Messed up Indian hockey

It all started after India failed to qualify for the Olympics. The Indian Hockey Federation and its president weren’t too bothered about about the failure but the Federation of International Hockey was.

CJ: Avnish Anand

THE INDIAN Hockey Federation (IHF) has made Indian Hockey a joke. It would have been all gloom and despair for Indian hockey fans if not for one silver lining – the support of the Federation of International Hockey (FIH).

It all started after India failed to qualify for the Olympics. The IHF and its president weren’t too bothered about it but the Federation of International Hockey was. So they got Ric Charlesworth to help Indian hockey and even paid the Australian’s bill. The IHF however, treated Ric like dirt, never defining his role clearly. Ric tried hard to get a more active role – even volunteered to coach the Indians.

In the meantime, the IHF president was sacked and an ad-hoc body comprising of former players was formed under the leadership of Suresh Kalmadi.

The new committee continued its hostile approach towards Charlesworth who finally gave up and left. The IHF spared no effort in criticising the Australian.

Then the legitimacy of this ad-hoc body became questionable as two other groups claimed to have the majority support of the state federations and hence staked a claim to run the IHF. One of these groups happens to be led by the disgraced former president KPS Gill.

The ad-hoc body, meanwhile appointed MK Kaushik, in-charge of the women’s side, as the coach of the national side. Now consider this – Kaushik had been a flop in his previous stint with the national side and Indian hockey is in dire need of a fresh modern approach. This was like treating cancer with home grown medication.

Kaushik averted this calamitous arrangement by refusing the job, saving himself some future heart burn as well.

But the IHF was not to be outdone – they were determined to find a way to sink Indian hockey further. So they went and appointed former assistant Harendra Singh. He was given a new glorified designation also – coach-in-charge. As if the former coaches were not supposed to be in charge. His selection was justified as one based on credentials and seniority – as if they were appointing a government bureaucrat.

Then in a sudden change of policy, Suresh Kalmadi announced that they had decided to hire a foreign coach and Harendra Singh would be a stop gap arrangement who would give way to the foreign recruit. He said that they had discussed the matter with the FIH, who had decided to help the IHF with their search

What in the world was going on?

Hadn’t the same set of guys already driven away Ric Charlesworth – couldn’t he have been their foreign coach? He happens to be one of the finest coaches ever, was already on their rolls, was asking for the job and was working for free – his salary being paid by the FIH.

And I couldn’t believe that the FIH was actually helping them in finding a foreign coach. Hadn’t they done enough already by appointing Ric Charlesworth and giving India the right to host the 2010 Hockey World Cup.

Hadn’t they learnt anything from the manner, in which Ric Charlesworth was mishandled by the same set of guys? Wasn’t there enough reason to believe that helping the Indians was a futile effort? Was Kalmadi bluffing that the FIH was helping them.

A few days later, Ric Charlesworth was appointed as the coach of the Australian national side. Obviously the Aussies knew what Ric was capable of. Coming on the heels of the IHF’s announcement, the timing was ironical. I wish somebody could have asked one of the IHF bosses if the Aussies made the right choice.

And then a couple of weeks later, on Oct 14, the FIH actually handed over a list of seven possible candidates. This meeting was attended by the FIH president also and the world body reiterated their desire to help India restore their lost pride. Mrlmadi was right. The FIH was still interested in restoring the fortunes of the game in India.

This is an amazing combination of good and bad fortune for Indian hockey. On one hand, there is the IHF – clueless about what to do and shameless about what they have done. And then there is the FIH and its Dutch president Els van Breda Vriesman who are determined to do everything to save Indian hockey – over and over again.