Another exercise of chasing a chimera is on. The dismay over the deplorable show by the hockey team in the Olympics is being deflected for the umpteenth time to a committee that is expected to solve the tangle of governance.
The Indian Olympic Association, which authored this mess in 2008, now comes up with a three-member commission to determine who among the claimants — Hockey India or Indian Hockey Federation — will administer the sport.
Painful exercise
To go back to the genesis of the crisis is a painful exercise. If K.P.S. Gill and his associates were guilty of failure in India not retaining its Olympic spot and deserved to be replaced, the scenario now is no less different.
The IOA, then under the command of Suresh Kalmadi, invoked the vague clause “disrepute to the game,” and disaffiliated the IHF. It constituted an ad hoc body, and then created Hockey India, fully aware of its legal and constitutional infirmities. The IOA hoped it would brazen it out with the opposition that cried foul of ignoring the canons of democracy. The Delhi High Court ruled against the disaffiliation.
It is difficult to imagine that the IOA, which has a slew of problems to solve, will disband Hockey India for the inglorious London campaign. Such recourse will receive spontaneous approbation. Hockey India’s record of administration is nothing to speak of with any degree of eloquence.
Tragically perhaps the International Hockey Federation, misled and misinformed, acted in haste.
Cover-up mode
Unable to retract, it ventured into a cover-up mode, raising various issues with the IHF over the failure of the merger from 2000 but continued dealing with the same office-bearers till 2008. How the three-member commission will untangle the imbroglio is a million-dollar question. All previous efforts, including that by the Sports Ministry, met with a dead-end after generating hopes of an accord.
What probably prompts the FIH to direct the IOA for a final decision could be related to India’s commitment to hosting the World Series League. If the FIH believes that a solution will be on the table on August 31, it is hovering in illusions.
A quick-fix remedy to a problem that has eaten away the vitals of Indian hockey for four years is unlikely to be found on one day (August 21).
The three-member commission may have no option but to recommend another ad hoc panel. If pushed to that edge, the IOA-team should keep the officials from both factions out of such a panel. The IOA can even think of forming an advisory committee enlisting members from outside its ambit, inviting senior lawyers and industrialists who share a love for hockey, to end this endemic national malaise. IOA’s urgency underlines a hint of desperation. Is it not time for the factions to realise the damage they have done to the national sport? They will earn the gratitude of all if a formula, embracing the frame-work of democracy, is framed and implemented quickly to extinguish the flames of acrimony, mistrust and egoism.
Keywords: Indian hockey team, Olympic debacle
We have been losing in hockey for the past 30 years. We have been trying the same old things and failing repeatedly. The Europeans overwhelm us because of their superior height, strength, fitness and stamina. There is no way we can counter that. Our bodies are not made that way, we are thin and wiry. But I have a radical suggestion to combat that. Every spot in the team must be filled on the basis of a speed test. If you fail the speed test you should be axed, no matter what your skill level. Nothing else should matter, find the fastest people we can find in the country, train them in camps and send them on tours. It should not matter if these people in the beginning know nothing about hockey. Only speed can counter the bigger bulk and strength of Europeans. What is there to lose, we have tried everything else for the past 30 years, why not give this idea a chance. Get some sponsor and set up an academy on this principle.
One more of my earlier views:"It is the game as it stands now on astro turf without offside rule that pushed India and Pakistan down in ranks.No need for foreign coach as Indian coaches can handle but physically strong and atheletic players of Ice Hockey era with connivance of FIH over the years made it a power Hockey suitable for robust Europeans,Australians,Argentinians and South Koreans.Skill takes a back seat and no excuse for India with all the exposure,camps and practice matches.We made a climb in cricket likewise other nations climbed over us in Hockey;let us accept the fact and try to qualify in future Olympics".
Both sides have never shown any inclination to solve the impasse.With FIH still interested in the money available in India they are not going to let go the opportunity by disowning Hockey India.The IHF has been restored by the law of the land .Can IOA go against the law ? Can the IOA who shot the IHF be expected to play doctor and save IHF? It appears wholly absurd.Let the FIH and IOA stay away.The more they get involved ,more the damage they'll do to Indian hockey.
Please Email the Editor