Indian Hockey
Though Hockey is our national game we sincerely do not follow Hockey and perhaps are not concerned with the plight of Indian Hockey which needs a revival. On comparison of Hockey with some of the popular sports in the nation like Cricket ,we find hockey far lagging behind.
Hockey does not have the glamour,money and fame that cricket
possess are probably upfront reasons visible to everyone, but there's
more to it that meets the eye.
In this article we would discuss about Hockey History, How did that
come to end, the Rise of cricket,Flaws in the system,Recent
happenings and need for revival.
The Great Indian Hockey :Glimpse from the History
Indian Hockey is probably the only sport in our history(till date) where Indians have made their mark as true champions,titans of their era. Indians undisputed champions won Olympic gold medals regular six straight wins from 1928-1956 which is a world record in Olympics as no other team has won a gold for consecutively 6 times in a row in a particular field. India played 24 Olympic matches, won all 24, scored 178 goals (at an average of 7.43 goals per match) and conceded only 7 goals. The two other gold medals for India came in the 1964 Tokyo Olympics and the 1980 Moscow Olympics.
......Read more about the Golden Era
......More on Dhyan Chand the Hockey Wizard
The IHF
The Indian Hockey Federation (IHF) started its journey in the year 1925 with it`s headquarter based in Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh.According to the present official structure of IHF, the federation is being headed by the President and he is assisted by eight Vice-Presidents. The other office bearers of IHF include the Secretary General, the Treasurer, Three joint Secretaries, and also a paid Assistant Secretary. There are 30 members in the IHF. The IHF has been the only governing body uptill now to control Hockey in India.
It has two main wings IHC(Indian Hockey Confederation) and IWCF.
However IHF was suspended by IOA(Indian Olympic Association) after a dismal performance of the Indian Hockey Team unable to qualify for the first tie for the Olympics in 2008. The IHF remained suspended for 10 Months and now it seems that it will be back again.
The Failiure of Indian Hockey
The Indian Hockey was perhaps the only popular game in the independent India,the National game which Indians were called Wizards has been overrun by the much glamorous Cricket and other sports. While there are some attributes associated with Poor Governance by the IHF ,other mistakes and the game itself has not brought glamour to itself.The reason being as simple as the faliure in Hockey was accompanied by the success in Cricket. Last Olympic Gold was in 1980 and after that India won the Cricket WorldCup 1983,which set the tone for masses to consider cricket as an option as well. Hockey was still very much popular till the 1990's in India more than any other sport. Then came a mistake from the IHF, initially the media houses or the advertising agencies in 1992-94 approached Indian Hockey players to endorse their products and Ads but such a move was denied by the IHF as it wanted only IHF to govern its players.(And as per popular vote it has been alleged that IHF was demanding a hefty commission acting as the middle man).The IHF in 1990's was already corrupt, as was released in the video released recently about a player getting selected into national team on payment of Rs.5lakhs. But still this alone is not sufficient to prove that a national game like Hockey can be wiped off the Indian Top sport stage.
(My comments)There is one more aspect to this,perhaps the most important. Have you ever thought that was it we(Indians) who lost the interest or were we made to loose interest by the media. Why for that matter it was cricket only which was encouraged in India despite huge success for soccer elsewhere in the world? Lets see why, cricket is a unique game unlike hockey,football where the game is actually a team game and streches out for a constant 45 mins. After that you get a break,now for the media houses it was important that they would support a game which can fetch them more profit and there lies the hidden truth.The pattern of cricket is in between every over there is a gap of few minutes which enables media houses to run ads and earn revenue unlike hockey. Also if you look at other aspects,Cricket as a game is a game of uncertainity, Individual contribution and above all the media hype creates a person a national Hero in a single game which people love to watch. As it goes with the psychology and there are plethora of examples supporting this like KBC etc..
Resurrection of Indian Hockey
While Indian Hockey standards have fallen drastically but there is still hope as the recent PUNJAB GOLD CUP India put up a brave fight with the olympic gold medalists Germany and recently won the Newzeland Tour.This depits that the level of skill is still intact what we need is infrastrctur and governance along with monetary allowances,financial aid. There has been cases like Dhanraj Pillay(The Legend) once told in an interview that when he was going for the common wealth games he did not have enough money to buy a bicycle. The plight of Hockey players is a national shame. Hockey should be made more glamourous and invite media houses to invest and endorse players. This might seem like a far fetched aim probably because the IHF currently does not have a marketing strategy and lack of interest. BCCI has everything and is the richest board in cricket all accross the world.Why not Hockey then? The Movie chakde might have inspired a million youngsters but unless one can see a career(not a government service in Railways or PSU's) in Hockey just like Cricket our plight in hockey might remain the same.
