ow can the Indian Hockey Federation (IHF) position the game among the non-cricketing sports mix on Indian television? Even in the case of cricket, how will hockey fare against non-Indian cricket on television?

As Navroze Dhondy, Director at Percept IMC, put it: "Every big country has at least three major sports; India is the only aberration in the world. There is space in India for at least two more sports to get a big chunk of the business and fan following. And companies can invest small amounts and get huge returns."

Thus, McDowell endorses two football clubs (Mohun Bagan and East Bengal) and recently sponsored a 4-cities, 45-days, inter-club Signature golf tournament. The Tata group, which signed on racing car driver Narayan Karthikeyan in early 2002, is also the title sponsor of the $400,000 ATP Series Tata Open.

Says Peter Hutton, Vice-President at Taj Television Ltd., "Certain sports are above non-Indian cricket in terms of viewership. You compare the ratings of WWE or World Cup soccer with non-Indian cricket, and the value for money becomes very clear."

Some figures to back up the above statement are given below:

According to TAM Media Research TV ADEX, the share of cricket in total sports programming revenue was 65% in 2000, and fell to 56% in 2001. Therefore, at least in the non-cricket World Cup years, other sports cumulatively bring in revenues comparable to cricket.

In 2001, the share of football in the total programming revenue was 7%, tennis 6%, car/bike racing 4% and golf 3%. Figures for hockey were not available.

The IHF has to focus on four possible revenue streams - television rights, advertising spends, team/tournament sponsorships and player endorsements.

For instance, the IHF can market its proposed National Hockey League (both men AND women, please) to the new television channel TEN Sports (reach 22 million homes). It is unimaginable that hockey in India would command a lesser audience than the Go-Karting, road racing, bowling, boxing and non-Indian women's tennis and Ryder Cup presently shown on TEN.

If not TEN, then how about ESPN-Star Sports? 17 Formula 1 races are telecast live every year on ESPN-Star Sports, a sport that is non-existent in India beyond the television screen. The IHF should be able to pitch an equivalent package of hockey to ESPN - i.e., telecast rights of at least the finals of the 4-nation tournaments, continentals Cups, international test series, national championships, etc. in a calendar year.

On ESPN, advertisers on just the English Premier League matches alone include Samsung, Birla AT&T, Pepsi, Fiat, Exide, Onida and TVS. These sponsors may be as interested in a homegrown Indian NHL than a foreign league, provided the stars are marketed well and the league is packaged attractively for fans, advertisers and television.

Also, the IHF has to get more savvy with using superficial marketing lingo in the English language. For example, the Tata Group is sponsoring tennis ($400,000 Tata Open) and motor racing (Narayan Karthikeyan) because, according to a Tata spokesman, both sports are regarded as 'universal, youthful, fast and aggressive'.

For marketing Titan's FasTrack range, the company picked motor racing since the sport conveys the idea of 'working hard, partying hard'.

This is nothing but packaging of sport - even chess can be marketed as 'universal, youthful, fast and aggressive'. The IHF would need an intermediate sports marketing agency (IMG, Leisure Sports Management, etc.) that would present an upbeat image of hockey to the advertisers.

Note that Rs. 1,200 crores were poured into cricket for the 2002-03 season by companies such as Pepsi, Hero Honda, LG, Bharti and ICICI. Can the IHF set a target of at least Rs. 1 crore per year to be spent by various corporates on hockey - i.e., 1/1000th of the money that goes into cricket?

Football, tennis, motor racing and golf are growing in popularity with the sponsors, partly for sporting and partly for marketing reasons. Unless the IHF gets its act together, hockey will be reduced to just a blip on the radar screen of non-cricketing televised sports of India. First out of sight, and then out of mind of India's sports fans.

Facts and Figures taken from an Article by Rina Chandran for Business Line (November 28, 2002)

he remote Chota Nagpur region of Jharkhand, home to about 30 different tribes like Santhal, Munda and others, is a hotbed of hockey in India. Hockey is as popular in the Chhota Nagpur region as football is in West Bengal.

Little girls playing impromptu hockey with bamboo sticks and kendu balls are a common sight in remote forest villages like Khunti and Simdega. And, thousands throng makeshift stadiums every Sunday to watch local matches, popularly called 'khashi-murga' matches. And guess what are the prizes - a khashi (goat) for the winner and a murga (chicken) for the loser.

The whole Khunti-Simdega region is full of talented hockey players. Sadly, such genuine talent often goes unnoticed and uncared for.

