Monday, the 17th March 2003. The Indian team bound for the Sultan Azlan Cup had just concluded their concluding training session at the Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium, New Delhi. It was a morning practise session as the team was to leave for Kuala Lumpur the same night. The media presence was limited except for a television crew, filming the practice session. After taking shots of some others in the team, the Zee News anchor approached Dhanraj for a byte. Dhanraj flatly refused. In the entire week that the team was in Delhi for training, Dhanraj shunned the media and so he made no exceptions for the Zee News anchor. A verbal duel seemed inevitable as the anchor persisted, but Harendera Singh, a former international player who was assisting chief coach Rajinder Singh, intervened to save the situation.
This churlish behaviour by Dhanraj was quite uncharacteristic. However, it stemmed from his belief that media was neglecting hockey. During the entire week of practise sessions in Delhi, he was simmering with resentment at the media’s oversight of hockey. It hurt him that the press neglected the news of him reinstated as captain after a five-year gap. “Isn’t a significant development? Our Azlan Shah news comes in five sentences whereas the papers have allotted full five pages for the World Cup (Cricket). We defeated Pakistan last year (in the Dhaka Prime Minister Gold Cup) that nobody bothered. Our cricketers defeated them (in the World Cup) and the media is making them demigods”. And, as only Dhanraj can do, he thundered. “I will bring the whole media to hockey.”
Half an hour later, at the end of my recorded interview, I asked him how such a change in outlook was possible given the current scenario of complete lack of media interest in hockey. Even as the teammates in the bus were urging him to hurry up, he chose to reply, “I know how to do that”. Despite my persistence about the details, he fixed his eyes on the Dhyan Chand statue that adorns the entrance to the National Stadium and took his own time before making a stunning reply, “It will happen. We will live to witness that.”
Had the famed player dodged the question? Will he become a journalist or start an image making company? The matter was left as it was with such stray thoughts, without having an idea that soon I would love to recollect the whole incident in a positive framework. Yes, I ‘lived to witness’ media flocking to hockey as never before within three months span from that — what I thought was an eventful but unforgettable and unpleasant — day. The media focus on hockey became so much the Indian Hockey Federation even enforced a ‘stop media’ policy for the first time in its 80 odd year existence!
But on that fateful day in March 2003, bad news awaited the Indian team. The Government of India refused to grant permission for the team to figure in the Azlan Cup due to Malaysia’s ill-treatment of Indian IT professionals in Kuala Lumpur. A fortnight ago, the team’s sponsors Castrol withdrew. Under the circumstances thought of turnaround in fortune appeared highly unlikely. Only Dhanraj, the eternal optimist, thought that the turnaround in media interest would still occur.
Two months later, Dhanraj led India to victory in the Hockey Australia Men’s Challenge Trophy at Sydney after missing victory in the Perth leg final by the proverbial whisker. Weeks later, the Indian hockey oozing with confidence emerged triumphant in Hamburg Masters Cup in Germany. This was a competition in which India never won a single match, let alone the title, in its six previous appearances. The double title triumphs in Australia and Germany caught the imagination of the people of India. It also jolted the national press into action.
Hockey was back in the limelight on a scale as it used to be in the 50s and 60s. Dhanraj Pillay’s birthday, which he celebrated with his team at Barog in Himachal Pradesh, became a national event. Besides the print media, all major television crew made it to the mountain resort to capture the moments live. Cinema stars appeared on the television to wish him. President of India and many Ministers invited the hockey team and happily interacted with them. Marketing agents signed contracts with the leading hockey stars like Dhanraj Pillay, Gagan Ajit Singh and Jugraj Singh. Schools in several states invited the heroes to conduct clinics for children. Dhanraj’s hockey heroes lived up to the expectations winning four of the six tournaments that India has participated in 2003.
Note: Balance in the book
K. Arumugam, 45, compiles world’s only International Hockey Year Books and edits stick2hockey.com. He has so far authored 8 books on hockey. He has had one of his essays on Dhyan Chand featured in the XI standard English Text Books. He also translated Eric Prabhakar’s ‘Way to Athletic Gold’ in a regional language. Acknowledged as a chronicler and historian, Arumugam is also a useful photographer. He has