Election for the FIH president is round the corner. Two biggies – European Hockey Federation president Leondro Negre and the present president Els van Breda Vriesman, first women to ascend to the FIH chair – are in the race.

The winner of the straight contest will be known late next month when the FIH Congress concludes in Los Angeles, USA. Am sure the election won’t set the States on fire, a country that would have felt enough of election after the year long Obama-McCain feats.

FIH election hardly enthuses media. Some one was the FIH president for three decades, another for two decades and so on henceforth, but hardly did they leave any impression on the world stage. It’s not that they haven’t achieved but those could easily be bracketed within academic interest.

Normally so far in the history of FIH elections, we, the general public, hardly will have known what are the achievements of present incumbent who seek re-election and why the other party is not happy with him or her.

Right now at least, both the contestants, in a true democratic and tech-savvy way, opened their websites and it is prominently displayed in the official FIH website. This type of development is welcome, and we have to thank the present administration for opening the public door for canvassing.

So far the FIH elections were preserve of a elite few.

Only when Allen Danet challenged Els in her first attempt to become the FIH president, we got two press releases from the contestants. Els and Allen gave some target and information to the public — who in any case don’t have vote.

FIH election is still an European affair. All the past FIH presidents and Secretaries were from Europe only except Peter Cohen, who recently withdrew from the race. After the Soviet Union break up, Europe’s say in the FIH electoral college gains unassailable strength. Otherwise too, Europe has been dominating the scene and we don’t bother why was it so, even we don’t care why is it so?

FIH’s contribution to development of sport in individual nation is not much – it just manages rules and regulations of the game, post officials, allot tournaments. This has been the traditional function of the FIH.

Els’ approach, I strongly feel, was different from this tradition. She made the FIH marketing hub and wants tournaments to be held not on the strength of lobbying within the FIH but on the strength of market forces. We never heard of global partners of FIH before she came on to the scene. FIH website was an apology before her arrival.

Countries where hockey is in top five or six slot in the popularity chart should stand to benefit from her approach. I am certainly not talking about FIH Ranking of nations, but the popularity of hockey in countries.

In particular, no FIH president has taken so much care to see Indian hockey improves. ‘Promoting Indian Hockey Project’ is unique in the history of global governance of field hockey. She could even rope in the International Olympic Committee for the project. Even the World Cup was allotted to India in order to revive Indian hockey. She perhaps thought the emerging Indian economy could be a driver for Indian hockey to come up.

I would never subscribe to the view that the global hockey will survive only if Indian hockey survives. If some section in the Indian media thinks so, they are free to live in their own dream world. The rest of the world has moved ahead; the successful conduct of Beijing Olympics without India therein must open the eyes of India. World hockey can flourish without India. This is for sure.

Yes, India can certainly add colour, glamour, as the Premier Hockey League has done. It is the first ever domestic hockey league with all matches telecast live. If India’s real marketing potential is harnessed, it can be a force to reckon with in the global scene. Now in the global cricket scene, 70-80 percent of revenues are generated from India. If Indian hockey is administered properly, such a wonderful thing can happen in the hockey world also.

We, Indians, might not have understood the potential of India in the global context, but Els certainly has. She is perhaps the only FIH president who genuinely put in place a plan to activate Indian hockey. I don’t think without her strong words and action, the evil virus that was eroding Indian hockey, called KPS Gill, would not have been insulated. Due credit should go to her approach for this to happen. She helped remove KPS Gill. She brought the world’s best coach to India. She went out of the way to allot World Cup. One of the FIH press release says the profit of the 2010 Delhi World Cup will be spent on improving Indian hockey only. What more does India need from the FIH?

When she put forward the Promoting Indian Hockey Project in August 2006, we never knew India will finish eleventh at the World Cup, fifth at the Asian Games and second in Chile at the Olympic Qualifier. We were not looking that bad in August 2006, as things later turned out to be contrarily, but the FIH under her leadership still proposed the Indian project.

India is indebted to her. As an acknowledgement of her interest in Indian hockey, the present administration should openly announce their support to her.

Certainly, Leondro Negre cannot be an Indian enemy, in no case he would abandon whatever was initiated by Els in case he is elected to the FIH hot spot. We have enormous respect for him, as he is from Spain. It is another Spaniard, the former IOC president, Juan Antanio Samaranch, who elevated an Indian to the IOC Vice-president. Samaranch was trying to do a bit for our hockey in the early 80s, exactly what Els did now. He allotted funds to avail the services of Horst Wein, but the IOA then messed it up everything.

However, in view of Els’ last three years of consistent effort to improve Indian hockey, Indian administrators should not tread a politically correct path – taking no open stand – but openly announce their loyalty to Els. Not only that, they should canvass for her.

I request s2h visitors to post Support Message for Els. the email is els@vote4els.org