Indian Hockey Technical Report

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INDIAN HOCKEY “NATIONAL GAME OR NATIONAL SHAME ?”

SUBMITTED TO: MRS. LIPPI CHAKRABORTY

PROFESSOR, HUMANITIES DEPARTMENT,

JIS COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING

SUBMITTED BY: RITESH 12301611054 SURAJ SHAW 12301611084 SUSHANT SAURAV 12301611086 RAVI KR. SHAW 12301611053 VIKASH KUMAR 12301611090 SAROJ KR. YADAV 12301611059

DATE : 19TH NOVEMBER, 2012

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LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL November 19, 2012 Mrs. Lippi Chakraborty Professor, Humanities Department, JIS College Of Engineering Respected Madam, We are submitting to you the report, due November 19, 2012. The report is entitled “INDIAN HOCKEY- NATIONAL GAME OR NATIONAL SHAME”. The purpose of the report is to inform you of the present condition of our national game. The content of this report concentrates on the issue of negligence to the game. Sincerely, Students of Electrical department, JIS College of Engineering

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

We would like to acknowledge our teacher for giving us the

opportunity for making the presentation on INDIAN

HOCKEY. We would also like to thank our parents for

providing us with all the facilities that helped us making this

presentation and technical report. THANKING YOU, RITESH (12301611054) RAVI KR. SHAW (12301611053) SURAJ SHAW (12301611084) VIKASH KUMAR (12301611090) SUSHANT SAURAV (12301611086) SAROJ KR. YADAV (12301611059)

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TABLE OF CONTENTS TITLE………………………………………………...1 LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL………………..……2 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT…………………………..3 TABLE OF CONTENT……………………………..4 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS…………………..……5 ABSTRACT……………………………………….…6 INTRODUCTION…………………………….....…..7 BACKGROUND…………………………………8-11 STATEMENT OF PROBLEM………………...12-13 SLIDES…………………………………………..14-16 CONCLUSION………………………………….….17 BIOGRAPHY…………………………….…………18

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LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS LIST OF FIGURES:

1. Figure 1 Field Hockey 2. Figure 2 Ice Hockey 3. Figure 3 Inline Hockey 4. Figure 4 Dhyan Chand 5. Figure 5 Leslie Claudius 6. Figure 6 Balbir Singh Sr. 7. Figure 7 Ajit Pal Singh 8. Figure 8 Dhanraj Pillay 9. Figure 9 Mohammed Shahid 10. Figure 10 Indian Hockey Players at London Olympics 11. Figure 11 Indian Hockey Team at London Olympics 12. Figure 12 Dhanraj Pillay blaming politics 13. Figure 13 Indian Hockey Player after losing the game 14. Figure 14 Stars promoting IPL

LIST OF TABLES: 1. Table 1: Medals Won In HOCKEY WORLD CUP 2. Table 2: Medals Won In SUMMER OLYMPICS 3. Table 3: Summary of all medals won

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ABSTRACT

The presentation on INDIAN HOCKEY was prepared to put light on

the present condition of our national game.

The London Olympics perhaps will remain a watershed in the history

of Indian hockey. The Indian hold on the sport which was once

synonymous with them in the early part of last century, seems to have been

lost forever as India lost all their matches at the London Games. Losing,

however, seems to be an understatement in this respect. India were simply

outplayed and annihilated in London.

Well, if asked some Indians about what they thought was the National

Sport of India his answer would most probably be Cricket. Even though

most people will agree but, the truth is the National Sport of India actually is

Field Hockey. The thing is actually the hockey team deserves little better

treatment and higher praise than cricket.

Our question becomes “IS INDIAN HOCKEY A NATIONAL GAME

OR NATIONAL SHAME ?”

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INTRODUCTION Hockey has been played in India way before Cricket was, Hockey became India’s national game in 1928 and was played for the first time in the Olympics that year. The Indians won the gold medal without conceding a single defeat in all the matches they played. From then on until 1980 India virtually dominated the sport winning 8 gold, one silver and two bronze medals in the Olympics. Once it trounced USA by margin of 24-1 goals. Such was its glory. 1980’s scripted the decline of Indian hockey, and heralded the rise of Indian cricket as popular sport. In 1983 India won the Cricket World Cup and instantly its charm reverberated throughout the country. It was in this decade that Indians were introduced to Televisions as a large-scale that helped the cause. It is not surprising that hockey’s loss was cricket’s gain. "A new low for Indian hockey: Played 5, lost 5'' read a front-page headline in the Hindustan Times on Wednesday. The Hindu newspaper's headline for its match report read: "National game now a national shame!'' Hockey was chosen as the National Game because of the team's unparalleled distinction and matchless talent at the time. During the phase, India had played 24 Olympic matches and won all of them scoring 178 goals and conceding only 7 goals. The only other achievements of the team later that are worth mentioning are the gold medal in the 1964 Tokyo Olympics and the gold medal in the 1980 Moscow Olympics. The black magic Indian touch and their ball juggling feats have become almost extinct now. Perhaps we need better coaches, more finances and facilities and more practice on Astroturf, which has a faster surface than the grass, where Indians have to practice. It will be a good idea to train the talented children in hockey right from school level, providing them the necessary funds, training and facilities to preserve the Indian glory.

