Mumbai Mirror: Hockey India ignores most local umpires for Tegh Bahadur

By Mufeed Mahdi Rizvi, Mumbai Mirror

Almost all big names in Indian hockey have descended upon Mumbai for the Guru Tegh Bahadur All India Tournament that commenced at the Mahindra Stadium yesterday. Two games later, won by Northern Railway and Western Railway, there is one issue that has gone largely unnoticed.

Of the five umpires on the roster for the tournament, only two are from Mumbai — Umesh Bhine and Kartar Singh. This comes as a surprise as there over 10 umpires in Mumbai qualified enough to officiate.

The appointments, which are made by Hockey India, usually keep local umpires in mind. With only two major tournaments played in Mumbai — Guru Tegh Bahadu and Bombay Gold Cup — local umpires hardly get a chance to officiate on home turf.

A Hockey India official tried clarifying the issue. “Umpires from across the country get duty when their term arrives. Not that local umpires are snubbed or ignored. They will get their chance in the tournaments outside Mumbai,” the official told Mirror on the condition of anonymity.

This is a changing trend. In the last edition of this tournament, the presence of local umpires was heavy. Only a couple of outstation umpires had been called.

“This is our home ground. Just like the players, even the umpires like to perform in front of the home crowd. When our children ask question about the game, it becomes easier for all of us to explain when they watch us on the field. This is unfair. Local umpires, those who are qualified, should get the priority to officiate,” an umpire explained.

However, HI has the provision where the host association can ask for reinforcement if required. “Even we want the local umpires to stand in for matches. But the roster is prepared by HI. We have written to HI asking for two additional umpires and two judges be added to the current strength. Once we get the reply, we will add to the already strong bench,” Mumbai Hockey Association secretary Ram Singh Rathor said.

RESULTS

Pool-A: Western Railway 3 (Amit Rohidas 19th, Malak Singh 52nd, Jaykaran 64th) beat Union Bank of India 0.

Pool-B: N Railway 4 (Harjot Singh 6th, Harish 10th, Harsahib Singh 50th, Manpreet Singh 55th) bt South Central Railway 1 (Manikantan 18th).

TODAY’S MATCHES:

1.00 pm: Indian Oil vs Northern Railway

3.00 pm: Western Railway vs ONGC

5.00 pm: Bharat Petroleum vs Union Bank

TOURNAMENT OFFICIALS

Faiyaz Qureshi, Tournament Director (Nagpur) Sanjay Bhatia, Umpires Manager (Delhi)

UMPIRES

Pankaj Tyagi (Delhi), Dhaval Prajapati (Gujarat), Raj Kumar Jha (Nagpur), Amar Singh Negi (Delhi), Dilbar Singh Sandhu (Gujarat), Kartar Singh (SSCB), Umesh Bhine (Mumbai)

JUDGES

Nadeem Shaikh, Danny Keni, Mohammed Rizwan