whats wrong with our hockey team

[dramit07]

like always our hockey team is performing so badly, its so sad to see players with great talent doing so badly when it matters most. win against pakistan should give some respite but its time now when everyone wants to see indian hockey on top.lack of planning, training i cant understand where they are lacking. its our national sport and the fans really want to see india winning major tournaments not few matches

[nd-chora]

first ouster these bloody KPS gill and rajender singh coach, then we can think further otherwise there is no chance for betterment. they play politics openly and nobody can dare to speak against them.........its our hockey team story. remember Pilley episode and what happened to that foreign coach...........they had shaked them with their own interest only. so what can u expect from team india if even open baising in selection. 3 or 4 players always from punjab..........why ? there r so many talent in india out of punjab also but and but..............what can i say further u know all that.

[mukeshkumar007]

first ouster these bloody KPS gill and rajender singh coach, then we can think further otherwise there is no chance for betterment. .

yes , He(KPS Gill) must be thrown out otherwise even prime minister can't do anything for the improvement in our national game.

[singh1981]

yaar maine saare match dekhe .....aust. ...spain........kya fast khelti hain....ultimate.....aur indian hockey abhi tak apne traditional way main chal rahi hai .......puri team sirf ek ya do bando pai tikki hui hai .....oponents keval un 2 -3 bando ko cover karte hain aur game unka .....
dusra ......team ki physical fitness.....
apne khiladi agar ek 20 m sprint maar lenge aur phir unki halat dekho......next time agar ball apse 10 m ki doori pai bhi hogi to hilne ka naam nahi lete....

sports kai maamle main to bhiya bas ek hi tammna hai ....ki apni life time main india ek baar hockey aur football dono ka world cup jeet jaaye .......bas....

aamenn...

[jagmohan]

The following are the problems with Hockey..

1. Most of the rules have been changed by the FIH to suit the western nations and it has become like 'Rugby with Hockey Stick'. Only the fittest will perform and survive.

2. Being a Hockey player for the country can at best get you a job in the Railways, Airlines, Customs etc. You don't get the status a national player deserves, say like cricket/Tennis players.

3. Sports as a discipline is being neglected by all concerned. Even the NRI Patiala may be turned into a Defence UNiversity very soon.

4. It does not enjoy the popularity in small towns any more. I remember the matches between JAT School & Hindu School in Sonepat. They used to be a major event in the sporting calender and people from all over used to come and watch.

5. Schools and colleges have given up on sports mostly and Hockey altogether. Why? There is a race to get higher percentage in academics. Even sports schools have stopped producing sports persons of repute.

6. The management of Hockey in our country is in tatters. Members have already pointed out towards that.

What is the solution?

Well, I had given this suggestion a long time back to Mr Juman Lal Sharma, an ex Olympian and a Gold Medalist. I had advocated that since we fight on the name of caste, creed, color, region, religion, water etc, why not have Hockey teams based strictly on that criterion. Let Tamil Nadu and Karnataka decide the problem of Cauvery Waters on the Hockey fied. Say a series of five matches!! Then see the stress the state governments give on Hockey. Let the SYL Issue be decided on a playing field. Believe you me everything will improve in months.

We could also have teams based purely on casts. Whichever perfoms better represents India. What do you say?

Regards,

JS Malik

[devdahiya]

If the things are going to go the way it is, Indian hockey has no future. It is not the briliance of players but the discipline and sense of pride as a nation that shape the teams. Today it is politics, videsh ke daurre and bhai-bhateejawaad and nothing else. Poor show indeed.

[singh1981]

1. Most of the rules have been changed by the FIH to suit the western nations and it has become like 'Rugby with Hockey Stick'. Only the fittest will perform and survive.

>>>> aab ye excuse bahut purana ho chuka hai ...

2. Being a Hockey player for the country can at best get you a job in the Railways, Airlines, Customs etc. You don't get the status a national player deserves, say like cricket/Tennis players.

>>>> Common boss ...dhyanchand ko bhool gaye kya

3. Sports as a discipline is being neglected by all concerned. Even the NRI Patiala may be turned into a Defence UNiversity very soon.

>>>> nO idea

4. It does not enjoy the popularity in small towns any more. I remember the matches between JAT School & Hindu School in Sonepat. They used to be a major event in the sporting calender and people from all over used to come and watch.

>>>> very true.. again the reason is same.....jab tak team jeetegi nahi ...logon ka intrest nahi banega....

