Printed Article

Times of India
V. Narayan Swamy

Bangalore: Women’s hockey in India is never short on controversies. The latest to rack the game is the irregualr flow of graded payments to the natinal pool of players and coaches that began with the entry of a sponsors three years ago.

It has been nearly a year since the players and coaches received their cheques from City Limouzines, the sponsor roped in by the IWHF in 2006, sources told TOI. payments were regular in the first few months but shrunk to a trickle by mid-2007 before the last of the cheques were handed over in February 2008, the sources said.

Accordingly to the IWHF grid laid out in 2006, players were bracketed

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According to the IWHF grid laid out in 2006, players were bracketed in the Rs 10,000, Rs 8,000, Rs 3,000 and Rs 2,000 categories while the coaches were given Rs 15,000 (national coach), Rs 12,000 (chief coach, juniors) and Rs 5,000.

There were obvious difficulties in grading players every month, particularly with the frequent entries and exits in the team but sources alleged that the IWHF contributed to the situation by being rather slack in its approach.

City Limouzines officials corroborated the view stating that there were many months of inactivity when frequent reminders from the sponsor to the federation went unheard.

“We told them on many occasions to send the list of players to us so that we could clear the payments. We are committed to paying stipend to players and coaches and there has never been any delay from our end,” a City Limouzines official told TOI. The official said the cheques were always drawn against the names of the players. “This way, we ensured the recipients got the money promptly. There are many players with limited sources of income. We didn’t want any complaints from anyone.”

According to the official, the sponsor was only playing it safe, particularly after it found that the IWHF had not allegedly kept its word on two other issues. One was the publicity and advertisement which the federation had said the sponsor would get in major tournaments.

“Out of a total amount of Rs 1.05 crore to be handed over annually to the IWHF until the 2010 Commonwealth Games, Rs 50 lakh had to go to the players and the other half was to be given to the IWHF for publicity. But we weren’t happy with the results or the visibility that we got. So we decided that we wouldn’t pay them the other Rs 50 lakh,” the official said.

The remaining Rs 5 lakh, reserved for team jerseys and kitting, too hasn’t been spent in a deserving fashion in the past, the official alleged.

The IWHF denied it had defaulted on the payments but admitted there had been a delay. “There are difficulties in getting things done on time because we are functioning without an office,” a federation official told TOI. “We have to prepare lists of players for every month and that requires time.”

The official insisted the players would be paid once they reach Delhi in the next few days en route to their respective international tours.