Passi assures solution to crisis

MUMBAI, April 12: Bombay Hockey Association (BHA) honourary secretary KL Passi today assured a fair solution to the crisis affecting the St ...

MUMBAI, April 12: Bombay Hockey Association (BHA) honourary secretary KL Passi today assured a fair solution to the crisis affecting the St Peter’s Youth Centre (SPYC) tournament.

“We will do our best to see that no harm is done to hockey in the city,” Passi told Indian Express.

Passi’s words of encouragement will however be tested at a meeting with BHA committee members during which he hopes for a solution to the problem.

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The BHA took a stern view of five non-affiliated clubs taking part in the SPYC tournament on Saturday. A letter signed by Passi advised affiliated clubs to withdraw from the SYPC event as well as the ongoing city and suburbs tournament pending further notice.

Passi explained that BHA’s grouse against the organisers concerned non-affiliated teams playing in the SPYC tourney and not the question of whether or not the services of the BHA umpires were being used, as quoted by a section of the press.

He explained that tournament affiliation was granted on the condition thatthe SPYC agree to field only BHA-affiliated clubs.

Khar Gymkhana, Orlem XI, Schools XI, Western Railway and Ave Maria are five teams not affiliated to the BHA but among the participants in the SPYC tourney.

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An SPYC organiser, who requested anonymity, believed that the tournament, played with festive frevour in the hockey-loving suburb of Bandra, would lose much of its charm if BHA-affiliated clubs are forced to withdraw.

Matches are played in front of large, enthusiastic crowds at the St Stanislaus High School Ground, adjoining the SPYC Club House. Played amid terrific atmosphere the tournament has acquired a special image for three decades.

The organiser added: “The collapse of the tournament would irreversibly harm hockey in Bandra, even perhaps the whole of Mumbai.”