The International Hockey Federation (FIH) has practically rejected the ‘settlement' between Hockey India (HI) and the Indian Hockey Federation (IHF).
In a major setback, the FIH has withdrawn all major international events it had allotted to India in the next four years.
Taking a serious note of the development in India, the FIH on Friday expressed its grave concern to the Sports Ministry. The apex body for the sport was particularly unhappy that the arrangement did not comply with the Olympic Charter and the FIH Statutes.
“It is a fundamental and non-negotiable requirement of the Olympic Charter and the FIH Statutes (and indeed of the Indian Government's own guidelines and draft sports bill) that there can only be one governing body for a sport in each country with exclusive authority and responsibility to govern, organise national competitions and to enter national teams in international competitions,” the FIH said in a statement.
Reiterating that the FIH recognised only HI and not the IHF as the sole governing body of the sport in India, the international federation said, “The FIH had understood that that position was also accepted by the Indian Sports Minister, and that the intent of the brokered discussions was to resolve the IHF's conflicting claim to recognition by bringing the IHF officials into the HI fold.
“The FIH is therefore surprised and disappointed to learn that the proposal now is simply, as a temporary fix, to transfer governance authority in India from HI to a new ‘joint executive committee' controlled jointly by HI and the IHF and ‘co-chaired' by the HI and IHF presidents.
“This compromise fails to resolve the fundamental underlying issues that have blighted Indian hockey for so long.
“In addition, it does not comply with the FIH Statutes, which do not permit a member to transfer or share its powers to another body that is not a member of or bound by the FIH Statutes, still less to share its powers with a body (the IHF) that is involved in organising an unsanctioned event (World Series Hockey), participation in which is prohibited under the FIH Statutes.”
The FIH President, Leandro Negre, has asked Union Sports Minister Ajay Maken to organise an urgent meeting, involving the Presidents of HI and the IOA, to discuss the FIH's concerns and the ramifications of the current proposal for India's role in world hockey.
“In the meantime, the FIH Executive Board has decided that it is neither possible nor appropriate to continue with the discussions with HI to host tournaments in India over the next four-year cycle, particularly the FIH Men's Champions Trophy (December 2011), and the FIH Men's & Women's Olympic Qualifying Tournaments (February 2012),” the statement said.
“The FIH greatly regrets this decision but feels that it is left with no alternative in the circumstances...It hopes that a resolution that complies with the Olympic Charter and the FIH Statutes can be found quickly,” it added.
