, the management needs to desperately undergo a change and the writing has been on the wall for some time now."

He said when India did not qualify for the semi-finals of the Doha Games, it was clear that urgent action was needed as far as the National Game of the country was concerned.

"We have always had this thing about should we or should we not go with a foreign coach, we have always chopped off good players, there has been no support to the team and so it has been one disaster after another," he added.

Too Much Bureaucratic Interference

Jagbir Singh said that hockey was a National Sport only on paper. "If we talk about percentage contribution and involvement of money, facilities and infrastructure then it is a joke to even think that India can win an Olympic medal."

He said that at the end of the day, it was unfair to blame the players and the coaches who have been fighting all their lives for a place in the big picture.

But it seems unfair to tag cricket as the culprit just because all the glamour, the money and the sponsorships have been going to cricket.

Managing Director 21st Century Media, Lokesh Sharma agreed saying that blaming cricket would be simply barking up the wrong tree. "I think instead, hockey should take a leaf out of cricket's book and get its act organised."

He said that the most basic thing which was needed for hockey was a playing surface and India doesn't even have those.

"For a nation which has a trillion dollar economy, it is a shame that we cannot even provide 100 surfaces for hockey players when each surface costs less than Rs 1 crore," he said, adding that Indian hockey has not been able to convince people that they can deliver the goods.

Hockey Versus Cricket

Jagbir Singh agreed with Lokesh Sharma that comparing hockey to cricket or blaming cricket for the downfall of hockey was not correct.

"The two games are very different in terms of speed, from the commercial angle and from every single aspect basically. There are many corporates who are interested in investing in the game, but somehow there seems to be no system in place to invite that investment and use the money efficiently enough," he said.

Kapadia agreed saying that when India won the 1988 gold in Bangkok Asian Games, everyone had thought that this would actually be the second coming of hockey.

"When the team came back to India after that win, the players put forth some very reasonable demands including that certain allowances should be increased. They were immediately branded as rebels. Why would corporates want to pour in money in an association which is constantly at loggerheads with its own stars? Cricket builds up stars and hockey tends to denigrate them," he said.

Kapadia added that the last superstar of hockey, Dhanraj Pillai, was being treated like an impetuous teenager and it was a constant battle for him to stay in the team and soon after, he and six other senior players were sacked from the team.

Jagbir Singh added that if a player's confidence was being mistaken for an attitude problem, then it was sad. "If a player has no attitude and confidence on the field, then what good is he?" Singh wanted to know.

Kapadia said that it was a feudal mentality where players were treated like scum and did not get the kind of respect that they deserved. "It is shameful that even the Under 19 Indian cricket team stays in better places than the Indian hockey team when they go somewhere to play tournaments," he said.

It is perhaps the burden of nationalism that the game of hockey carries and thus has been burdened by the weight of bureaucrats and administrators who are suffocating the team and its performance.

Midway through the show, 51 per cent of the viewers said yes, India was in danger of losing her national symbols, while 49 per cent disagreed.

Is It Time To Re-think Our National Symbols?

Hockey does not fire the imagination of Indians anymore, it does not excite Indian crowds like cricket does and a game of hockey does not unite the country to cheer for a team as one. So does this mean it is time that de-facto hockey stop being India's National Game? Should it replaced by cricket instead?

To this, Lokesh Sharma said, "I don't see any reason why a particular game should be stopped playing or replaced. We have a huge potential as far as hockey is concerned. We have won eight gold medals, we have dominated the world hockey scenario. When it is an Olympic sport and there are medals to be won, I don't see why we should stop pursuing it. We can very easily go back and win an Olympic gold even if we set ourselves a target of six to eight years."

However, he expressed regret over the fact that India was now being defeated by countries that play hockey as a part-time, weekend sport — such as Holland and UK.

He said that hockey was given a national status when it was at its peak and that now the players should fight back and regain that iconic status.

"All one needs to do is sit down, clear all the cobwebs, draw up a blueprint, get the infrastructure in place and start playing. It requires the most minimal of investment. If anyone was to go in the market and show a proper blueprint, I am sure corporate bodies and the Government would be more than interested in supporting the team," he added.

Star Status

Dhanraj Pillai has been one of the greatest players of hockey India has seen. There have been other players like Ashok Kumar as well, but none of them have been made into stars like MS Dhoni, Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid.

Novy Kapadia said that this could be partially because there was no media involvement in the sport.

"The Indian Hockey Federation (IHF) has had no accountability, the Federation has not helped in building up players at all. In fact, Dhanraj Pilllai was actually axed by IHF. Hockey gets into controversies in India very frequently. First they have to get their own house in order and the money will automatically start rolling in," Kapadia stated.

He said that the finance will come only when the Government and corporates have a nice, rosy picture of a healthy team in front of them.

"Once that happens, automatically heroes will be created. Here, there is non stop controversy so the big money is not getting attracted to the team," he added.

Chak De India Didn't Help

Jagbir Singh said that apart from corporates not wanting to pump in money into the game, films that have been made on the game did not help any.

"I think Chak De India actually depicted the true condition of Indian hockey and hockey players, but I also feel sad that other sports cashed in on the game while the sport on which the film was made did not manage to do the same at."

He said that he was not blaming other sports but instead blaming hockey for lagging behind while other sports have gone ahead.

Singh said that officials were far too powerful where hockey is concerned and that is one reason why the game is stagnating in India.

Kapadia added that someone like KPS Gill cannot be sacked for he is an elected official, and unfortunately, no sports official in India has ever taken moral responsibility for the game and resigned after a debacle.

"I think that officials like KPS Gill need to take up more responsibility and become professionals. Soon after India won the World Cup in 1975, there was a huge controversy and players like Surjit Singh were thrown out of the camp. Hockey has become more like a game of Snakes and Ladders. Every time we seem to be going up, something happens and we get pulled right down," Kapadia said.

Should Hockey Take Up Capitalism?

Maybe it is time a sport like Hockey took a leaf out of cricket's book and became more capitalist, move over to the private sector and shed the feudal, official image and the babudom permanently.

Lokesh Sharma said that once the team started winning and when someone got a winning formula in place, these things would automatically start changing.

"Once the team starts doing well, there will be so much pressure on the people who are managing the sport that heroes will be made and money will automatically start coming in," he said.

He also added that at present, IHF was being run by retired politicians and bureaucrats who were out of power who like to latch on to sports to cash in for themselves the best the can, without caring for the team.

Final SMS Poll: Hockey Debacle: Is India in danger of losing her national symbols?

Yes: 61 per cent

No: 39 per cent

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