‘Play WSH, get axed’

Kabir Mandrekar

National hockey coach Michael Nobbs has said that players who join the World Series Hockey beginning next month will have no place in Team India.

Like cricket’s Indian Premier League, WSH is a cash-rich initiative floated by Indian Hockey Federation (IHF), a body that is locked in a legal battle with the internationally recognised Hockey India (HI), which currently runs the game in the country.

Seconding HI’s stand, Nobbs said at the national camp here, “I will personally make sure that the players are axed from the pre-Olympic camp and the national squad. There is no place for players who aren’t as determined as I am to see India qualify for the Olympics.”

Nobbs’s hard line came on the day WSH made public the names of 150 players who have signed with them for the event. Virtually every player training under Nobbs at the Balewadi Complex here is on the list, apart from the entire junior and development sides.

But the national coach insisted that no top player would take part in the tournament that he labelled as a league for retired players.

“You have players like Dhanraj Pillay at age 43 coming back to play this league. This is more like a stage for veterans to make a comeback and earn some money on the side. None of the top international players will be taking part,” he said.

Nobbs added that players who miss out on WSH riches shouldn’t feel left out. “Hockey India with the backing of the international body will have a very similar league in 2013. It is happening 100 per cent. Other national federations around the world are keen on it. Indian players just need to have patience and they will benefit more,” he said.

Nobbs said one of his biggest challenges in working with the players has been to get them to unlearn what former coach Jose Brasa had taught them.

“The Indian style of hockey is based on dribbling and individual skill. Brasa had taken these two things out of the Indian game. Getting them back in the minds of the players has been one of the toughest things in my stint so far,” he said.