The Indian hockey team stopped training for next month’s World Cup on Friday morning, reiterating their demand to be paid by Hockey India and could now face punitive action from the ad-hoc body governing the sport.
The players said they were forced to take the drastic move after there was no response from Hockey India to the two letters sent by them — one on November 23, before the team left for the Champions Challenge in Salta, Argentina, and the other on January 5 — demanding incentives for their good international performance in 2009 and a fixed monthly salary for the players.
“We had sent them (HI) two letters and had mentioned that we will stop training on January 8 if our demands were not met, but we received no response from them and that’s why we were forced to take this step,” said skipper Rajpal Singh, addressing a press conference with the entire team in attendance, at Balewadi, Pune.
At the Azlan Shah tournament in May last year — which India won after 14 years — the players got just $15 per day, while for the New Zealand tour in March, they received $20-a-day each. The only other money the players make on India duty comes from prize money, if any, at tournaments. “Pride se pet nahi bharta,” coach Harendra Singh had said during the Asia Cup in May in Malaysia.
“Despite us making it clear that we will stop practice, no Hockey India official thought it worthwhile to even talk to us. It is as if they thought this was not a serious issue at all,” Rajpal said, adding, “This is very important for us and we have been forced to take a drastic step. We will carry on with the strike till something materialises.”
However, reacting to the revolt, Hockey India has threatened “disciplinary action” against the players, insisting that they had responded to the players’ letters and promised to look into the grievances.
‘Can’t hold us to ransom’
“My colleagues and I sympathise with their request and will do all that is possible for us in given circumstances,” HI president Ashok Mattoo said. “But abstaining from training is an act of gross indiscipline. Hockey India will not hesitate in taking a strict action against players for this violation. The players cannot hold the sport or the federation to ransom, demanding to be paid or threatening to stop playing,” he said.
Asked later if they had received any communication from the officials, team sources said that HI had written a mail to the players on Thursday, stating that they were in talks with sponsors on the issue and inviting the players for a meeting on Saturday. “But it doesn’t solve our problems. We don’t think a brief two-liner was a response to our demands,” team sources said on condition of anonymity.
“We are not asking for the moon. An amount of Rs 25-50,000 for a tournament is not asking for too much. We only want a match fee. If they want to take action, they’ll have to punish everyone,” another player said.
This is not the first time players have raised the issue of poor remuneration. Back in 1998, seven senior players in the team asked for payments after winning the Asian Games, and were sacked.
In August 2008, three months after IHF was suspended, Prabhjot Singh and Gurbaj Singh had proposed a graded payment structure. Nothing came of it. In the same meeting, the question of rewarding members of the winning junior Asia Cup team was raised. A promise was made, but nothing followed.
After the Argentina series in January 2009, players complained that they couldn’t even call home or get their clothes washed often, as laundry came under “personal expenses”.
While the players are openly rebellious, the coaches and the support staff are playing it safe. “I do understand the hard work the boys put in. But I personally spoke to Mattoo and (Suresh) Kalmadi. The moment the elections will get over, we will definitely do something”, coach Harendra Singh was quoted as saying.
Rajpal, Prabhjot Singh, Sardar Singh, Arjun Halappa, Sandeep Singh and Tushar Khandker will be in Delhi for a promotional shoot on Saturday, and will meet HI officials later.