Bring over Brasa

The Spaniard has the credentials to put Indian hockey on the right path

SOME things never change in Indian hockey. So, it isn’t surprising that a few days before coach Jose Brasa from Spain lands in town, we have Sandeep Singh, the new captain of the Indian team shouting all the way from Argentina “we do not need a foreign coach!”

For long, there has been almost hatred among players and coaches at home when one mentions the prospect of a foreign coach being hired. The dislike for them is clear, because anyone coming from abroad will have the credentials, authority and a whip to crack.

The players know, if someone like Brasa, an FIH master coach who is now in town and speaking to the babus in the government and the IOA run ad hoc committee looking after the hockey affairs gets the nod, they will have to work really hard.

One would have thought that nine months after the Indian team lost in the Olympic qualifiers at Chile, the mindset at home would have changed. Sadly, be it the people now looking after hockey at home now or even undeserving players being pitchforked into captaincy, we have not woken up to the realities.

When Ric Charlesworth came and left last year, it was clear almost none wanted him. So if Brasa, a man who has been in the coaching business for almost 40 years and has worked wonders with the Spanish teams is talking business, we need to hear him. IF ONE thought Brasa doesn’t read English papers, they are all wrong. He had already read the provocative statement from captain Sandeep. And I am convinced, a player like Sandeep, who former national coach Joaquim Caravalho never picked, is saying things he shouldn’t be, just because he owes allegiance to some people in the present coaching staff.

And if one of the respected members in the ad hoc committee is to be taken seriously, Sandeep is in for some trouble when he returns. One needs to take a deeper look at Brasa’s credentials. Apart from having guided the Spanish women’s team to the gold medal in the 1992 Olympics at Barcelona, he has been conducting a lot of workshops for the International Hockey Federation (FIH), which means he knows what he is talking about and how tough it will be to work in an Indian environment.

Having said that, when Brasa talks of fitness being the main reason why Indians are not doing well, it must not be going down well with people at home.

As it were, Brasa has said money is not an issue for him if he is going to take up this job.

Then again, if people in the know in the Sports Ministry are to be believed, money is not an issue at all for paying a coach as long as he is a good one.

And with people like Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi now asking to make cricket the national game, we need to get serious about hockey all over again.

2010 is not far away and we have the World Cup, Commonwealth Games and the Asian Games in China. Unless the Indian team does well in these Games, London 2012 Olympics will remain a pipe- dream.

If not for anything else, at least if a coach like Brasa is signed on, you could be sure the Indian team will not be travelling to the IG airport without their passports in hand. And if the coach expects a hundred per cent from his boys, he will even stick his neck out so that the players get their pocket allowance. After all, to travel 32 hours to Argentina on three connecting flights means players do need some foreign exchange even if it is just for a quick snack or meal at the airport.

UNWANTED GAMES

And just as we twiddle our thumbs on hockey, comes the news that the National Games in Jharkand have again been postponed. These Games, which have virtually no value, are like an unwanted baby.

The Indian Olympic Association allotted these Games to Jharkand over six years back and they have been postponed twice. From what one has seen in pictures of infrastructure being put- up at various venues in Ranchi, the work is far from complete. In its present state, no sport can be held at any venue, though the IOA woke up only on Saturday and said the Games stand postponed to June.

Obviously, whoever took this decision has no clue about the history and geography of Ranchi, which will be blazing hot in the summer. Already one hundred crore rupees have been spent on infrastructure.

Everyone knows these stadia will serve no purpose once the Games are over.

In a state where hockey and athletics are the sport where adivasis have done well, to build a swimming pool or badminton hall makes no sense.

One hopes that the IOA will not force the National Games down the throat of any other state Olympic association after this. Let Ranchi be the last edition, good, bad or ugly.

By S. Kannan
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