HI threatens to shut down camp

M.S.Unnikrishnan

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, January 12

The stand-off between Hockey India (HI) and the striking players has come to a flash point with the former threatening to shut down the coaching camp in Pune if the players did not rejoin it by Thrusday morning. A Hockey India delegation, comprising president A.K.Mattoo, treasurer N. Batra, Rajeev Mehta, Harish Sharma and director of planning Jagbir Singh, had flown to Pune to talk with the players, who continued to stay away from the camp, insisting that their financial demands be met, which reportedly included Rs 4.5 lakh for each player, monthly salary and a graded payment system.

The HI suggestion that it would make a payment of Rs 25,000 to each player was rejected by the players though HI insisted that this was what the apex body could presently afford as it has to make Rs 25,000 each to the women’s players and Rs 15,000 each to the junior players as well.

The HI team could not make the players’ relent from their stand of boycotting the national camp in preparation of the upcoming World Cup, till Hockey India met their demands. But Hockey India has also hardened its stand, telling the players to mend their ways and report for the camp by Thursday morning, or else face severe action.

Mattoo said it was sad that “money was more important to the players than playing for the country. It’s a gross violation of the understanding the players had with Hockey India when we discussed the matter in Delhi last Saturday. We have given them time till tomorrow to think it over and join the camp by Thursday. If they don’t come for the camp within 48 hours, we will be forced to shut down the camp. Then we will take action as deem fit”, said HI adviser Anupam Gulati.

He asserted that HI will have “another team for the World Cup” if the seniors continued to abstain from the coaching camp. He said notwithstanding the players’ stand-off, India would definitely field a team for the World Cup, and there was no doubt about that. “India will participate in the World Cup”, said Anupam Gulati emphatically.

International Hockey Federation (FIH) vice-president Antonio von Ondarza also backed Hockey India’s stand that the players should report for the camp first as “nowhere in the world a hockey player plays for money”. He was “shocked” at the strike by the players as he felt that they should be putting their best foot forward in the training camp, instead of indulging in arm-twisting tactics, with the World Cup Hockey Championship just six weeks away.

Ondarza, who is the FIH observer for the Hockey India election, joined the HI team to Pune as he was very keen to settle the impasse. But he was taken aback and shocked when the players insisted on getting their dues cleared before concluding their talks with the HI officials.

The players were sticking to their stated position that they will rejoin the camp only if all their pending dues were cleared while Hockey India also maintained its stand that the present body was an ad hoc one, and it had no money to clear the players’ dues in the absence of a sponsor, as of now. But HI has promised that it would look into the players’ demand once the Hockey India elections were done with, and a new, properly elected body was put in place.

“The players’ priority now should be to prepare for the World Cup camp as the country’s image was more important than getting their dues cleared, though HI never said that their demands would not be looked into”, explained Anupam Gulati.