Take Karuna Purti's case, for instance. She has played for Bihar, Air India, North-Eastern Railway and Bihar Police. But now, she sells jungle wood in Khunti for her living.

Reminds Biswasi Purti, who represented India in the 1986 Asiad, "Like Karuna, there are so many others for whom life is yet another liability to live on. How can we forget that this is the state where the great Gopal Bhengra was cutting stones in mines until he was spotted by the media?"

A glaring instance of neglect is the Krida Balika Vikas Kendra, part of the Bariyatu Government Girls High School complex. The centre trains tribal girls in hockey besides educating them, and provides accommodation to the trainees in half-a-dozen hostel rooms.

The centre was established in 1976, with an earmarked budget of Rs. 350 per player per month (later raised to Rs. 600 in 1998). The money from the state government never comes on time. Successive principals of the school, at times, had to pay up from their own pockets.

Surprisingly, the centre does not even have a full-time coach for the girls. Also, the trainees have to buy their own sticks, boots and jerseys.

The diet served in the centre is meagre by any standards. After a morning training session from 5 am - 8 am, they are served two slices of bread with a cup of tea as breakfast before they go to school. A bowl of rice and dal serves as their lunch, before their next training session at 3 pm. In the night, the girls are served two chappatis with dal as dinner.

Says trainee Sushma Horo, "We often feel weak while training. Sometimes we collapse on the ground, but who cares? We stand up after sometime on our own and start playing again."

Adds Mukti Tirkey, her friend: "During rains we pass the whole night huddled together in a corner of the room. There is no other option because the roofs of our hostels leak. There is just one tap for drinking water in the entire hostel. Even the single toilet given to us is never cleaned and it stinks like anything. And then, the mosquitoes. But there is no one to take care of all these things for us."

Back in 2000, 20 trainees had to leave the centre due to lack of funds. The budding stars of Indian women's hockey were forced to go back to their villages in the deep forests and the surrounding mountains of the Chota Nagpur plateau.

"We were told to either meet the expenses or make our own arrangement. What could we do? We left everything behind to work as daily wage labourers in the fields," said Reshma Minjur, who left the centre with two other friends.

Since this country does not know how to take care of its hockey players, the game is dying a slow death in the Chhota Nagpur jungles. The cradle itself is doubling as a grave.

Article by Amarnath Tiwari of Outlook magazine (October 9, 2000)

Photograph Courtesy The Golden Boot

ack in 1999, there were reports in the press and television that Gopal Bhengra was working as a stone crusher in Churgi quarry, Ranchi district, for a daily wage of Rs. 30 to Rs. 40 (less than $1), in order to support his wife, 3 sons and 2 daughters.

Gopal Bhengra, who hailed from Uyur Guria, Ranchi district, Jharkhand, had an illustrious hockey career in which he played full-back for Army Service Corps, Bangalore, captained Mohun Bagan in the Kolkata league, and represented India in the 1978 World Cup.

When cricket legend Gavaskar came to know of Bhengra's plight from a news magazine, he quietly sent a monthly donation of Rs. 1000 from his own pocket. Following Gavaskar's example, tennis star Mahesh Bhupathi also sent Bhengra Rs. 500 per month.

Then the hockey players came together under a scheme called 'Players-Protect-Players'. Coach M. K. Kaushik and 13 members of the victorious Bangkok Asiad hockey team contributed Rs. 11,000 each, for a total purse of Rs. 1,54,000 (the 3 exceptions were Ashish Ballal, Mukesh Kumar and Thirumala Valavan).

The Ministry for Youth Affairs and Sports chipped in with Rs. 50,000. "Inspired by the players, coach and the media, the Government joins you with its own contribution," said the Union Minister for Culture, Youth Affairs and Sports, Mr. Anantha Kumar, on that occasion.

Instead of giving all the money in a lumpsum, the Rs. 200,000 was put in a fixed deposit, with Bhengra getting Rs. 2,000 every month. For his immediate needs, Lions Club of Bengali Market, Delhi, gave Bhengra Rs. 65,000. 

The Bihar government stepped forward and gave Bhengra a temporary coaching job at the S. S. High School, Khunti, Ranchi. The job was for a 10-month duration, and earned him Rs. 3,000 per month.

Fast forward to 2003. Gopal Bhengra's 1978 World Cup teammate Dung Dung is surviving on a monthly pension of Rs. 2,500 to support his family of 5 dependents.

