The Hindu : Sport / Hockey : FIH mulls over sanctions

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FIH mulls over sanctions

S. Thyagarajan

Chennai: The threat of sanctions against the Indian chief coach, Joaquim Carvalho, persists as the International Hockey Federation (FIH) is determined to pursue the matter to its logical end. Clear signals emerge in this regard.

Remarks attributed to Carvalho in the wake of the Santiago fiasco had shocked the officials, who were charged with the task of conducting matches in the second Olympic qualifier at Chile in February-March. After the defeat against Great Britain in the final, Carvalho was reported to have acknowledged that the team played below par.

But Carvalho’s subsequent pronouncements against the umpires and technical officials are viewed as a violation of the Code of Conduct re-drafted this year. What really seems to have caused considerable damage was the character assassination indulged in by one member of the team management against the Tournament Director.

The FIH lost no time in writing to the IHF for its comments on the reactions recorded by the chief coach and his associates in relation to umpiring and the conduct of officials.

It now appears that the FIH is not in receipt of an explanation so far. The IHF sources say the onus on commenting on the issues rests with the chief coach, who is expected to route his reply through its secretariat.

It is gathered that the comments by the coach as response to the explanation sought by the FIH will be studied by the Secretary, Peter Cohen, and the decision to impose sanctions or not rests with him.

There is also scope for the Secretary submitting the comments to a judicial commission for further action.

Code of Conduct

The Code of Conduct is clear that all participants in a tournament (officials and players) undertake that public statements at home or abroad (be it verbally or in print) must be “fair, constructive and reasonable and must not involve a personal attack on another player, umpire, appointed official or administrator. Non-adherence can lead to sanctions by FIH for the persons concerned.

Should the FIH go by this strictly and resort to the extreme step of clamping sanctions against the team management, the possibility of the chief coach being barred from the bench during the impending tour is real.

However, the FIH cannot view Carvalho’s comments in isolation. In the recent third qualifier at GIFU, Japan, the Malaysian coach Sarjit Singh had also criticised umpiring in the crucial match against Japan.

The Malaysians had claimed that the third goal — equaliser by Japan — was controversial and denied the team a chance to figure in the final against Germany. The last word is yet to be said on the Santiago fiasco.

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