While Nimbus Communications have announced a grand plan called the World Series Hockey to promote the sport, in association with the Indian Hockey Federation, it is imperative to make the current status of all the parties concerned transparent, so that there are no doubts about the exact nature of this new scheme.

IHF: The IHF, which was suspended and subsequently derecognized by both the sports ministry and the IOA in 2008, was restored some amount of legitimacy by the Delhi High Court’s order earlier in 2010, which forced the ministry to recognize IHF. However, the international body (FIH), the Asian body (AHC) and the IOA, all continue to recognize only Hockey India.

Now, recently, the ministry had questioned the legitimacy of IHF elections and warned of derecognition, in reply to which, the new IHF secretary Ashok Mathur had told several leading newspapers that the elections had been held on October 3, and the ministry was also informed about it. He also said that the results were not released because of a Patna High Court order.

However, the order (on 29/11) which allows IHF to continue working very clearly mentions that the IHF had told the Patna High Court that, because of the stay order, no meeting was held on October 3, as scheduled. So, if there was no meeting held, how were the elections held on October 3? Either the order (available free on the high court website) is confusing or the IHF lying to the ministry about its elections. Such a body, which is only surviving because of government order and is now also threatened by ministry to derecognize, is grand planning a multi-crore league. Can they be trusted?

From the high court order, para 3: Considering the aforesaid submission this Court on 1.10.2010 issued notice to the IHF and stayed the meeting to be held on 3.10.2010. Counsel for the IHF submits that no meeting has been held in pursuance of the order of this Court.

At the same time, the IHF is also in a legal contract with ESPN-Star Sports, with whom they signed a 10 year contract in 2003 for the PHL. That contract has not been terminated and so, with this new contract with Nimbus, the IHF has violated terms of its own former contract. ESPN sources have confirmed that the IHF contract is still legally valid and they may drag the IHF to court on this issue. That puts the IHF on weak ground, both with the ministry and ESPN. In such a situation, how is the IHF the official body to run the sport in the country, as Nimbus claim?

Now, let’s talk about Nimbus communications.

Nimbus run two sports channels – Neo Sports and Neo Cricket. They hold the BCCI rights to all cricket being played in India and acquired fresh media rights for April 2011-March 2014. They were supposed to pay 660 crores to BCCI initially and 31.5 crores for every match. But BCCI sources have confirmed that they have defaulted on their payments to BCCI so far. If they default to the BCCI, which is a far more powerful board than IHF, what will be the status of the IHF deal?

Nimbus also hold the rights for all Bangladesh cricket worldwide. But they have not paid more than 50 per cent of money due to the Bangladesh cricket board. The company is known to draw up complex contracts which are confusing to most people. Their contract with BCB also had no mention of bank guarantee or penalty clause. The deal is under investigation in Bangladesh.

According to business reports, the company has a debt of around Rs579 crore, as on March 31, 2010.

Nimbus has also accumulated outstanding loans of close to 1000 crores with several banks. It has defaulted on repaying a short-term loan of Rs 225 crores to Punjab National Bank, due on June 30, 2010. It got extension till December 23, 2010 but has not paid up. Also the bank has not been able to pay the margin money of Rs60 crore to PNB and Union Bank of India, which was due by April 2010.

The company is in the process of coming out with an IPO to raise funds to the tune of Rs.900 cr, for which it has applied to the SEBI. However, it is yet to get the approval. There are also reports, unconfirmed however, that they tried to come out with IPOs in 2003 and 2009 but were unable to do so.

At the same time, the timing of the league is also dicey. The WSH is being planned from November 2011-February 2012, for about 2 and a half months. India host the prestigious Champions Trophy in November and the Olympic qualifiers in February. How will the league be hled between two such important events? Also, even though the organizers claim they will release players for national duty, how will that be possible if the most important period of team building for the qualifiers clashes with the league?

Most importantly, the FIH has already called it an unofficial league, without recognition, and has said it will advise all national federations as such about the status of the league. In such a situation, will the various national federations agree to send their players for the league? The organizers claim they will get directly in touch with “player agents” and that national NOCs are not an issue. It seems they do not realize that hockey, unlike football, is still largely amateur and run by national federations and not the free market. Even in football, there are NOC issues when a player agrees to play in a private league. How do they expect a smooth passage in hockey?

It’s the players who remain in the middle of all this. Either they are too naïve to understand the intricacies and are tempted by the money promised – and some amount that has already been given – or they are too clever and know it’s all a sham. They are simply making the most that they can and waiting for it fall apart on its own, without getting into trouble. It remains to be seen which way they finally go.