Former national coach Rajinder Singh has strongly condemned the appointment of Australian Michael Jack Nobbs as the chief coach of Indian men’s hockey team, saying the selection is neither in favour of the players nor in the interest of the sport in the country.
Rajinder, who coached the Indian team for little over two years since April 2002, said the selection of Nobbs was against the tradition and culture of hockey in India and his appointment would not do any good to the struggling sport.
“We always had a hold on the Olympics. We have several great and experienced players. They (the administrators) have overlooked all those names and have forced upon the players a coach who is just the opposite of the tradition and culture in India,” Rajinder told PTI Basha.
The Olympian was baffled by the move as he felt there are a number of eminent former players in the country who could have don the responsibility.
“Could the hockey administrators not find a person from India, which has won eight Olympic gold medals rather than importing an Australian for the job,” asked Rajinder, who was forced to resign from his job following lack of support from the administrators.
Nobbs was appointed the coach of the national men’s team for an unprecedented five-year period, thus becoming the fourth foreigner to take up the mantle of reviving Indian hockey.
The 57—year—old Nobbs, who succeeds Spaniard Jose Brasa and has been a player himself, will take over immediately in the national camp in Bangalore scheduled to start from Saturday.
Rajinder also asked why the Indian coaches were not given the same amount of privileges as their foreign counterparts.
“The way Nobbs has been appointed for a long term and has been promised 10,000 Australian dollars per month, why is no Indian coach given the same amount of benefits?” he questioned.
“Indian coaches were neither given long tenure nor were they given handsome salaries. They were not even allowed to work freely and were treated like puppets,” he alleged.
“After appointing an Indian coach, they always used to interfere in his work. Indian coaches tenures were restricted to a particular tournament and they were not given the proper benefits. They were also restricted from doing experiments.
In such conditions a coach never felt secure,” Rajinder said.
He said it was not possible for any coach to produce good results under such hostile working conditions.
“Till the time you don’t show faith in your own people and bring changes in the internal structure, no matter how many foreign coaches you appoint, nothing positive is going to happen,” Rajinder warned.
He added that the forthcoming Olympic qualifiers will show how good a coach Nobbs is.
