Hockey stick in the mud

Uthra G Chaturvedi

It isn’t often that a non-cricket sport in India speaks the language of money to attract the best in the business towards a new experiment. And if the said experiment happens to go against the grain of traditional sports administrative practices in the country, expect not only question marks over its viability but also all kinds of hurdles that may or may not have anything to do with the sport itself.

This is exactly what has been happening with the proposed — and now postponed — World Series Hockey (WSH), an idea whose time had come, but perhaps whose organisers were too naive to realise the power of sports bureaucracy in India.

First, a brief encapsulation of what WSH exactly is. In simple terms, it has been envisioned as a 35-day competition which will have eight city-based hockey franchises with both Indian and foreign players battling it out, on a home-and-away basis, before the top four teams face-off in knockout rounds and eventually in a best-of-three final to decide the winner. There is a misconception that it is designed as a domestic hockey league akin to European football leagues. It is based more on the IPL in cricket.

What makes WSH special — as also IPL — is the huge amount of money at stake, not only for the organisers or the team owners but also the players. More so in WSH, since hockey as a sport, let’s accept it, doesn’t pay. But, like everything else in Indian hockey, the complexities go far beyond simple explanations. The organisers have promised huge amounts to players — from Rs 4 crore for the champions to Rs 25 lakh for the highest goalscorer — plus something they never had and craved much more: respect and mass recognition. After being an essential part of the Indian team for more than a decade, is Arjun Halappa recognised on Indian streets? Or, for that matter, Jamie Dwyer, the Australian striker who recently won an unprecedented fifth World Player of the Year award? No wonder the players are keen on participation.

But Nimbus Sports, co-promoters of the event, did this in association with the Indian Hockey Federation (IHF), not Hockey India (HI). Let me try and explain. The IHF was suspended in 2008 and derecognised in 2009 by the sports ministry, the IOA and the international federation (FIH). It was replaced by HI, a recognised ad-hoc committee, to govern the sport in the country. However, a Delhi HC ruling in 2010 held the IHF’s suspension and derecognition illegal and bypassing the normal course of justice, forcing the sports ministry to re-recognise it.

At the same time, the ministry termed HI as “derecognised” for not holding elections for three years nor following the laid-down procedures of governance. This, in effect, restored the 2008 status quo. Except that, in the meantime, the international federation decided to brazenly flex its muscles and almost take over the administration of the sport in the country, continuing to back HI and threatening to throw India out of all international competition. The HI vs IHF battle is still pending in the Supreme Court, but, technically, the IHF is within its rights to conduct any competition within the country.

Which is where the problem lies. For having any hopes of representing India at international competitions, players must have HI’s blessings, but there is little in it except pride. And HI has already said that any player who turns out for WSH will not get to don India colours. It would not assure them financial security, something WSH promises. What makes it even worse is the kind of dodgy selections and ego issues that mark Indian hockey, with getting picked to play for the country being more of a lottery than anything else. It’s a choice between the devil and the deep sea, and the players are hanging by their fingernails.

What has made the choice more difficult are the Olympics in August, and the qualifiers for the same in February 2012. Despite everything, for a hockey player, the Olympics still hold great importance, not least for the sense of history it evokes. If only WSH had been planned a year before or after, things would have been vastly different.

Now that WSH has been postponed, to be held after the qualifiers, players hope they will get a little more breathing space and time to make a decision. But HI has reiterated that it will not consider permission to WSH at any time.

Ironically, for an event that was expected to finally provide a worthy rival to cricket’s popularity, WSH may end up paying a price for the same. With the BCCI terminating Nimbus’s contract as broadcaster, the co-promoters of WSH may well be facing a financial crisis that could result in WSH being a stillborn baby.

At the moment, though, it’s business as usual for Indian hockey’s administration.