Revolutions are a rare phenomenon in history, occurring once in a long cycle. But it is a matter of routine in some unstable domains like the sport we love. Field hockey is perhaps the only global sport that witnesses revolution as a routine, demeaning the word itself.
Now another big bang revolution is going to rock the sports world, crowds will blast stands, world will be different, if the latest narratives of the FIH about the impending revolution are to be believed.
This is the difference between the Federation Internationale de Hockey (FIH) and the International Cricket Council (ICC).
The former manages world’s most unstable and conservative sport while the other transforms almost magically a gentleman game into world’s most professional sport.
If cricket today comes under top three sports in every country it is popular, hockey is number one game in NONE of the countries despite it is played ten times more countries than Cricket.
Cricket innovated without destroying old forms.
Hockey does the reverse.
The latest merry is dispensing away with yet another spec of history, the Champions Trophy, the tournament that entertained hockey connoisseurs for about five decades.
When the Test cricket could not stand test of times, ICC came out with One Day Internationals. When ODIs too proved to be too long for another generation of spectators, it came out with T20s.
Now, all the three forms survive, extent of success depending on the true merit or lack of it of each form.
This is basically the difference in outlook between pro sports and the ones that ape them without application of mind.
Hockey has undergone revolution as many times ball is intercepted in a hockey match.
Revolutions are one time affair, but in hockey it’s a routine.
When the synthetic grass was introduced in the early 70s it was hailed as revolution. The change was not because the FIH wanted it, or it foresaw its dividends, but because one Olympic Organizing Committee compelled them, threatened them.
But the FIH called it revolution.
Then when they removed offside, it was touted as another revolution.
Other revolutions (!) that have taken place in field hockey include
Rolling substitution
Introduction of dotted line as if number of lines dotting the hockey field is less,
Hockey 5s, abolition of tie-break for shoot outs.
Introduction of Hockey World League.
Quarters and reduction of play time from 70 mins to 60
These all disfigured hockey, did not usher in any revolution that the FIH promised to the sporting world.
Four years ago, the FIH claimed in an gay abandon akin to Archimedes innovation that HWL is the answer it was looking and got it. The FIH officials just were just short of rushing out of water body the way Archimedes did when he found his theories as a matter of chance.
HWL is a joke in itself at least nomenclature is concerned. For example, India and Pak met at
Raipur in HWL last stage. What was that match?
It was Semifinal of the HWL Semifinals!
Can any layman understand what all these semifinals are about?
Every stage had a semifinal yet you had a full blown HWL Semifinal in which not four but 8 teams participated out of which four reached, what, semifinals! Hell with semifinals!
Its irksome, nauseating, still we had undergone it last four years.
Leave aside, now the FIH brainstorm tells us Global Hockey League is just another Revolution in waiting.
Now half of the HWL will be there, and the remaining part will be GWL.
When HWL was put on board, it came after killing various Qualifiers (World Cup, Olympics, Champions Trophy) all in one stroke. These Qualifiers were attractive, understood and drew public attention. HWL is in that way confused everyone. Countries qualified 5, 6 months after HWL SFs! The purpose of league has become qualification to other tournaments while it should have been what leagues are meant to be.
Now the GWL will kill half the HWL and also Champions Trophy.
Can FIH not bring new tournaments, if it wants to, without throwing away historical ones?
We don’t know the nitty gritty of GHL. Better not to loose sleep. When you clearly understood what is GHL, another revolution will have swept it!
If HWL is success then why now GHL, which proves HWL has flopped. Which means the promised Revolution of last 5,6 years did not occur. But we have another Revolution. But according to the FIH yet another promise full stands and full revenues waiting to happen as it ushers in GHL.
If the FIH will make GHL successful, I will count it miracle.
But as of now the digging of graveyard for Champions Trophy, hurts.
GHL is yet another revolution in FIH hockey, but only in boardrooms.
When will the FIH will have some vision to keep history along side whenever it wants usher in Revolution
1 Comment
I have fond memories of the Champions trophy. I still remember the iconic 5-5 match between India and Germany played in the 1986 edition. I was a youngster then and enthusiasm for that match and hockey in general was unbound.
Fast forward now, I rewatched that match(available on YouTube). I realized after watching, the ending was great but there was no way I was going to make a hockey convert by showing a newbie youngster this game. There were too many interruptions and too many inexplicable whistles of the umpire.
I had reconcile myself to the belief, that I was the part of the dying breed of hockey fans in India.
And then I watched a hockey 5s match on the Olympic channel website and everything changed. It was incredibly fast, skillful and most important there were very few interruptions. I watched more of India’s matches. All the brilliant stick work and short passing that seems to have disappeared from regular hockey was present in abundance. Here was hockey that any youngster could get attracted to.
Yes Hockey 5s is truly a revolution, if given the chance but it won’t be. Since the 2018 youth Olympics there has not been a single major tournament that has been held.
I believe the reason is that journalists and hockey association executives are very resistant to change. They have a sort of fealty to regular hockey, no matter interest in India is decking, no matter FIH made losses the past three years.
I too used to have that fealty. I realized that fealty to regular astroturf hockey was foolish. Hockey’s popularity has declined and we have not won a single major tournament since artificial turf was introduced. More so, India has never beaten Australia, Germany or Holland in a major tournament(World Cup or Olympics) in the past 45 years.
So, the argument about world hockey league or champions trophy or some other tournament is meaningless. It will not stop hockey’s decline. Hockey 5s is the only hope, the real revolution.