Former Olympians, after staging a symbolic protest rally in Delhi, submitted the following memorandum:
APPEAL TO DISSOLVE PRESENT INDIAN HOCKEY FEDERATION SET UP AND FORM AN EXPERTS COMMITTEE TO RUN THE INDIAN HOCKEY AFFAIRS
To
Shri Mani Shankar Aiyar,
Hon’ble Minister for Youth Affairs and Sports,
Government of India,
Shastri Bhawan, New Delhi
Shri Suresh Kalmadi, President, Indian Olympic Association,
Nehru Stadium, New Delhi.
Sub: Appeal to dissolve Indian Hockey Federation headed by KPS Gill and form an ad hoc expert committee to run the Indian hockey affairs in order to save our national game from further disgrace.
Respected Sirs,
We, the former Olympians, World Cup & International players and hockey lovers of this country express our deep anguish the way Indian hockey has been constantly mismanaged by the Indian Hockey Federation which is headed by Shri KPS Gill since 1994.
Hockey has a vast talent in India and has the potential to become world beaters. With IHF at proper hands who will have vision and mission in mind and action, hockey can once again become a force to reckon with in the world. We are all willing offer whatever help Government of India and the Indian Olympic Association will expect from us.
Indian hockey, 8-times Olympic Champions, has been under-performing at the international forums due to the IHF’s mismanagement. As a result of lack of vision, dedication and systematic destroying of all institutions connected with the process of team preparation, and also undesirable dictatorial attitude of the present IHF set up, our team became a laughing stock at the international meets.
Last position at the home Champions Trophy (2005)
Failure to reach the semifinals of Commonwealth Games for the first time (March 2006)
Eleventh out of twelve teams at the World Cup in September 2006
A historical low of fifth rank at the Doha Asian Games in December 2006. It is for the first time in 48 years India did not reach semifinals of the Asian Games hockey.
We spent our youth by taking up the game in a big way and brought many laurels to the country. It pains us enormously to see our glorious heritage called hockey is allowed to such decay purely due to leadership failure.
Grass root hockey has been completely ignored; National Champions were not held; team selection whimsical, no planning with respect to target tournaments, inability to provide state of art training support, frequent change of coaches and support staff, and such unprofessional outlook have led to the totally unacceptable levels of deterioration of standards by our national team.
Despite being a public office, the IHF never made its accounts and sponsorship deals public. This is against the norms of public office and in quite contrast with other sport bodies in the country.
Keeping the over all scenario in mind, we appeal to
• Institute an inquiry into the financial dealings of IHF by an appropriate authority.
• Dissolve the present Indian Hockey Federation set up in order to save hockey from slipping further in the world ranking.
• Form an ad-hoc committee of Experts consisting of professionals from the fields of Hockey, administration and marketing to run the sport till a fresh set of IHF is selected by due process.
• Entrust the above ad hoc Committee to take immediate measures so that we qualify for the 2008 Olympics.
In the larger interest of hockey, we once again demand you take action on war footing to save hockey from dying.
We once again rededicate ourselves to resurrect Indian hockey. We will also wish to state that we will take other democratic means of expressing our anguish in case proper remedy is not initiated by the authorities.
Yours Truly
The following Olympians and International Players among the many players who signed the memo.
(Commandar Nandy Singh, Raghubir Lal, Hari Pal Singh, R.S. Bhola, HJS Chimni, Harbinder Singh, Abdul Aziz, Ashok Kumar, Zafar Iqbal, Arvind Chhabra, Pargat Singh, Col. Balbir Singh, Sukhvir Singh Grewal and others.
Some of the slogans raised in the procession
KPS Gill. Nothing More to kill hockey. Leave the scene
KPS Gill: Show Mercy, Leave Hockey
Sack Gill, Save Hockey
We are fifth in Asiad. Are you not ashamed Mr. Gill & Jothi?
Selectors – Resign and Tender Apology to the Nation
Government: Dissolve IHF
IOA: Take Over the IHF.