MUMBAI: The infighting in the Mumbai Hockey Association (MHA) came to the fore on Wednesday when a host of Olympians, World Cuppers and ex-internationals, led by Dhanraj Pillay, met Maharashtra deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar and sports minister Padmakar Walvi and submitted a memorandum listing their woes.

The delegation of players which met the ministers alleged that the MHA’s affairs were being mismanaged.

Apart from four-time Olympian and World Cupper Pillay, a Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Awardee, also present as part of the delegation were 1980 Olympic gold medal winning team member and Arjuna Awardee Merwyn Fernandes, Olympian and Arjuna Awardee Joaquim Carvalho and MHA secretary and 1968 Olympian Gurbax Singh.

Other players included 1960 Rome Olympian Kulwant Arora, Asian Games woman gold medalist Fiona Fernandes, CWG gold medalist Helen Mary, Happy Mann, Iqbaljit Singh, Rahul Singh, Darryl D’souza, Gavin Fereira, Edgar Mascarenhas and Ramesh Pillay, a media release said.

The galaxy of former players said the MHA continued to be reluctant in granting membership to players and clubs and that its premises at Churchgate are being misused by letting them out for weddings and other functions.

They alleged that there was constant bickering in the present Managing Committee where non-hockey members kept on stalling programmes initiated by Secretary Gurbax Singh and member Joaquim Carvalho, both Olympians.

They alleged that the organisation of the World Series Hockey matches in February-March was in peril when a section of the committee opposed the proposal tooth and nail and only after due intervention by the Indian Hockey Federation did the series see the light of the day in Mumbai.

They alleged that from among the 1,000-odd members of the association, only a handful are active and concerned about hockey which made it difficult to chalk out development programmes for the game which, they said, has seen a steady decline in the city over the past two decades.

The memorandum said hundreds of communications sent to the members are regularly returned on the pretext that the members were not traceable or their addresses had changed.

A section of the managing committee was not in favour of conducting a survey to eliminate these untraceable members, leading to claims that there are no vacancies when players applied for a membership, it said.

The Deputy CM assured the former players that a proper inquiry would be initiated about the allegations and due action taken at the earliest, the release added.