Doors closed for hockey in the Capital

Even as the state of Indian hockey has suddenly come into focus after the failure to qualify for the Olympics...

Even as the state of Indian hockey has suddenly come into focus after the failure to qualify for the Olympics, here’s an ironical reminder of all that is wrong with the way the game is organised: At a time when people are lamenting how the lack of astro turfs has harmed the sport in this country, both of Delhi’s synthetic surfaces — at the National Stadium and the Shivaji Stadium — are being shut down for more than two years.

National Stadium, the hub of Delhi hockey, has already been closed for renovations. And Shivaji Stadium, where several top-level competitions are conducted, is expected to be shut for repairs in the last week of March. While these are neccessary moves for the organisation of the 2010 Commonwealth Games, the lack of alternatives provided and the total disregard for what will happen to local hockey in the interim has found severe opposition from several quarters.

The city’s two main academies — run by Air-India and Punjab National Bank at the National Stadium — have also been closed down as the result. The trainees have been told to go home, and the damage, experts say, will be irreparable.

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“With the closure of the facilities, hockey will not only come to a stand-still, it will fade away. The issue of turfs was brought to the notice of the government. There was an assurance but nothing concrete emerged from the meetings,” said Ramesh Nambiar, coordinator of the Air-India academy.

“It’ll take a decade to revive the hockey culture in the Capital now that budding players have nowhere to play,” he added. AK Bansal, coach of the Air-India academy, had similar fears. “With the closure of the stadium, Delhi players won’t be able to hone their skills for the next two years. The academy used to feed the national squad, but now its contribution will be zero,” he said.

‘No culture anyway’

But Harinder Singh, the national junior development coach from 1998 to 2006, said there was nothing to worry since hockey was never too popular in the Capital in the first place, and so the question of its fading away didn’t arise. His argument, which was itself laced with irony: “Youngsters from the Capital hardly got a chance to play on the turf anyway. The state body, which doesn’t have any development programme has already killed hockey in the city. With the closure of the national stadium, it will only effect the functioning of the academies. Delhi has been more popular for competitions and never for producing hockey players.”

Chiranjeet Singh, the general secretary of the Delhi Hockey Association, didn’t agree with that point of view. “Some players from the state have made it to the national squad in recent times. They have been trainees of the academies and not from school or college,” he said. “Since National Stadium is closed down, we might have to organise the annual league competition this year on grass.”

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So, if and when the Indian Hockey Federation (IHF) sits down to plan the resurgence of Indian hockey, it should perhaps look at places other than New Delhi — the city in which it has its headquarters — to start the process.