5. Schools and colleges have given up on sports mostly and Hockey altogether. Why? There is a race to get higher percentage in academics. Even sports schools have stopped producing sports persons of repute.

>>>>> true, i played hockey till state level ...then my father told me that he didn't want hockey at the cost of my study:(

6. The management of Hockey in our country is in tatters. Members have already pointed out towards that.

>>>>> management ek haad tak jimmewar hai(may be vo haad 95 % ho :D ) but still players bhi game kai liye jimmewar hain...

What is the solution?

Well, I had given this suggestion a long time back to Mr Juman Lal Sharma, an ex Olympian and a Gold Medalist. I had advocated that since we fight on the name of caste, creed, color, region, religion, water etc, why not have Hockey teams based strictly on that criterion. Let Tamil Nadu and Karnataka decide the problem of Cauvery Waters on the Hockey fied. Say a series of five matches!! Then see the stress the state governments give on Hockey. Let the SYL Issue be decided on a playing field. Believe you me everything will improve in months.

We could also have teams based purely on casts. Whichever perfoms better represents India. What do you say?

Regards,

JS Malik[/QUOTE]

[rathimamta]

first ouster these bloody KPS gill and rajender singh coach, then we can think further otherwise there is no chance for betterment. they play politics openly and nobody can dare to speak against them.........its our hockey team story. remember Pilley episode and what happened to that foreign coach...........they had shaked them with their own interest only. so what can u expect from team india if even open baising in selection. 3 or 4 players always from punjab..........why ? there r so many talent in india out of punjab also but and but..............what can i say further u know all that.

Hockey was our national game, that is gone away from our dreams.

[nd-chora]

can anybody tell what happened to india team after leading 2:0 in first half in their last match against pakistan? they lost it 3:4 score. Unfortunatly i could not see it, whoever see it they can tell it better......but after hearing it in news it is very sad to indian hockey.

[viveksiwatch]

Hi to all:

I think many of the members here have put forward many reasons for the downfall of hockey in India. Most of them are correct.

I think the main reason is that hockey players, unlike the Cricket counterparts, do not get any recognition. They do not get the same sort of sponsorships like cricket and are vastly under-paid relative to their cricket playing peers. This is highly unfortunate.

With all respect to Cricket, it has overshadowed most of the other sports in India. Cricket originally if you recall was a game played by the royal gentry, who used to bat and typical Indian servants were used to continously fetch the ball back. Those "masters" had a lot of time and they played the game among themselves, with the game as a status symbol among their peers. Cricket is one game in which we take either one full day or in the larger form of the game 5 days! half of the team is in the pavillion at one time and with those on field apart from a few active at a time, many are just standing idle on the field and react only once in a while.

In the true sense of the game, this does not happen in any other game. Take Hockey, football (american), rugby, soccer, basketball, Tennis, Badminton, etc. All the games have all the players actively and vigorously involved in whole length of the game and the decision comes in much shorter times ranging from 1 to 4 hours. In cricket, in a developing nation like India where time should be of major concern, millions of people wish to put their studies, jobs etc. on hold and watch cricket a whole day or more! This game is not particularly good for developing nations. Ask a person in US or Germany or France and they will say that they are not fools to waste so much time on one sport. They are passionate about Soccer, Athletics and other sports.
It is said that when the game was introduced in Germany for the first time, Hitler watched a part of it. He immediately ordered a ban on the game reasoning that it is not a sport but a waste of time with negligible exercise!

Anyways coming back to the topic of Hockey, I do not agree to the viewpoint that because rules are more 'Western' country friendly, that is why India is not performing. These rules have not been made overnight and pointing to these for a long time is nothing but absurd. Also as far as facilities is concerned, again it is a niet-niet. Look at countries like ethiopia (one of the poorest nations in the world). Their athletes always grab the gold in marathon olympics. If you ask them, you see passion in their eyes and the say,"I run because I love it, it's my life, my dream" This person is not much affected by facilities or support from others. Dhyanchand too had not many facilities, he used to practise balancing the ball on a railway track miles at a stretch, running barefoot on the hot sand and rocks. It was pure and simple talent mixed with hardwork and motivation.

I do agree that Politics matters a lot. But so does the individual effort of players and the effort of team in total as hockey is a team game. But I am sure with those vastly underpaid and unrecognized players, Hockey is not left as a motivation much. I am sure they do not feel very happy looking at their Cricket counterparts getting so much media attention and financial privileges....

So the answer is not just in the team and Indian Politics but also in the basic mentallity of Indian people who are not much interested in Hockey now.

~Vivek