NEW DELHI, November 3: Is Nehru Hockey going the way of Subroto Mukherjee Cup Football? Well, the answer is a stern `no' from the Nehru Hockey Society. But the teams that participated in the just-concluded Junior Nehru tournament at the National Stadium had certain reservations.Leading the charade of charges was none other than Olympian and Arjuna Awardee Rajinder Singh, who coaches the Union Academy Senior Secondary School. It was followed by S.S. Randhawa of the Shivalik Public School from Chandigarh.Their contention was that the Society has become ``an open shop'' for all and sundry. ``It (the Nehru Society) no longer conducts hockey in the real sense and it is only interested in running a business. Those manning the Society are more interested in spoiling the game than improving it,'' said an angry Rajinder Singh.Rajinder, whose school team won the sub-junior Nehru title a couple of years ago in succession, was fretting and fuming about the way the organisers allowed over-age players to participate in the under-17 tournament. For example, he cited the Army Boys Company (BRC, Danapur) team which was full of such players ``who would qualify for any senior-level tournament''.He said he had pointed it out to the organisers who simply brushed aside his complaints. Even some other teams had pointed out the flaws in selection of such teams which defeated the purpose of the tournament. ``I told Mr Shiv Kumar Verma, the secretary of the Society, about the over-age issue but we were told to pay a protest fee first and then file a complaint. Only after following the procedure, they said, they will be in a position to consider their protest,'' said the Arjuna Awardee. ``But they knew that the problem existed. But they don't want to take up the issue for whatever reason,'' he continued. However, when contacted, K.G. Kakkar, speaking for Verma, said that the problem was not with the Society but it had something to do with the prize money that has come to play a major part.Kakkar, a former player and a well-respected referee himself, admitted that there was a possibility of teams deceiving the Society when they send in their entries. ``We have a clear-cut do's and don'ts drawn up for the conduct of the tournament which we circulate to every institution. Besides, whenever we suspect any mischief, we have an able medical team to conduct tests to know the legitimacy of a team or its members''.But, as he admitted, the problem lies with the school authorities. In order to corner prize money - Rs. 1 lakh for the winners - the coaches force the school authorities to fudge the documents. Encouraged by words from the coaches, the principals also fall for such practices. ``We cannot challenge the school authorities. But if we have any doubt about a certain boy we do force him to undergo a medical,'' he said, adding, ``the Society's sole aim remains the improvement of hockey and hockey alone''.Coming back to the over-age issue, the bone of contention seemed to be Arvind Kumar of Danapur. He is said to be playing the tournament for the third year in succession and, according to Rajinder Singh, this was in the knowledge of the organisers. However, Kakkar denied this.Rajinder said that the Army Boys Company was not a school team and, as per rules, they should not have been allowed to compete in the tournament. Moreover, Arvind Kumar was part of the National Centre for Excellence in Hockey, a scheme run by the Sports Authority of India in its South Centre, Bangalore.All this has left Rajinder Singh and Randhawa disgusted that they have decided not to compete in the tournament from next year. Well, next tournament is 12 months away but if the Society does not find some foolproof methods quickly to overcome this age-old problem, all the good work the Society has done in the past will go down the drain.
