Obituary: Joe Gallibardy (born 10.1.1915, Died: 17.5.2011)

State Salute will be in order for Berlin Goldie Joe Gallibardy

1936 Berlin Olympic hockey gold medalist Joe Gallibardy’s body lies in state in England, where he settled, his funeral is expected to take place later this week. He, at 96, was the last of the surviving member of both the teams that contested the Hitler’s Berlin Olympic final.

Joe, a product of Kharagpur based Bengal Nagpur Railways, is known for his individual talent and innovative bent of mind, the twin factors that took Indian hockey to its dizzy heights in the colonial era.

The Anglo-Indian Joe, the inimitable left-half of Dhyan Chand era, invented both Push Out during penalty corner drills and distinct and deceptive Roll In. While the Push Out helped the ball to reach the stopper on the top of the circle even on muddy and slow grounds, thereby made the job of hitter (Dick Carr) easy and helped him bring more goals for India, his Roll In style confused the rivals and the law makers alike, providing distinct advantage to India.

Roll In those days allowed a ball picked by hand and roll on the lines whenever it crosses the court of play. Joe often would make a large swing but leave the ball allowing his team mate to rush in and take possession. His was so tricky that soon law was amended to make such ‘deceptions’ illegal!

Such was the greatness of the brain of Joe like of which created a heritage called Hockey in its formative years in India.

Hockey career of the great player was cut short not just because of onset of World War II, but also due to family pressure. He was almost certain of selection for the 1948 Olympics, but since his wife was having one of his seven kids, his mother-in-law objected to him being away from his daughter! He had no guts to overrule her, this is what he told his colleague Trever Vanderputt, author of ‘Hockey’s Odyssey.

Joe migrated to England in 1956, thence to Spain before returning to London where he breathed his last recently.

Joe, thus, is a global citizen, but he won the Olympic gold for India. Its is therefore duty of the government to accord State respect to the departed soul. This will be fitting tribute to a great sporting icon that this country has produced.