WITH anew regime to run the sport and agood show by the men’s team at the Azlan Shah Cup, Ric Charlesworth is arelatively happier and calmer person than the last time when he was in the Capital. But only ‘relatively’ and not ‘absolutely’. Indian hockey’s technical adviser says things are moving in the right direction but at the same time, laments that there is still alack of clarity when it comes to his role and responsibilities.

He stresses the need of afunctioning administration in Indian hockey and also a complete overhaul of the system to ensure smooth functioning of the game.

“Indian hockey is at crossroads where the administrators have to take some major decisions and that too urgently because we don’t know who is managing hockey at the moment. Itoo am not quite clear about my duties and responsibilities,” Charlesworth told MAIL TODAY in New Delhi before leaving for The Netherlands for the video analysis of the teams participating in the Champions Trophy. The tournament is getting underway from June 21 at Rotterdam.

The Aussie guru recently ended acoaching symposium at the Sports Authority of India (SAI) centre in Bangalore organised to give local coaches afeel of how things are done in the top hockey nations. Charlesworth also felt acertain level of frustration in the coaches. Afrustration which he himself felt acouple of months back when he was at the negotiating table with KPS Gill and his cohorts.

“The system in India can do that to you and again, it brings up the issue of aproper functioning administration. There hasn’t been one when Icame and there isn’t one even now, and this is the issue that needs to be addressed urgently,” he said. “I’m hopeful, but at the same time, Ifeel that those changes need to be done as soon as possible.

“The team needs to play at least 35- 40 international matches ayear with thorough preparations. For that it requires equipment and proper support staff.” His grievances are understandable; it’s obvious when he took up the responsibility, he would have felt that he would be given access to an extraordinary array of resources which India still possessed. Instead, Charlesworth got afront row seat to the insanity that surrounded the sport, thanks to its caretakers.

“India has an enormous amount of resources as compared to other countries, even Australia. If you tap them properly, the results could be staggering,” he said. Now settled in Chandigarh, the Aussie got a first- hand experience of the Indian Premier League, which had many Australian coaches who happen to be his friends.

“Yeah, I saw acouple of matches and in fact, Tom Moody, Greg Shippard and John Buchanan are pretty good friends of mine. “Hockey had something on similar lines –the Premier Hockey League –but the money involved in it was pittance when compared to the IPL, mainly because of the people running it. Hockey needs something like the IPL, if not for the money, then for the popularity at least,” he said.

Meanwhile, during his visit to Rotterdam, apart from taping the matches of the top teams, he will also train with the women’s national team which will be visiting The Netherlands for aforeign exposure trip.

Courtesy: Sandeep Narayan, Mail Today