It was with lot difficulty and hectic lobbing by the officials concerned with Promoting Indian Hockey the IHF has uploaded a new website three months ago. That the IT superpower India (India’s sizeable part of GDP comes through its IT and IT enabled global services sector) needed a headpush (kuttu) from the FIH for the IHF to start a dynamic and meaningful website is certainly something antithesis of what the real India is, but of course, it brings into picture how the IHF lives in the dark age.
The joke of all is, and also technically speaking, Indian hockey Federation is the only national federation in the hockey world to have two websites, as any search engine would easy make out.
Still, as things stand now, the website formed with the prompting of the FIH, fails to recognize its own tournament – 8-Nation Junior Invitational event in which coach Bansal’s boys are creating ripples.
Till the morning of Thursday (the 24th January 2008) in its current updates section, which suppose to update the media world in the first place, has just informs India that the juniors have started the tournament well defeating South Korea 6-1. This comes at a stage when India has already played five matches, won four of them with good margin and the other being a thrilling draw; and is a match away from reaching the finals. In the “Featured Event’ section we are still having only the 8-Nation’s Schedule though in four days’ time the team will be returning with a medal!.
World over Federations’ website bring their teams local, national and international performance either by directly engaging a writer with the touring teams, or managing to oursource whence tournaments are held.
In the recently held Champions Trophy in Malaysia, website writers of Federations such as The Netherthands, Australia, Canada and Germany were there to inform their country of their teams’ performance.
But the IHF website gropes in dark. So far what it has done was to put a Secretary’s photo (nothing wrong – he is after all IHF’s constitutional authority – in that if only every player, tournament and activities and others are also equally given their due space) with a state authority and it ironically notes ‘One man practicing sportsmanship is better than a hundred teaching it’. And we got the message!
Now one can go further and say, why this site goes the way the first one was (the first site which is still online was put on board in the early 2003).
As always happens, two experts managing the site belong each to a well known IHF lobby. One which owes its allegiance to IHF chief, and the other to its Secretary, Suresh Sharma (IHF’s Protocol Officer is also in-charge of current IHF chief’s security) and Jebaratnam (Joint Secretary of Tamil Nadu Hockey Association), respectively. Sharma., in particular, is the IHF acknowledged Communication Expert, having served for long in the FIH’s Communication Committee and attended many of its meetings held outside India.
As of date I never come across a single piece of article written by either of them, or their competence in forming and running a website. It is also not known whether they have managed any publication in the field of sports. If such things existed, we would have come to know on the merit of the publication. It would be nice if their competence in this regard also displayed in the website. Though both are not sine qua non pre-requisites for someone try something new at the cost of public money and learn!
The statistics section and state association info are the only laudable efforts so far.
Why don’t they acquire services of writers to cover tournaments, its own activities and other essentials that should essentially make up any website?
Pertinent question, indeed.
Having watched the IHF for over two decades, they are always hesitant to do things that are unproductive, unattractive and, to top it all such useless jobs as information dissemination. Last thing they do is to engage a professional journalist because every one in Indian media world must have written someday in their career against the IHF and it renders them disqualified to be their official partners!
Or the coach Bansal is not liked by those who run the site. Or, the site will take interest only when the team wins gold. Is anything less than gold is below the prestige of the IHF website?
When will the IHF learn to do something on professional lines?
So far the IHF website put two images and a para on the 8-Nation, both images taken from the other websites. How can an official website take photo from other sources and not acknowledge it. If this is going to be the things, what is the difference between an official website and the innumerable blos that dot the web world. Of course, we have the answer. The site is run by the IHF officials, so it is an official website. Let the concept of Official Information go to hell, who bothers.
Let us wait and watch.
Meanwhile it is pertinent to note here the media world also cannot blame the IHF for ignoring the Malaysia 8-Nation. I get four leading English newspapers. Am yet to get a single line on the tournament though here and there their websites have one or two lines on the tournament. Even if the IHF will post the match details or information even now, they would have overtaken the mass media.
I only pity Bob Davidzon, the project in charge, on how his suggestions take shape.
Very interestingly junior team section says under each player ‘No image’ How true! No surprise the IHF does not have the images of its own, and also of its junior team.