The Game in Exile

 

The Game in Exile

Bon Ami Laishram

Field Hockey used to be one of the most popular sports in India. The game enjoyed a very blissful glory in the past. Field Hockey had been taught to the school children as the national game of India for decades throughout the generations. It ceased when a young student filed an RTI for confirmation in 2012. The PMO contacted the Union Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, then the ministry replied Hockey was never been announced as the national game of India.

The origin and nerves are deeply rooted in the soil of India; it’s widely played in many villages in the North and its part of the culture as well. Hockey players during colonial era used to be the sport stars. The Indian Men’s Hockey Team has won 8 Gold Medals, 1 Silver Medal & 3 Bronze Medals so far in the Olympics Games since 1928. The Indian Hockey Team is the only team with the highest medal tally in Olympics Field Hockey event. The counting was paused after winning Gold in 1980 Moscow. The counting resumed in the Tokyo Olympics 2020 after a long gap of 41 years. India won medal in Hockey in 1980 Olympics. Hockey had lost its shine and glory in the long span of 41 years. Hockey had lost its glory in the land. The relevance of Hockey was negligible since then.

The downfall began in the Mexico Olympics 1968. The Indian Hockey Team returned home with Bronze when the countrymen were expecting nothing less than Gold from the talented players. The countrymen being the loving fans were disappointed with the performance of their team in the Olympics. All fingers were pointed at the governing body Indian Hockey Federation for the lost. Something rare had been taken up by the federation prior the Mexico Olympics as damage control or balancing act. Gurbux Singh was the captain of the team, however, the federation took a swift change and decided to appoint another experienced player Prithipal Singh as the new captain to lead the team in the Mexico Olympics.  Disappointed Gurbux Singh didn’t remain silent. He slammed the decision of the federation publicly. Then, the federation was forced to appoint joint-captain to lead the team in the Mexico Olympics 1968. Media and public back at home blamed the rare decision of Indian Hockey Federation as the prime reason of the setback. The team with two captains wouldn’t be that efficient and united. That’s all about the initial setback.

The next stage of setback was the Munich Olympics 1972. The Munich Olympics is  marked in the history of the Olympics for the heinous killings of the Israeli Athletes & Coaches in the Olympic Village by the terror organization Palestine Liberation Organization. This violent incident impacted the morale and shook up mental well being of many other athletes and officials in the Olympic Village. The Indian Hockey Team faced their Pakistani counterpart in the semifinal but lost to Pakistan in Munich. They returned home with Bronze consecutively while the countrymen were expecting nothing less than Gold in Hockey.

The another reason was the surface of the playground and various other updates in infrastructure and equipment. Hockey was played on glass since the very beginning. Practice sessions were also on glass surface. The European group introduced artificial turf replacing the natural turf in the Montreal Summer Olympics 1976. It’s the final nail to the India’s Hockey supremacy. Moreover, many updates have been made so far by the much advanced and richer nations. The tradition wooden hockey sticks were updated to lighter carbon made. The Indian players found hard to adapt these changes. The federation at home couldn’t afford to update the infrastructure and facilities as per the international standard.

The players were still practicing on natural turf for 1976 Olympics while others moved on to artificial turf as per the Olympic standard. The federation shifted the practice ground to Punjab where they arranged a clay surface that resembled the texture of artificial turf to practice for the upcoming Montreal Olympics 1976. The players weren’t given the artificial turf to practice. Hence, as the result, India bagged no medal in hockey at Montreal. Amidst the wreckage, the internal rift was growing among the influential group of members of the federation in 1970s in quest of the authority. There had been continuous downfall since then. India was ranked 12 in the ranking by Federation of International Hockey in 2007. India even failed to qualify for the Beijing Olympics 2008 for the first time. That was an embarrassing moment of the federation and the country who once dominated the game with consecutive six gold medals in 6 consecutive Olympics Games.

