Day after ‘deal’, hockey team still on strike

The feud between Hockey India (HI) and the players took another dramatic turn on Sunday with the players refusing to resume training and suspending all on-field activities till the federation comes up with a “positive and concrete response” to their demands.
The players’ stance was surprising given that both conflicting parties, after a marathon meeting on Saturday night, spoke of “deciding to mutually resolve the issues concerned”.

“The six players who met Hockey India officials in New Delhi yesterday had said they would talk to the rest of the members and let them know the final decision today. But the players are all united in their decision not to practice until our demands are met,” Arjun Halappa, one of the six players who was present during the meeting, told The Indian Express. The players have also nominated senior striker Prabhjot Singh as their representative to deal with Hockey India.

The decision has, expectedly, taken Hockey India by surprise with treasurer and member of the affiliation committee Narinder Batra even terming the ongoing protest as “blatant blackmail by the players”.

“We can’t understand why they are doing this after everything was solved yesterday. But we can’t delay this issue any more. Someone will definitely go to Pune tomorrow to talk to the players and find out a solution,” he said, adding that the final decision would be taken by HI president AK Mattoo. “We have a meeting with the FIH vice-president Antonio von Ondarza and the sports ministry on Monday regarding the elections but somebody will go to Pune,” Batra said.

Maharashtra Hockey Association president Ikram Khan was rushed to meet the players late on Sunday night but nothing materialised. “He simply said he would talk to Mr Kalmadi about our problems, but we don’t want any more assurances. We want to solve this problem face-to-face with everything in black and white,” a team member said.

Money insufficient: Rajpal

Skipper Rajpal Singh said the amount offered by Hockey India to the players as compromise — Rs 25,000 each — was meagre. “The amount offered was nowhere near what the team wanted and until this is resolved we will not practice,” Rajpal said. “The team felt that the federation was still not attaching any importance to us. Instead of making promises for future tournaments like the World Cup, we want our present dues to be cleared,” he added.

Asked about the 1-crore promise by HI for a podium finish at the World Cup, Halappa said any special incentives for upcoming tournaments were never part of the demand. “What we are demanding is for the past year’s performances, not vague promises. Our decision to go off practice was by all players and to stick to it is also a combined decision from all of us here,” he said.

Another player also said that the team was not in a mood to relent on this issue. “If after all these years, they say that they don’t have money to run the national sport, they might as well hand it over to a private enterprise which will at least try to make some profit and pass it on to the players,” he said.