Indian hockey boils again, this time real

Jan 8, 2009: Captain Rajpal Singh takes a stand on payment issue, a justifying one, the whole team is behind him. The Indian team practicing in Pune has stayed away from practice today morning.

Quoting the fact that the Hockey India did not even acknowledge the letter the hockey team from Pune has written – demanding money for winning tournaments and others – Rajpal categorically said television channels today that the team in Pune training camp will not go for practice unless the issue is not solved. 22 players are in Pune camp in preparation for the forthcoming World Cup

The players staying from today’s practice has become a national issue, with all leading television channels highlighting it in the headlines with visuals.

Even since the Hockey India has been formed without public debate or knowledge, a handful of vested interests have cunningly captured the Indian hockey administration. Unfortuately, they have not put in place any professional set up to manage the affairs, instead a few handpicks ran the show. Now it shows glaringly.

The players were certainly at loss in the last one and half years without proper care and concern.

Their pent up feeling has now come on centre-stage.

India played 47 international matches in the year gone by, what did the player get in return?

The Hockey India, despite getting the Sahara Sponsorship again, is so busy in election that real hockey hardly attracted the attention it was supposed to.

The players did not even get the minimum allowance on tours which is a paltry USD 25 per day on tour. Indian players were paid Rs.25,000 per month by sponsor Sahara in 2004 and it was stopped after the 2004 Olympics.