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BACKGROUND

Everyone seems to be concerned about the poor state of hockey in India but no one seems to care about weeding out the basic cause. If Dhyanchand was alive today, he would have wished he wasn`t. Seeing the plight and misery of the Indian hockey team would have embarrassed him considering the fact that during its glory days India was to hockey what West Indies was to cricket in the seventies. Or what Roger Federer was to tennis in the first decade of the 21st century or Muhammad Ali was to boxing. My concern over here is not to discuss the misery of the national game, but to concentrate on the basic yet critical point that somehow came to the fore in the aftermath of India`s triumph at the inaugural Asian Champions Trophy. In between the quagmire of what transpired after the historic win and the prize announcement, one thing that was quite unusual was that most hockey pundits and celebrity fans went on comparing hockey with cricket. The peanuts offered to the team, a paltry sum of Rs 25,000 to each member of the winning squad was met with apt criticism and dejection. Even though, the government tried to save its face by increasing the amount and coming out with a list of its benevolence dished out for hockey and other sports in the country, the damage was already done. However, the natural progression of this should have led us to discussing the root cause behind such humiliation of the victors but inadvertently as is the case with Indians, the prime time TV discussions moved to cricket. Comparisons were drawn with the compensation offered to cricketers and was related to the meager sums offered to poor hockey brethrens. Some even suggested BCCI to show its magnanimity to come out and provide monetary assistance. My argument is that any amount isn`t going to magically cure the state of affairs in Indian hockey unless one understands the ailment affecting it. In fact, the ailment is a combination of different elements- maladministration, internal politics, lack of funds and the foremost; missing infrastructure. All of these

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maladies are crystal clear and you do not need a genius to point out these deficiencies. A closer look at these would reveal a vicious circle of incompetence, ineptness, lack of intent and planning and resulting dilapidated status quo. For all that we criticise BCCI for its greed and brinksmanship, what is remarkable is the fact that it has kept the funds flowing through shrewd marketing and its ruling with an iron fist in a velvet glove that has kept the cricketers in good humour. Seldom would you hear that a player is being banned for a disciplinary or other vague reason. The manner in which Sandeep Singh and Sardara Singh left the national camp just before the start of a major tournament left fans perplexed. The reason offered was, as has been the trend, personal/disciplinary issue and full stop. Imagine what would have happened if Gautam Gambhir or Zaheer Khan had faced similar fate. One thing is sure, the BCCI would have made their reasons clear so that the public would have been well aware and at least content with the openness. The world knows what happened between Sourav Ganguly and Greg Chappell, but are we ever going to know what the real reason behind two of the top hockey players leaving the national camp midway and subsequently being banned for two years was? I would say, the answer is not very inspiring. If anything that hockey in India needs today is an administration structured on the lines of the BCCI, manned by professionals with enough knowledge, competence and power to turn things in their favour when the push comes to shove. Marketing the game to the scale of cricket is not unthinkable, but frankly not possible at this stage. It should, however, be the ultimate aim. The popularity of hockey is unquestionable as can be gauged by the sky rocketing decibel levels during the Indo-Pak clashes. There have been attempts in the past for popularising the sport in the country, the most prominent one being the Premier Hockey League. It can be best described as a failed attempt to professionalise the sport, but an honest effort towards popularising hockey in India. At present efforts are on to inject life through World Series Hockey, another ambitious plan that hopes to see a participation of over 150 players from India and abroad competing for 8 franchises based in Indian cities spread over 61 matches. Even though the inaugural Champions Trophy wasn`t being covered live, still

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devoted fans were scouring through social networking websites and other sports and news website for the updates. Enough evidences to comment on the fan following of the national game. Another missing piece is the lack of infrastructure. Hockey is no more played on grass and the artificial surface on which players play their tricks requires a clever mixture of pace, power and skill. The Australians play the same style of hockey as Indians, but in a sharp contrast of fortunes, Aussies top the rankings chart while India is at ninth position behind countries like New Zealand and neighbours Pakistan. The majority of our hockey players come from humble backgrounds (Yuvraj Valmiki). They start their career playing on grass but need thorough training to acquire certain skills and gameplay that are needed when exposed to artificial surfaces. The more the astro-turf stadiums/practice pitches to play on, the better will the players be equipped to develop their game suited for the international level. Consider this – the Netherlands, a country whose size is comparable to Kerala has over 200 astro-turf grounds while India almost one-tenth of the figure. This aptly summarises the state of affairs as far as infrastructure is concerned. The wrangling over the supreme authority to govern hockey in India between Hockey India and Indian Hockey Federation is another unnecessary roadblock for the revival of the game. Its latest victim was the withdrawal of men`s Champions Trophy from the country that seriously jeopardised the chances of the team to qualify for the London Olympics in 2012. Setting the house in order would be the beginning to a long and streamlined progress towards bringing glory days back. Merger of the two factions is pivotal if the concerned officials sincerely want to see their efforts bear any positive result. Maybe, they need a Jagmohan Dalmiya of their own who is known for his excellence in sports administration.

