Anything traditional seems to be anathema to our powers that be.
Hockey India perhaps believes Indian hockey is just two years old! Simply because they are as a new dispensation is old only two years!!
That’s why we are made to believe Indian National Championship is two years old, for instance. So, what if it was held since the early 1920s.
Same way, as it had done with some others since its existence of two years, Hockey India has done everything to damage every domestic tradition which has been built over the decades.
And, now we now talk about All India Lal Bahadur Shastri Cup, an annual event regularly held in Delhi with much fanfare for over twenty years.
They want to continue the tradition, of hosting it in the spring season, and have made all arrangements.
In order to improve the quality of contests they invited foreign teams, and the ones from Malaysia, Oman and Pakistan have confirmed. They took out a press release last fortnight.
We don’t know what happened – and we are tired of chasing what would ultimately prove to be such stupid, egoistic and silly thing – Hockey India’s high profile (at least pay wise) Chief Executive Officer, Elena Norman, has written to these foreign bodies quoting, what else, Hockey India’s national anthem (composed by the FIH) – ‘Unsanctioned Event’.
The sole proprietors and monopolists of everything that is Sanctioned in India, has written against the tournament to the foreign teams who confirmed for Shastri Cup.
Our sources in Malaysia have sent us Elena Norman’s letter which is reproduced as follows:
Dear Sir,
We wish to bring to your attention that as per the attached media report, the Lal Bahadur Shastri hockey tournament is being conducted from 27 November – 4 December 2012 and states that a team from Malaysia is participating in the tournament.
Please be aware that the above mentioned tournament is not sanctioned by Hockey India and as such your team should be notified of the same and should not participate in any unsanctioned event in India.
We thank you for your support.
Elena
So, what do you make out?
Hockey India drags foreign teams into Indian mudslinging. It blocks them to Indian tournament.
It is not only unethical but also rank bad in taste for a national body to write such a communication to another national body in a matter concerning not national team, but a domestic tournament. It is certainly damages India’s image in an another country.
Inquiries lead us to believe that presence of IHF Advisor KPS Gill in the last year’s edition of the same tournament might have worked up with HI so as to react this way. Whatever, this is again internal thing, need not have spilled overseas.
As a parent body, HI is ought to safeguard the interests of Indian hockey, but the case in question put a question mark on it.
To make it appear rationale, another tournament is allotted the same dates, though it caught the organizers unawares.
This is definitely not a way to promote hockey in India. Indian hockey needs sophistication, not arrogance.
Despite persistent efforts, Shastri hockey authorities refused to comment on the issue.
It will be of course a prestigious issue for them to hold the tradition.
We hockey lovers always want HI to adopt a policy of ‘Live and Let Live’