Turf fight leaves hockey HI & dry
Bobilli Vijay Kumar, 10 January 2010 , 01:21 AM IST
When Indian hockey slipped into a new body more than a year ago, one thought it would be saying HI to a new system, to a new way of thinking too; sadly, it looks like it merely said bye to a tyrant and embraced a bigger evil: a multi-headed monster, an invisible one at that.
Earlier, you at least knew who was causing the damage; now, you can’t even fathom who is pulling the strings from behind the veil; or, indeed, eating away hockey’s very soul from within. Soon, unless a miracle strikes at the right places, we will probably only see broken sticks and broken hearts on astro-turfs.
When the IOA stepped into the rot, after India failed to make the Beijing Olympic Games, the country openly rejoiced: everyone believed that it would bring the game back on its feet. Unfortunately, all that was nothing but wishful thinking: forget moving forward, the sport has stopped running on the same spot even.
It is quite apparent now that the IOA didn’t really have the well-being of its national game; instead of cleaning up the mess, and reviving hockey, it simply became part of the decay. As the story slowly becomes clearer, one can vividly see the bigger design behind all this drama: power.
True, hockey does not really command big money; it does not even move the masses, like the willow-game. But then, only a fool would underestimate the power of sentiment; it has its own allure and its own high. No wonder that the IOA, after tasting blood, seems to be dragging its feet when the time to return the game to its rightful owners has come.
Ironically though, it is learnt that the IOA was stirred into action by none other than the sports ministry itself. But, like most of the government’s grand plans, this one seems to have backfired too: the custodian is refusing to give up its vice-like grip over HI (Hockey India); the fence itself is gobbling up the garden.
The sports ministry had to reveal its hand on Friday when the players at the national camp revolted en masse. It is only now that it might be understanding how it became a pawn in somebody else’s game; instead of turning the sport around, it has only helped in pushing it into a bigger cesspool.
As a fire-fighting device, it has come out with a detailed guideline for the elections that must be held before the World Cup this year. But it might already be too late: the dice have been rolled and the powers know exactly what is going to turn up.
As the world prepared for the mega events, they burnt twilight oil to get their men at the right places, to subvert the system. Now, even if the ministry manages to hold the elections in a fair and transparent manner, there can be only one victor; it doesn’t matter which group emerges strongest or who becomes president or secretary, there shall be only one master. You don’t need to be an Einstein to figure that one out. The invisible monster has already taken charge.