The former master craftsman begs: "For the time being, I shall be happy to coach even a school team as it will supplement my meagre income. My only request to the Jharkhand government and the Indian Hockey Federation is to utilise my experience. This would benefit the youngsters and give me a new lease of life as well."

Reader Ishwar Murthy speaks for all Indian hockey fans in his email:

I would like to help Sylvanus Dung Dung by giving him some money. Some may argue that this is merely a knee-jerk reaction, a temporary fix, and that a better solution is to find him a coaching job, etc.

I would agree with that point of view. However, that can also be used as an excuse for not doing anything. Mr Dung Dung is in penury. And if nothing is done, we may just lose him. Hence, I feel the urgency of Indian hockey fans needing to help this gentleman out.

Many of your readers who have stated that they would like to help hockey, might want to help Sylvanus. Well, here is the chance. The reason for my writing to you is to see if you could set up an account to which those interested can send money to.

Of course, the next task is to try and locate Mr. Dung Dung. I believe the author of that article on Rediff was Mr. Ramanujam. I wrote to him and to Rediff asking for Dung Dung's address and telephone number.

Perhaps we may have better luck if we post this appeal on the website.

Best wishes, Ishwar Murthy

Let's all pitch in and help locate Sylvanus Dung Dung, and give him a honourable way to earn a living. That's the least one can do for a player who won the Olympic gold medal for India.

akistan's hockey great Hassan Sardar has called for the hiring of professional coaches and abolishing the selection committee in Pakistan.

Hassan said once a professional coach was hired, it would automatically make the selection committee redundant, as the trainer would be responsible for the selection of the squad.

"If the Europeans do not have selection committees, it is because they have professional coaches. The concept of a selection committee is related to the concept of a honorary coach. If we have a professional coach, it will reduce the importance of the selection committee," he emphasised.

Hassan said only a professional coach could be answerable and under obligation to produce results. Regarding the selection committee, Hassan felt that if it cannot be done away with, then it should at least consist of paid selectors who should be obligated to visit the training camps, and not just the 2-day or 3-day trials.

"The Pakistan Hockey Federation should make sure all the selectors come to the camps and thus be made accountable for the team selection. If the selectors cannot do justice to their job, they should quit," he remarked.

Even in India, the concept of a selection committee in India is a farce primarily because Gill, sitting in Delhi, exercises veto power on the team selection.

For an example, refer to this following exchange, quoted verbatim, between Gill (in Delhi) and the then chief coach M. K. Kaushik (in Bangalore) on the Indian team selection for the 1998 Commonwealth Games. This extract is from the book 'The Golden Boot', written by M. K. Kaushik and Shanti Kumar Arumugam.

Gill: I direct you to send Sanjeev Kumar back. You give me three alternate names.

Kaushik: Sir, he fits into my game plan very well. He scored two goals in today's match. You can also take the opinion of the other two coaches. Sir, Sanjeev is in my first eleven.

Gill: No, no. I don't want to talk further on this topic. Sanjeev is a blind man. How can you put him in this game.

Kaushik: He is not playing for the country for the first time. He has played many important tournaments. His eyesight is not a sudden problem. I discussed this with you during the trials. You also spoke to the doctors.

Gill: You are cheating, I did not expect this from you.

Kaushik: If you feel, sir, that I am cheating you, I am prepared to leave the camp.

Gill: You cannot do that. I order you to send Sanjeev back. I will give you his replacement. You carry on. This is my order.

At this stage, Gill cut the line, leaving Kaushik red-faced, tense and hurt. Sanjeev was given a ticket and told to go home.

With authoritarian non-hockey officials like K. P. S. Gill pushing our national hockey coaches around, why do we need this farce of a 'Selection Committee'?

Pakistan's prime minister Jamali with journalist Sardar Khan

hings are looking good for Pakistan hockey under Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali, a former first class hockey player, two-time chief selector for the Pakistan national hockey team, and now the ex-officio patron in-chief of the Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF).

Jamali has restored the sports quota, and public sector companies have be instructed to form sports teams and start offering employment on the basis of sports. Their national carrier Pakistan International Airlines has restored the discounted, sometimes almost free, air tickets for internationals. The PHF's request for synthetic turfs, financial support and other facilities will be fully addressed.

Jamali was the chief guest at the prize giving ceremony of Pakistan's golden jubilee national hockey championship, probably the first time a serving prime minister was the chief guest at any nationals.

