What Ails Indian Hockey: part II
MS Balakrishnan

Domestic hockey was given the short shift and the National championships (for which a modified format was worked out by a committee) was held once in 3-4 years. Then came the over-hyped premier league —in which a lot of money was invested and through which a few officials no doubt prospered – that collapsed under its own weight due to poor planning and execution.

So then, the question now arises – how and where did things actually go wrong? As an official closely associated with the functioning of the IHF during KPSG’s first eight years i.e. the period from 1994 to 2002, my individual and independent assessment is that KPSG somehow played into the hands of sycophants and persons out to make a living from the large amount of funds that he started to bring into this largely (till then) unpatronised game. He was and is, I’d unhesitatingly admit, a powerful leader but I am afraid, a poor judge of many of the people surrounding him. Most of them were not out to promote the game but to promote their individual interests.

And this then, is the crux of my whole article and argument – that the failure of Indian Hockey over the past 14 years of KPSG’s rule (despite the fact that India won the Gold at the Asian Games in 1998 after a long hiatus of 32 years) is largely a failure in the management of the game. As a management practitioner from one of India’s top business schools, I state with total conviction that what Indian Hockey directly needs, is a professional management team with a person with good leadership qualities at the helm. What is one to understand about this emphasis on professional management? Professional Management of Indian Hockey will essentially entail all of the following –

1. A proper administrative office

IHF has adequate space, ideally located in the National Stadium at New Delhi. KPSG hardly ever went there, preferring to function from his residence. The now disgraced Secretary General (except for his periodic visits to Delhi) functioned out of Chennai and it was largely a very old, retired official from Indian Airlines who had been for all practical purposes, running the administrative affairs of the IHF for the past 14 years.

2. IHF Constitution

The IHF Constitution, drawn up several decades back, has outlived its useful life. The enrolment of a number of Corporate units as Associate members, the formation of the Indian Hockey Confederation, an umbrella body for both the IHF and IWHF (and yet, one gets to witness the inbroglio associated with MK Kaushik’s appointment) and many other such developments, has made the present Constitution outdated. One of the provisions in any new Constitution, should limit the term of office of all the office-bearers, to a maximum of two terms of 4 years each – much like the term of office of the US President – something which should in fact, be adopted by all sports federations in the country to strengthen and improve their functioning and also prevent sycophancy and corruption from creeping in Wishful thinking? Just look at the All-India Football Federation, where an apparently incapacitated President continues to head the Federation as a figurehead. Many other constitutional changes are direly called for.

Mr. M.S. Balakrishnan was former Secretary, Indian Airlines Sports Control Board, 8 players from the Gold medal winning 1998 Bangkok Asian Games hockey squad were from this board when MSB was the Secretary. KPS Gill announced his appointment as Hony. Secretary-General of the IHF after the 1998 IHF elections but retracted when a weeping Jothikumaran pleaded for his continuance. MSB was then accommodated in the IHF as Vice-President, largely a ceremonial post.
MSB was also manager for the 1998 Commonwealth Games hockey team.

Note: This is the second of the three part series, which the former IHF administrator has painstakingly penned exclusively for stick2hockey.com