After replacing the Indian Hockey Federation, Hockey India finds itself under fire over selection procedure.Indian newspapers and commentators have heavily criticised the country's eight-time champion men's field hockey team after they lost five consecutive matches at the Olympic tournament, including a 3-0 defeat to Belgium in their last pool match. "A new low for Indian hockey: Played 5, lost 5'' read a front-page headline in the Hindustan Times on

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Wednesday. The Hindu newspaper's headline for its match report read: "National game now a national shame!'' Other newspapers and television networks were also critical of the national team, with only midfielder Sardara Singh receiving praise for his performance throughout the tournament. India, who failed to qualify for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, play South Africa on Saturday in the match to determine 11th place. Former captain Dhanraj Pillay blamed field hockey officials and the coaching staff led by Australian Michael Nobbs for the poor showing. "Overall, it has been a disaster of a performance by the Indian hockey team except for one player, Sardara Singh, who played his heart out for the country,'' Pillay wrote in a column in The Times of India on Tuesday. "I don't know what our coaching staff has been doing in London. Hockey India should learn from this.'' Hockey India replaced the Indian Hockey Federation as the national ruling body three years ago after the IHF was disaffiliated by world body FIH over administrative issues. However, the now-rebel India Hockey Federation organised the World Series Hockey league earlier this year in which several former India players participated at the risk of being ignored for national selection. Pillay, who came out of retirement to play in the WSH, blamed Hockey India officials for banning players who played in that league.

"Our selectors have dropped some of the most experienced players"

"Our selectors have dropped some of the most experienced players,'' the four-time Olympian wrote. "There was no competition to select the Olympic team, anyone could have walked in.'' Another former player, Mohammad Shahid, said the current Olympic team did not deserve to be in London. "They have let the whole nation down,'' he was quoted as saying on the front page of the Hindustan Times. India has won eight gold medals at the Olympics, including six in succession beginning in 1928 at Amsterdam. But it has been struggling to stay competitive since synthetic turfs, not prevalent in India, were introduced in the 1970s. But expectations were high that India, which won the last of their gold medals in the boycott-affected Moscow Olympics in 1980, would finish among the top six after they scored an 8-1 victory over France in an Olympic qualifying tournament in New Delhi.

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STATEMENT OF PROBLEM

REASONS FOR FAILURE

INAPPROPRIATE GAME PLAN

The main reason behind the slump is due to the inappropriate game plan. All their departments were at their awful best and never tried to learn from their mistakes. They failed collectively as a unit and lacked focus. And after every match Nobbs could not help but say that the team never followed the plan and questioned the player’s commitment.

LACK OF FOCUS

They were playing as though they had already triumphed and were in it just for the sake of participating. And this started right after the Olympic qualifiers in New Delhi. They thought a good show at the qualifying event has put them in the league along with the best teams, but that was not it as they failed to realise the reality and paid the price for.

FAULTY EXECUTION

India did start on a reasonably good note against the Dutch and lot 2-3 and it looked like that they would pose a threat to the teams as the tournament progresses. But then it was however not the case and they crashed to one defeat after another.

LESS ATTRACTION It is difficult to compete with cricket for attention mainly because it has a privatised board. Their administration has promoted and improved the players and the game to make it what it is today and other sports associations should learn the same from the way cricket is administered. Hockey is 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."

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TOO MUCH BUREAUCRATIC INTERFERENCE

It is 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. Hockey should take a leaf out of cricket's book and get its act organised .

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"

DOESN’T HAVE ENOUGH MONEY Indian hockey is split down in the middle, players say they want better money but Hockey India says it doesn’t have the money . Who is to blame for becoming a national game into a national shame? Are the players justified in their demands and is the systemic mismanagement led to the present crisis ?

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SLIDES

1 6

2 7

3 8

4 9

5 10

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11 17

13 18

14 19

15 20

16 21

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22 26

23 27

24 28

25 29

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CONCLUSION

National Game of India - Hockey - Despite the ever-growing

popularity of cricket, Hockey has managed to still be the National

Game of India. The peak time of Indian hockey team was from

1928 to 1956, when it brought all the six consecutive Olympic

gold medals home that were held during those years. The end of

its glory were perhaps the result of the death of the star hero

Dhyan Chand, the introduction of Astroturf (still a rarity in India)

and the migration of many hockey-playing Anglo Indians to

Australia. Recently, the few wins have rekindled the interest of the

Indians in the forgotten game and have managed to grab a little

bit of attention to the hockey sport team stars such as Dhanraj

Pillay.

It is high time we need to give hockey its due and restore the pride of our national sports rather than making cricket a national game. Hockey

needs to be encouraged right from the grass root levels. It is demanding for “Project Tiger” , we need to take a call to bring back the

Golden days of Hockey again.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

WEBSITES SURFED

www.google.co.in

www.ibnlive.com

www.sportsindia.com

www.iloveindia.com