Indian Express: India hockey’s musical chairs continues

The newly appointed Sports Minister Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore announced that women’s coach Sjoerd Marijne will take charge of men’s hockey team, while former junior coach Harinder Singh will be in charge of women’s team.

By Mihir Vasavda

The day started with the new Sports Minister Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore announcing, on Twitter, that Sjoerd Marijne and Harendra Singh would be national men’s and women’s coaches. The minister’s tweet was a departure from the tradition, since in the past it is always the federation officials who make these important appointments public.
It is learnt that the coaches were finalized during a meeting between Rathore and Hockey India officials on Thursday. But few had expected Rathore to make the decision public so soon. The bigger surprise, though, was HI’s decision itself.

Last Saturday, the federation controversially sacked Roelant Oltmans as the coach of the men’s team following an extensive three-day review. Marijne, who is currently with the women’s team, had passed the test with distinction. HI was seemingly happy with the stability he had instilled in the team and the roadmap he had designed for the Olympics. “He will stay,” high performance director David John had said after the meeting last week.

Marijne did stay, but not as the women’s coach. Rather, HI handed him the reins of the men’s team. So now, both the men’s and women’s teams will start their preparations for next year’s World Cup and the 2020 Olympics from scratch.
HI’s decision is baffling at several levels. Sources says that Marijne’s name was discussed, and almost finalised, even before Oltmans was officially notified about his sacking. Even after finalising Oltman’s replacement, HI invited applications for job of the national coach. John had said that HI had reached out to several top foreign coaches. Harendra, who led junior men’s team to the World Cup title last year, was among the applicants.

If Marijne was identified as coach last Saturday, then why did HI invite more applications? Was the process just a formality? HI’s CEO Elena Norman did not respond to these questions.

John, who was the interim coach after Oltmans’ sacking, hoped the decision to make Marijne the men’s team coach would not be seen as HI giving less importance to the women’s team.

“I hope the decision is not misconstrued. It is something we discussed and only after Sjoerd agreed, we decided to take this step,” John said. “The support staff for both teams will remain the same to ensure a smooth transition. And both teams will train in Bangalore so the coaches can help each other in the process.”

Taking charge

Marijne is currently with the women’s team, which is currently in Europe preparing for the Asia Cup. He is expected to join the men’s team on September 20. Harendra, meanwhile, will take charge this weekend.

This will be the first time Marijne will coach a senior men’s team. Before coming to India in February, he was the coach of the Dutch women’s team. He guided them to a second-place finish at the European championship and a bronze medal in the Champions Trophy.

However, he was sacked a year before the Rio Olympics. According to the Dutch hockey federation, the decision was taken ‘to stay on top for a long term and increase the chance of gaining an Olympic title.’

A women’s team coach taking charge of men isn’t uncommon in hockey. Max Caldas was the coach of Dutch women’s team before he was moved to the men’s side – in fact, Marijne succeeded Caldas. Even Jose Brasa – India’s coach in 2009-10 – did not have an elaborate experience with the men’s team before coming to the subcontinent.

Marijne and Harendra have been given contracts till 2020. According to sources, the sports ministry has instructed the federation to ensure the contracts are honoured. “They have been categorically told to not change the coaching staff anymore and continue with the current staff till the Olympics,” a ministry official said.

Going by HI’s track record, though, it’ll be a miracle if Marijne and Harendra see out their contracts.