The Indian Hockey Federation’s office bearers met for a long duration at their president KPS Gill’s residence here on Wednesday to discuss the Chile Olympic qualifier debacle, but none of those present was willing to take the blame or try and find a quick solution to what needs to be done ahead.

The 10-day mourning period, so to say, got over on Wednesday but the IHF is still grappling with serious issues like what happens to national coach Joaquim Caravalho and what role does one assign to Ric Charlesworth. Blame games have been going on for long, and while everyone has given the verdict that Gill should go, it must be mentioned that the role played by secretary K. Jothikumaran has been anything but constructive. He has maintained stoic silence and talked to one or two select scribes.

Even though Jothikumaran has no official role in the team selection, he has been instrumental in getting selectors to “pick and drop” players in the past. In the present selection committee, Gill is the chairman while Gurbax Singh, Harmeek Singh, BP Govinda, SS Sodhi and Ajitpal Singh (Government nominee) — all Olympians — are supposed to watch and pick the squad.

This time around, before the Olympic qualifiers, in a smart move, the selectors washed their hands of the job. It is on record that the selectors, who are all backed by Jothikumaran, wrote to Gill that they do not want to select the team. And the reason given for it at that time was they had not seen the boys play enough at the camps. This is the same selection committee which picked the team for the 2006 World Cup in Germany where India came 11th with V Baskaran as coach. And a few months later, the same wise men selected the squad for the disastrous Doha Asian Games, where India failed to make it to the semi-finals.

Ever since Gill decided to take matters in his hands and appointed Caravalho as coach, Jothikumaran has not liked it. He wanted Harendra Singh in the squad to assist him, which did not happen. And now that Caravalho has resigned and his future as a coach remains in doubt, Jothikumaran is learnt to be lobbying hard for Charlesworth to get a bigger role. For his part, Caravalho, who has stopped talking to the media, is on record that he has no problem with Charlesworth coming to help the Indian team.

Half the confusion in Indian hockey seems to have to do with Jothikumaran and his small coterie. He is the same man who smiled in front of TV cameras when India did well at the Asia Cup last year in Chennai. And in the euphoria after India’s T20 triumph in the World Cup at South Africa, Caravalho raised his voice for the boys after which a wise man in Hyderabad decided to announce plots of land for the 18 member hockey squad and two coaches. It is learnt that Jothikumaran also angled for it, though, till date, none of the players has physical possession of the plots.

Now, when the team has flopped and not made it to the Olympics for the first time in 80 years, the same officials, selectors included, are doing the post-mortem of India’s performance. If the selectors were so scared of picking the team for Chile, do they have the right to now ask, “Why was Sandeep Singh not picked?”

Team selection in any sport in India causes a ripple. The team has flopped, so the selectors and Jothikumaran also need to stand up and quit.

For long, they have insulated themselves from performances – good, bad or ugly. Lastly, if you want to know how a player is treated in India, sample this. Few days before the team is to leave for Chile, Prabodh Tirkey flies down from the Bangalore camp to New Delhi for adding visa pages to his passport. After the work, he goes to the hotel in Karol Bagh where the IHF normally puts up its team. Prabodh is told there is no room, so he spends the night on the terrace of the hotel where there is just a shamiana for cover. Truth is, the same night at the same hotel, Jothikumaran and his cronies are partying in two rooms!

Who picks up the tab for it? Maybe, this needs to be well discussed at the IHF meeting too.