In this hour of crisis, questions are being thrown in,opinions are warranted and heads are asking to be guillotined and the proverb"Success has many fathers,Failure is an orphan"holds true. People want the controversial IHF president KPS Gill thrown out. Other's have asked for a complete revamping. Some want Team strategist Rick charles worth at the helm,others want him out and some others want to know why he was not part of the contingent at Chile. Already Joaquim carvalho the Hockey coach has quit. Everyone has an opinion,but not many solutions. Shiv Kera the suave management guru said”If you are not part of the solution,then you become part of the problem”.What is the root cause of this disease that ails the hockey system and how can we stem the rot. I feel the following Five points might make some sense to a few people,
1.For too many years the IHF has been running the sport like a typical government organization with little transparency and virtually zero accountability. We need a more professionally managed system. Take a cue from the working lines of the BCCI. Some things are hard to digest but also equally hard to ignore. Cricket has immensely benefited from Professionalism,Suave marketing and advertising and plenty of money. Try to hype the game without leaving any stone unturned or effort spared. We need Business development managers like a la Lalit Modi,the IPL boss and we can certainly do away with autocrats like KPS Gill.
2.There is a lot of talent lying idle because they have been sidelined for reasons best known to the administrators. Former players of the calibre of Bhaskaran, Jude Felix, Mohammed Shahid, Mukesh kumar, Dhanraj pillay can make a lot of difference. Their hairs may have gone grey but they still have the passion and stomach for a fight and above all they still have plenty of pride.Involve them on professional terms and respect their inputs in motivation and strategy. Presently they are mute spectators hogging the limelight only as critics. We need to turn them around into strategists and coaches.
3.Scan the length and breadth of the country scouting for younger players and nurture them without any regional bias and prejudice which is the present order. When we can find Ishant sharma,RP singh, Joginder singh, Praveen kumar, Munaf patel in a land alien to fast bowlers why can't we find talent from a sport like hockey which is seeped in Indian tradition and history. Search with a soul and you will find plenty.
4.Popularize the game. Easily said than done I guess. But find out from countries like Australia or South Korea where there is a large following for the game. We need to weed out people from the cricket centric citizens that we have become. Again take a leaf out of the working methodologies of the BCCI and try to build a synergy which could galvanize the sport with the youth of this country.
5.It is popular perception that foreign coaches can make a lot of difference. At the same time we must respect our traditional style of play which has its own flavour. But we also understand that the subcontinental game has thrived for long on individual brilliance and technique. Hassan sardar of Pakistan , Mohammed shahid were masters of stick work. But we are yet to work cohesively as a team which is the hallmark of teams like Germany and Australia. Hence we need people at the helm who will ring in the changes modern hockey requires without keeping the natural flavour out of the equation.
For all the above mentioned changes to take any concrete shape,we as the fans,critics and spectators should also take responsibility for this grave situation and feel for our players and the game. We have to pledge ourselves to improving viewer ship of the sport and support the game as a national cause. There is lot of pride still left in Indian Hockey. We should be avid philanthropists and patronize the game to help it overcome its present ills. Let us at least ensure that Santiago will not repeat itself at any time in our future. It is indeed heart breaking.
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