The audience base was also slowly fading away from hockey as the audience lost faith in the game. Then, India won the ICC Cricket World Cup in 1983. The countrymen were overjoyed. They looked up to cricket as the winning game, pride of the nation and also the entertaining one. The popularity of hockey players were decimated with the rise of cricket sensations in the 80s and 90s to till date. Hockey became a least popular sport event, it lost the audacity to attract spectators at the stadium while cricket was the major crowd puller and it’s still the most popular sport event in India despite being seen as a sign of slavery left by the colonizer. No TV channel was interested in telecasting live hockey match at a time.

Then, all of sudden, Dhanraj Pillay walked in the team. Pillay led the team to several victories which was considered as the major comeback of the team. The match fee and stipend of the players were very less and irregular too at the time. Pillay and 6 others players voiced against the federation for nonpayment of match fee and low stipend. They were dropped from the team. The federation couldn’t even arrange travel fare for the squad due to the lack of fund. Many talented players have to leave hockey because of the lesser remuneration. They couldn’t manage their kitchen and diets with the remuneration they were paid at the time.

The governing body Indian Hockey Federation was suspended in 2008 by the Indian Olympics Association. The Hockey India was founded in 2009 to replace the suspended governing body Indian Hockey Federation and govern the working and management of field hockey in India. The Hockey India was struggling for funds initially. No organization or brand was interested in sponsoring the Indian Hockey Teams.

Former national hockey player Dilip Tirkey was elected as MP at Rajya Sabha in 2012 as the member of political party Biju Janata Dal. The BJD is the current ruling political party in Odisha. Being the member of the BJD, Trikey began to pitch his idea of supporting hockey in the country to the leader of the BJD & Chief Minister of Odisha Naveen Patnaik. Mr. Patnaik was finally convinced with the plan and announced that the state of Odisha would sponsor both the hockey teams along with the junior teams. The sponsorship began in 2018. It’s 5 years sponsorship program.The Hockey India felt a sense of revival with the funding. They began to utilize the fund on players and infrastructures. The Hockey World Cup 2018 was hosted in Odisha. The response from the audience was quite positive, welcoming and impressive. The audience turned up in large scale to watch the matches. It seemed like the game has got its life back.

The result can be seen in the present. Both men’s and women’s team have slowly inched towards the medal overcoming every hindrance on the artificial turf. The teams have won back their fans and spectators back home and it’s because of the financial support they received, the spontaneous management system and hard work and dedication of the players. They have brought hockey back from the long exiled period with their tremendous performances in the Tokyo Olympics 2020. They have brought back the glorious era of hockey in the land of its origin. The Indian Men’s Hockey National Team was able to come back and reach the semifinal stage in the Tokyo Olympics 2020 after along break of 41 years, the women’s team also hit the semifinal match in the Tokyo Olympics for the first time in the Olympics Games. That’s milestone achievement for the exiled game. The Gold for the event wasn’t in the account but that laid a strong foundation stone and scope for the future. The game is back on track now. The Men’s Hockey Team won India the Bronze medal and the Women’s Team finished at fourth position in the Tokyo Olympics 2020 after a long break of 41 years. The last time India won medal in field hockey was at Moscow 1980.

They are inspiring and influencing both the youths and countrymen to play and watch hockey. The game has been unseen for several years. It has been out casted and denounced so far. It’s because of the initiatives such as sponsorship program, infrastructure development taken up by the State Government of Odisha that brought the game back on its foot. The Government of Odisha takes good care of the teams as the silent guardian of the game with no quest for credit or political gain out from it. The whole country pays gratitude to the state of Odisha and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik also fondly called Naveen Babu with love and respect by the people of Odisha for standing up for Hockey India when nobody was interested in sponsoring the teams. It’s the first of it’s kind that has ever happened in the field of sport and sponsorship program. Although Odisha is one of the richest states in the country, but Odisha came up for Hockey India and sports.