Just adjacent to where the big boys of Indian hockey are having their camp prior to Asian Games, some young guns are trying their hand in the Delhi’s hockey label, the Nehru Junior Cup, considered to be a stepping-stone to the big league. But despite attracting hundreds of teams from far flung areas like Gumla, Rourkela, Sundergarh, Khunti and having brought to fore talents like Dilip Tirkey, Ignace Tirkey, Gagan Ajit and Arjun Halappa over the years, the organizers seem to confront problems.
One of the major problems is the lack of funds. ONGC is the main sponsor, but from what we hear; the lucre coming from there also is on decline.
“We get sponsorships from some government agencies and also from the Government of India. ONGC is our main sponsor. But these grants are not enough. We have asked the ministry for higher grants, considering that the expenses have been rising on a yearly basis and a tournament like this sees an expenditure of around 40-50 lakhs every year. As society members and organizers, we run behind sponsors. Sometimes it looks like we are begging but what to do, we need to run this nursery of Indian hockey going and we will do all it takes to run it,” says Kukoo Walia, the Organizing Secretary.
Considering that for a sub-junior tournament, there are 28 teams that arrive to the capital from all parts of the country — which means boarding, lodging, food and transportation (even if it’s very reasonable) of 560 athletes alongside officials and also the prize money for it — the expenses that Kukoo Walia speaks of look realistic.
Apart from the financial difficulties, there are other roadblocks. Like getting sound hands to conduct the tournament in a fair manner. Sitting at the stands and seeing a few of the referees, one can easily understand that the ability and capability is nowhere close to what it should be to look like professional hockey being supervised. Its obvious umpires miss out a lot of fouls, ‘carried’ and such nuances.
“We do often take classes and get many experienced people to talk to the staff about the changing rules of the games so that they can be made aware of the latest rules and regulations. We hold sessions almost every day and sometimes we show them clips of big tournaments on the large screen to make them aware of things. We need to understand that all of these also include financial assistance,” says Kukoo Walia.
Another problem that has plagues is over age of players, aided by doctored certificates made at their native states. This though is something very chronic and looks like not many have answer to this.
“This is a very chronic problem in our country. The principals and the coaches verify the ages. Things can go haywhere in tribal areas where reverting back for further verification is difficlt due to logistic problems. We have a medical team for this purpose but let me be honest; no doctor can exactly pinpoint a player’s age. Probably only an X-Ray can rightly tell that but that will take 2 to 3 days. Atournament of this magnitude, and where the event is held within 8-10 days, we cannot afford to wait thisfar, for a report. I have heard central government is working on a scheme to control this problem and hopefully in 2-3 years, things would look good in the matter,” he continued.
6 Comments
Dear sir,
its a big surprize to see this article,
how do you say that food, transport, lodging etc. are big problem for the organisers- mind it all the teams participating in the tournament are paying Rs.175/- PP, to the organizers.
2. organisers are also getting support from Ministry.
3.companies also paying sponsorship money to the organisers(as informed by organisers).
4.against Rs.175/-per day you can check the quality of food and living conditions, not batter than slums. the participating teams were lodged in the DHARAMSHALA under the conditions like hell. only final phase few teams were in the hotel.
5. few teams were thrown out of the lodging place, same evening after loosing their last match, and forced to stay at Rly. platform due to none availability of the train tickets.
as far as over age problem is concerned, almost 90% boys and girls are Over age. though organisers were kind enough for some of the most over age teams.
the tournament committee is having its own doctor, who made a mockery of testing. even by appearance itself most of the teams were looking O’age.
can’t we do X-ray once as you quoted at least, facing all the problems. let the tournament ruined for that particular session, but next session onwards it will be controlled, its my opinion.
5.The Referee part of the tournament is very poor, as I came to know from insiders- about half of them are none qualified referees.
as the team officials whispering, there is no sufficient drinking water is available for the players.
this is my request to the writer to please check all these facts and write.
Dear visitor, I am trying to get the views of both the writer and the organizers on the valid points you raised in the comments. Thanks for your interest. We will get back to you soon.
Secretary of the Organizing Committee of the Nehru Hockey Cup tournaments, Kukoo Walia replies to the comments of PK Sharma.
“See there were 38 teams in the competition and only 6-8 teams stayed at the Ambedkar Bhawan, rest all the team were lodged at decent hotels with all facilities. It is wrong to say that these 6-8 teams were unfairly treated. Because we provided all facilities to these teams as well. There were cleaners available 24/7 at the bhawan for the upkeep of the place and the food was served thrice a day, of top-notch hygiene and quality. People have questioned the water quality. Let me assure all that we provide 24/7 mineral water to all our players and what happens sometimes is due to not being informed, re-filling takes a little time but these are trivial things, I don’t think should be raised at all”.
“As regards to sponsors, we did not have any this season for both sub-junior and junior. Even ONGC pulled out. Grants and the per player funding that is given, we had accumulated 3 lakhs while the cost was up at 12 lakhs, which we contributed from our reserves. All these monetary things will be reflected in our balance sheet in black and white. Whomsoever says Rs.175 was given is far away from facts. The reality is not 175 PP but 150 PP. The facilities that we provide for that kind of money (boarding, lodging, food, transport etc.) is absolutely more than what we receive from them.
“Regarding players sometimes not having accommodation, this is a false charge. We try to give accommodation to the best of our capability and a good duration also. Sometimes teams stick around even after losing because of reasons like non-availability of tickets etc, even in that case we stretch their accommodation etc but its not always possible to get them to stay for days after they are over in the tournament.
“As conclusion, I would like to say that we are doing what best we can to deliver this tournament, the only organized one at this leve
“As conclusion, I would like to say that we are doing what best we can to deliver this tournament, the only organized one at this level and have faced criticisms always but it won’t deter us. There are a lot of constraints but it has not stopped us till date. We have improved year on year and would further improve. We would continue this process and deliver a even better tournament next year for all of us to witness,”.
This was all that he said and I guess it answers all the questions.
Writer Sakunia adds: This is what Birsa Munda side Mr. Bijay Lakra, whose side won the junior’s tournament, said to me:
“See the facilities are good. They have placed us in a good hotel and the food etc is also above average. This is what my players also want. We are not looking for five-star facilities either and whatever given is pretty good and upto the mark”.
its absolutely wrong that all the teams were provided hotel facility, only final phase teams were loadged. no doubt Nehru society did good job for hockey promotion, but they should not cry for small things. the reserves they are using now, only earned through these tournaments earlier.if society will do it in proper manner people are ready to help as they do earlier.
you just talk to Lucknow, jharkhand teams they will reply how they spent night on plateform.I don’t ant to accuse only, my intention is to give a message for the betterment of hockey. organisers should not think that no one is aware or they are the highest petriots of hockey.
As far as Birsa Munda’s coach’s reply, this is the humbleness of that man, more over he was the winner- at that time we Indians forgates every sore. this my humble request to secratery forgate all ego and do some positive, its allready established matches since last 40 years, don’t let it go down- improve it.