Like Greg Chappell, Ric Charlesworth too came to India with the sole objective of making money and the Australian should not be reinstated even if the International Hockey Federation (FIH) insists, said angry Olympians.

Olympians M P Ganesh, V Bhaskaran, Edward Aloysius and Gavin Ferriera were unanimous in their observation that Charlesworth, who resigned from the technical advisor’s post recently, simply did not fit into the system and should not be reinstated.

Recalling Chappell’s turbulent stint with the Indian cricket team, Bhaskaran drew a parallel with Charlesworth and said, “Greg Chappell was paid a huge amount but he could not bring the results. He is still hanging around in India because he and other Australians know that they get easy money here.”

“There is a project started by FIH and the Indian ad hoc committee has made Bob Davidzon as administrator. On what ground Davidzon was roped in and how can he administer Indian hockey without knowing the situation of hockey in India?” asked Bhaskaran.

Ganesh, meanwhile, questioned Charlesworth’s commitment and alleged that the Australian had breached his contract.

“Whatever I have seen in his activities, he was not committed at all to his work. For example, going to Australia twice or thrice and going to Champions Trophy on commentary assignments — I don’t think that these were part of the contract. He had breached the contract,” Ganesh said.

“To top it, he criticised all the functionaries in our country, including the Sports Ministry and was trying to make an issue. I do not think that he will fit in to our system or he has that much patience and knowledge to handle the situation,” Ganesh said.

“I do not know whether it is because of his temperament or else. He has not given any inputs, except talking here and there. He had not given in writing at all as to what he plans to do,” Ganesh said.

“I think that it is a blessing in disguise that he left,” Ganesh went on to say.

Aloysius said the Australian should not be called back even under pressure by the FIH.

“It is my feeling that Ric had shared information about our team’s strength and weakness to the coaches of the England team when we played the Olympic qualifier,” he alleged.

Bhaskaran was also unhappy with the way Charlesworth projected India.

“Ric’s manner of projecting Indian hockey is wrong. India has the highest number of players playing hockey in the world.

Among the hockey playing countries, about 25 Indians are still playing in European league. This itself is a fact that we have the talents and potentials,” he said.
“Ric’s exit is not going to affect Indian hockey. He has not identified the weakness and strengths of our players. He should feel happy that he got a huge sum for doing almost nothing,” he added.