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Indian hockey going green at the Gills

If you do not utilise your best, then expect the worst. So often in the past has this one-line lesson come true for Indian hockey.

But little seems to have been learnt. The sorry story of recklessly flirting with the danger of bringing on further humiliation continues, and the forthcoming Sydney Olympics could well be the stage for another debacle.

If there is any need to do an analysis of the paralysis that afflicts Indian hockey, then one need not go beyond looking at the administration. Or rather, the lack of it. The Indian Hockey Federation has become a one-man show -- President's rule, should we say? The rest in the set-up -- VPs, secretaries, EC members, selectors, coaches, managers etc -- are mere show-pieces who could be blown to smithereens like clay pigeons at the slightest show of dissent.

In the process, it is the player, the one who does the hard work, who suffers more than most. Selection procedures are garbled and illogical. Regional biases, individual preferences and, above all, personal egos, remain more the rule than the exception. And while those in power seem heavily insulated against the consequences of their own folly, coaches are axed and players dropped or victimised for speaking their mind.

When K.P.S. Gill took over the reins of the federation, it was generally felt that he would be the beacon light that could lead the game out of the trough of mediocrity. The early years of Mr. Gill's liaison with the game were a happy augury. He managed to rope in the sponsors and it finally appeared that the game was being lifted by its bootstraps. For, results too began trickling in.

But Gill, a former Director General of Police, Punjab, who earned himself the sobriquet of Super Cop for successfully combating terrorism in the state, could not resist ruling the federation, too, like a cop. Don't mess with me or else ... seemed to be -- it certainly is now -- the diktat.

Today, it is this arrogance, this high-handedness, which appears to be destroying the very fabric of the sport in the country. It is Gill who finally decides on every single issue, be it selection of teams, official appointments or monetary payments. He is the federation!

No wonder there is so much turmoil in Indian hockey. The burning issue of the moment is the non-inclusion of at least four senior players in the list of probables, considered to be the nucleus of the squad for the forthcoming Sydney Olympics hockey competition, for the African tour. They are four -- skipper Dhanraj Pillay, Mukesh Kumar, Sabu Varkey and goalkeeper Ashish Ballal -- of the six who were supposedly 'rested' following the historic Asian Games triumph and, on merit alone, should be among the probables.

But it is reported that Gill does not want them. Initially, he did not say so in so many words. Instead, he had put the onus on the selectors, saying that they had opted to experiment and give fresh talent a chance.

This certainly is no time for experimenting and we know quite well what these sort of exercises have resulted in -- only disaster.

Now, after the barrage of criticism from the media and some former Olympians, Gill, in his inimitable style, has openly stated that there is no chance of Sabu Varkey and Ashish Ballal ever making a comeback. He has also stated that nobody can tell him what to do, whom to select and whom to drop.

The only ray of hope is that Pillay and Mukesh Kumar could still return... "if they can prove their fitness".

A pity Gill was not around when Pillay dazzled at Chennai recently and warmed the cockles of the hearts of hundreds of hockey lovers. He would have instantly realised that Pillay was at his peak. But Gill apparently did not have the time, nor did he feel the need to be present at what his own federation had billed a selection trial to pick the probables for the Sydney Olympics.

What, one may ask at this juncture, are the players being punished for? Indiscipline, as the federation is making it out to be? Rubbish. They are being castigated for merely standing upto officialdom and demanding the monetary benefits they were promised. And, the poor cousins that they are to our cricketers, that money is peanuts anyway.

It is clearly a case of vindictiveness and, that too, on the part of the president alone. It is about time the Sports Ministry intervened or a public interest litigation is initiated. For, hockey still is the only discipline where India has a realistic chance of garnering a medal at the Games.