Players, nations linked to World Series Hockey to be banned: International Hockey Federation

By Mihir Vasavda | Place: Mumbai | Agency: DNA

It was waiting to happen. There were a few wrinkles on the forehead of the officials when the Indian Hockey Federation (IHF) announced the ambitious World Series Hockey (WSH) in December.

On Thursday, their worst fears came true. The International Hockey Federation (FIH) has taken a firm stand on the WSH, with president Leandro Negre branding it as an ‘illegal’ and ‘unrecognised’ tournament.

The FIH has sent a strongly-worded letter to all the national federations, stating that ‘any player and any NA (National Association) that participates in the WSH may render that player and NA ineligible to participate in any FIH tournament, including the Olympics.’

“The league is illegal. It’s as simple as that. And that is our official stand. We do not recognise the IHF and anything related to it. For us, there is only Hockey India. Anyone who supports an illegal league is doing something wrong and we won’t tolerate that,” Negre told DNA from FIH headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland.

The League organisers maintain they are unperturbed by this development, and they will ‘go head with the league as planned’, despite the diktat issued by the FIH. “We are the only authorised body to run hockey in the country by the Indian government. The high court has recognised us and revived us. Who is FIH to say they don’t recognise us? It proves that they have scant respect for the court,” said IHF president RK Shetty, adding that they will mull a legal action.

The players are now at the receiving end. “I don’t know what to do. We have committed ourselves to the national team and for us that is the top priority. We will talk to the officials from Nimbus and then decide what can be done,” said Rajpal Singh.

But Negre said that if players associate themselves to this league, then the consequences will be dire. “I hope the players who have signed have a rethink. This can be treated as a warning. Any dealing, directly or indirectly, with the WSH will have a severe impact on themselves and their country’s participation,” he said. “It is totally unacceptable to us that the players and the affiliated countries communicate with the so-called league which is planned by an association that is not recognised by us.”

Discounting IHF’s argument that WSH is a domestic league and the FIH cannot have any say in it, Negre said, “If it was India’s domestic league then we could have not done anything. But since they have involved international players and are calling it a professional hockey, we had to take a stand.”

Negre said the FIH has been working with Hockey India to form a PHL-like professional league in India, and an announcement can be expected sometime soon.