A full team entered the Hockey Ground for the final. Then only it occurred to them that most other girls in the team do’t have shoes to sport. So, two or three girls in the team who had the luxury of shoes also decided to show a ‘shoe’ solidarity. They also removed them and played barefoot the entire match.

The incident occured in Rourkela, hockey capital of Orissa State, last fortnight. Our s2h man, Satish Sharma, was there, did not waste time, got the rare ‘shoe-less’ action on camera.

Of course, the team with the shoes (Little Angels Club, Hamirpur) won the finals 2-0, though the losers, New Jagriti Club, Jhar Beda, were not disgraced. With shoes, they could have turned the tables!

Satish Sharma Adds:
Last month (9-9-08 to 27-9-08) Rourkela Steel Plant’s Sports section organised a rural hockey tournament for both men and women groups. 44 teams in men’s section and 10 teams in women’s sections participated in the tournament which was played on synthetic turf of Biju Patnaik hockey stadium, Rourkela. In women’s section finals one finalists team played barefoot on the synthetic turf. On enquiry the team members revealed that they did not have the shoes to wear on, some said they were not accustomed to play with shoes and after the match they said they were comfortable bare foot! Certainly, they must have had enough blisters on their feet.