HI slaps two-year bans on Sardar, Sandeep
MS Unnikrishnan
Hockey India (HI) today slapped a two-year ban on mid-fielder Sardar Singh and drag-flicker Sandeep Singh for walking out of the national camp in Bangalore, just three days before the Indian team’s departure for China for the inaugural Asian Champions Trophy.
The HI disciplinary committee, headed by Pargat Singh, met both the players and the entire coaching staff here today, to get their versions of the players’ action. In the end, it was decided that strong action was required to maintain discipline in the team. Hence the decision to ban both the players for two years from playing in any approved national and international tournaments.
HI secretary-general Narinder Batra said the players will be informed about the ban tomorrow and will be given a month’s time to appeal against the decision. So, the ban will take effect only after their appeal has been considered by a five-member committee, comprising of one representative each from the Sports Authority of India and the Indian Olympic Association, two from HI and a players’ representative.
Batra said both the players were given a chance to come out with the truth, but they stuck to their earlier stand that they had taken permission from chief coach Michael Nobbs before leaving the camp on the morning of August 23, for family reasons. It now transpires that they informed the coach about their decision to leave the camp at 11 p.m. the previous night after their tickets had been booked for their travel to China. Nobbs and other coaching staff, however, repudiated the players’ assertion in front of the committee, which called their bluff.
The committee, composed of Pargat Singh, Government observer Harbinder Singh, players’ representatives Mukesh Kumar and Rajnish Mishra, selection committee chairman Balbir Singh (jr.) and selectors B.P. Govinda and A.B. Subbiah, had a lengthy interaction with the two accused and the coaching staff, including Nobbs, coaches S.S. Grewal, Mohd Riaz, Clarence Lobo and Jugraj Singh, before concluding that the players were not telling the truth, and strong action was needed.
“Sandeep first said his son was not well and then added his wife and parents were not well too, for the past one month. If they were not well for a month and he wanted leave, he should have communicated this to the selectors before the team for the Asian Champions Trophy was selected,” Batra noted. He said Sardar also cited family problems as the reason for quitting the camp, though they both said they were available for the next camp.
This was the third time in three months that Sardar and Sandeep had left the national camp without taking proper permission. They had earlier quit the camp before the Azlan Shah tournament to play in the Belgian league and then to attend a press conference convened in Mumbai to announce the World Hockey Series.
“Indiscipline cannot be tolerated,” stressed Batra. “Both are very good players, but the notion that they are indispensable cannot be accepted.” Batra, flanked by former Olympian and national selector Balbir Singh (jr.) and Harbinder Singh, with HI director Anupam Gulati also present, said though Sardar and Sandeep admitted that they did not communicate with captain Rajpal Singh outside the field, they had no on-field problem with him. Batra said the coaches had also disclosed that during practice matches, Sardar and Sandeep passed the ball to each other without relaying it to other players, affecting the team game plan and morale. But after their exit, other players combined well to play as a team, without indulging in individualistic play.
Balbir Singh said the hockey teams have been dogged by indiscipline ever since two captains were fielded in the 1968 Mexico Olympics and it was time strong action was taken to stem the rot from becoming contagious. Batra said the World Hockey Series (to be held under the aegis of the rival Indian Hockey Federation), was an event unsanctioned by the FIH and the international body can take action against the players if they play in events not sanctioned either by the national or the international body.
He said the Indian team will leave for a tour of Australia in October and the national camp, in preparation for the Olympic qualifying tournament in February, will be held from December 20.