Hockey does not have the glamour,money and fame that cricket
possess are probably upfront reasons visible to everyone, but there's
more to it that meets the eye.
In this article we would discuss about Hockey History, How did that
come to end, the Rise of cricket,Flaws in the system,Recent
happenings and need for revival.
The Great Indian Hockey :Glimpse from the History
Indian Hockey is probably the only sport in our history(till date) where Indians have made their mark as true champions,titans of their era. Indians undisputed champions won Olympic gold medals regular six straight wins from 1928-1956 which is a world record in Olympics as no other team has won a gold for consecutively 6 times in a row in a particular field. India played 24 Olympic matches, won all 24, scored 178 goals (at an average of 7.43 goals per match) and conceded only 7 goals. The two other gold medals for India came in the 1964 Tokyo Olympics and the 1980 Moscow Olympics.
......Read more about the Golden Era
......More on Dhyan Chand the Hockey Wizard
The IHF
The Indian Hockey Federation (IHF) started its journey in the year 1925 with it`s headquarter based in Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh.According to the present official structure of IHF, the federation is being headed by the President and he is assisted by eight Vice-Presidents. The other office bearers of IHF include the Secretary General, the Treasurer, Three joint Secretaries, and also a paid Assistant Secretary. There are 30 members in the IHF. The IHF has been the only governing body uptill now to control Hockey in India.
It has two main wings IHC(Indian Hockey Confederation) and IWCF.
However IHF was suspended by IOA(Indian Olympic Association) after a dismal performance of the Indian Hockey Team unable to qualify for the first tie for the Olympics in 2008. The IHF remained suspended for 10 Months and now it seems that it will be back again.
The Failiure of Indian Hockey
The Indian Hockey was perhaps the only popular game in the independent India,the National game which Indians were called Wizards has been overrun by the much glamorous Cricket and other sports. While there are some attributes associated with Poor Governance by the IHF ,other mistakes and the game itself has not brought glamour to itself.The reason being as simple as the faliure in Hockey was accompanied by the success in Cricket. Last Olympic Gold was in 1980 and after that India won the Cricket WorldCup 1983,which set the tone for masses to consider cricket as an option as well. Hockey was still very much popular till the 1990's in India more than any other sport. Then came a mistake from the IHF, initially the media houses or the advertising agencies in 1992-94 approached Indian Hockey players to endorse their products and Ads but such a move was denied by the IHF as it wanted only IHF to govern its players.(And as per popular vote it has been alleged that IHF was demanding a hefty commission acting as the middle man).The IHF in 1990's was already corrupt, as was released in the video released recently about a player getting selected into national team on payment of Rs.5lakhs. But still this alone is not sufficient to prove that a national game like Hockey can be wiped off the Indian Top sport stage.
(My comments)There is one more aspect to this,perhaps the most important. Have you ever thought that was it we(Indians) who lost the interest or were we made to loose interest by the media. Why for that matter it was cricket only which was encouraged in India despite huge success for soccer elsewhere in the world? Lets see why, cricket is a unique game unlike hockey,football where the game is actually a team game and streches out for a constant 45 mins. After that you get a break,now for the media houses it was important that they would support a game which can fetch them more profit and there lies the hidden truth.The pattern of cricket is in between every over there is a gap of few minutes which enables media houses to run ads and earn revenue unlike hockey. Also if you look at other aspects,Cricket as a game is a game of uncertainity, Individual contribution and above all the media hype creates a person a national Hero in a single game which people love to watch. As it goes with the psychology and there are plethora of examples supporting this like KBC etc..
Resurrection of Indian Hockey
While Indian Hockey standards have fallen drastically but there is still hope as the recent PUNJAB GOLD CUP India put up a brave fight with the olympic gold medalists Germany and recently won the Newzeland Tour.This depits that the level of skill is still intact what we need is infrastrctur and governance along with monetary allowances,financial aid. There has been cases like Dhanraj Pillay(The Legend) once told in an interview that when he was going for the common wealth games he did not have enough money to buy a bicycle. The plight of Hockey players is a national shame. Hockey should be made more glamourous and invite media houses to invest and endorse players. This might seem like a far fetched aim probably because the IHF currently does not have a marketing strategy and lack of interest. BCCI has everything and is the richest board in cricket all accross the world.Why not Hockey then? The Movie chakde might have inspired a million youngsters but unless one can see a career(not a government service in Railways or PSU's) in Hockey just like Cricket our plight in hockey might remain the same.
