Hockey India is set to roll out a pro league in the coming months, with the international body’s sanction and promising participation of top foreign players. However, it comes almost a season after Nimbus and Indian Hockey Federation conducted the World Series Hockey in a moderately succesful fashion across the country. Sunil Manocha, President – Nimbus Sport, speaks about the impending rival league and WSH’s own plans for the upcoming season.

Do you think two hockey leagues (of the same level, intensity) can co-exist in India?

World Series Hockey has already established itself as the world’s largest (and only) global hockey league. WSH 1 was broadcast live in over 30 countries across the world. In India itself there were 32 million viewers who tuned in to watch the event on television and over 350,000 fans who packed stadiums across the country to watch the matches live at a stadium. The phenomenal success of WSH and its tremendous positive impact on the sport of hockey will obviously inspire others to also attempt other projects in hockey. to be honest, one of our key objectives with WSH was to reinvigorate the sport of hockey in India and across the world. WSH inspiring action by others into new projects in hockey is itself very deeply satisfying for us. The challenge for other hockey leagues anywhere else across the world will be to meet up to the extremely high standards of product and execution that has been set by WSH1. Only once this herculean task has been replicated and a successful product has been delivered, will the question of another league challenging WSH’s global dominance in the sport of hockey even arise.

You have exclusive contracts for WSH with players. But in case a few players approach you about switching sides, how will you deal with it?

All WSH players have signed at least 3 year exclusive agreements with WSH (some of the younger players have singed 6 year contracts). As is the norm in most global sports player contracts, every contracted player has to first approach WSH if they want to play in another league and the dates on which this league will be conducted. WSH will then evaluate the request and then pass the same on to the players franchise. It is then up to the franchise to analyse the merits of the application and then decide on whether they would like to give the player a No Objection Certificate (NOC) to participate in another league.

Players might prefer HI’s league, as it has FIH sanction, and will help them play for India. Do you anticipate that playing a part in their decision? Also, will you release WSH players in their best interest – if they are considered for the Indian team, but obligated to play the other league?

No organisation, be it FIH or HI or IHF has the right (legally or morally) to pose a restriction on a players ability to earn a living. Threatening to not allow a player to represent his country because he is earning a living (legally) is not only illegal and immoral, it is unpatriotic! We’ve also seen that these threats are really hollow as a number of Pakistani players who played in WSH 1 proudly represented their country in the London Olympics.

Unfortunately, none of us Indian hockey fans have ever been able to understand the selection procedures adopted by our hockey federations. The biases in the same have existed even before WSH was even conceived. Look at what happened to some national hockey players before the 2010 World Cup when they took a stand and refused to play till the compensation promised to them by the federation was delivered. After the dust settled, and the federation agreed to stick to their commitments, the senior players who actually led the fight for the team were unceremoniously dropped and not allowed to play for India

The biggest loser for these federation discriminations and biases is unfortunately the sport of hockey and our country, which are often represented by second string players

Do you think this will be like an ICL-IPL scenario?

There are almost no similarities in the scenario. WSH has been sanctioned by the Indian Hockey Federation (IHF) and has already delivered a product which has been hugely successful in India and worldwide. As a wise man once said “ talk is cheap”! The onus is now on any pretender to WSH to stop talking and actually demonstrate that it can deliver to the global standards of excellence set by WSH on the world hockey stage

One must also realise that unlike cricket, the necessity for creating a “window” for conducting a league in hockey is irrelevant. Indian hockey players play about a maximum of 25 to 30 days a year of international hockey. For the remaining 330 days they have no high quality competition events to participate in, only some local club events. During WSH 1 and during the dates of WSH 2 there is no major international hockey happening anywhere in the world. So this misnomer of the need to create a “window” is a complete eyewash. Thus the analogy to draw any cricketing comparisons on this are utterly ridiculous!

What are the plans for the next edition of WSH?

WSH 2 will take place from the 15th of December to the 20th of January. We already have a fantastic pool of players including some of the best hockey players in India and from across the world. The demand that we have had from new players who want to be a part of WSH 2 has been overwhelming. However, we can only accommodate around 12 new players and we will judiciously select these from the best available in the world. WSH 2 will take from the successes and lessons of the first edition and be even bigger and better

Will you be open to merging with the FIH league?

The question really doesn’t arise cause as of today, there is no other league. You cant really consider merging into something that doesn’t exist!

Could things have been done any differently?

The sport of hockey and its popularity has been falling over the last few years. WSH’s main objective has been to reinvigorate the sport of hockey and is something we’ve already had great success with in just a year of existence. We have always welcomed any persons or entity who has the interest of hockey at heart into the WSH fold and we will continue with the same.