By virtue of the prime minister's presence, the nationals attracted a wealth of sponsors. The winners (WAPDA) got Rs. 75,000, runners-up Rs. 25,000, and the third position holders Rs.15,000. Even the officials were honoured, with the coaches of the winners and runners-up getting a cash prize of Rs. 25,000 and Rs.15,000, and the winning and runners-up managers getting Rs. 15,000 and Rs. 10,000 respectively.

Sohail Abbas drove away in a brand new Suzuki Mehran car, sponsored by Dawlance, after being selected as the best player in Pakistan's golden jubilee national hockey championship. This is unheard of in the Indian context, of the best player in the nationals being awarded a car. The closest one can remember is that the best player of the 1998 Chennai women's nationals, Seeta Gossein, was awarded a cycle.

In his speech at the prize giving ceremony, Jamali said that his government will give sports its due importance as "this was one field which contributes heavily towards the healthy progress of any society," and then added, "With all due respect to other sports, hockey will be on the top of my priority list."

n 2002, Malaysia's Chua Boon Huat was playing for his club Sapura in Malaysia's National Hockey League (MHL), when he got an offer from the German Bundesliga's Rott und Weiss, Munchen. Though he had already played two matches in the MHL, his club was far-sighted enough to release him to play in the German league.

Malaysia's National Sports Council director general Datuk Wira Mazlan Ahmad has encouraged this trend. "I am all for sending Malaysian players on attachments with German clubs, and will get Paul Lissek to arrange matters with the clubs. We sent players to Germany in 1997 and 2002, and the experience gained was evident."

Mazlan had the following to say to the Malaysian clubs, "The stint abroad will benefit the players in the long run, and is an investment the club should undertake. After all, the players will probably miss only two weeks of the MHL should they decide to play in the German hockey season from April to June."

K. Logan Raj, Chua Boon Huat and S. Kuhan may play in Germany this year, with the latter having received an offer to play for Hamburg HC.

Contrast the Malaysian scenario with the short-sighted approach of the IHF bureaucratic babus.

Back in 1999, when Mukesh Kumar signed an 8-week contract to play in the MHL (September 4 - October 24), IHF secretary Kandaswamy wrote to the Malaysian Hockey Federation and forced the recall of Mukesh. IHF vice president Balakrishnan remarked that the Indian Airlines management (Mukesh's employer) has not taken to this kindly as 'greed is getting the better of such players'.

It only showed that the IHF was being run by a bunch of clerks. Players accepting offers from foreign clubs is a fact of modern sports. This is true of cricket, of football, of basketball, and should be true of hockey too. This applies to players, and this applies to coaches too.

Just one example from world sports will suffice. The 2002-03 National Basketball Association (NBA) season in USA features 66 foreign players from 34 countries, with 27 of the 29 teams having at least one foreign player. The star foreign import in this year's NBA, Yao Ming of China, is single-handedly responsible for a hundred-fold increase in NBA's television viewership in China.

As long as India does not have a professional national hockey league of its own, it is the duty of the IHF not to stand in the way of talented players who get offers from foreign leagues.

he 10th Nehru Champion Colleges Hockey Tournament, sponsored by Oil and Natural Gas Commission, was held at the Shivaji Stadium in Delhi from February 11 to February 20.

Two Punjab colleges - Dayanand Anglo-Vedic College, Jalandhar, and Brijendra College, Faridkot, reached the final, with the following match results:

Date	DAV College	Brijendra College
Feb 16	beat Kirori Mal College 9-0
Feb 19 (semis)	beat Jamia Millia 5-4 (TB)	beat St. Joseph's College 4-3 (TB)

In the final played on February 20, DAV College overwhelmed Brijendra College 6-1 to win the Champion Colleges tournament. Brijendra College clearly felt the absence of its key striker Buta Singh, who was red-carded in the semifinal for starting a brawl.

Earlier, in the third place playoff, St. Joseph's College (Bangalore) defeated defending champion Jamia Millia Islamia (Delhi) 2-1.

he 24th All-India Major Ports hockey tournament was held at the Visakhapatnam Port Trust Stadium from February XX to February 17.

Kolkata Port Trust and Mumbai Port Trust reached the final, with the former beating Tuticorin 3-0 in the first semi-final played on February 16, while Mumbai beat hosts Visakhapatnam 3-2 via the golden goal in the other semi-final.

In the final played on February 17, Kolkata Port Trust retained the All-India Major Ports hockey title beating Mumbai Port Trust 6-5 in sudden death.

With the full time ending goalless, the tie-breaker was introduced, which also ended in a stalemate with both converting all the five penalties.

In sudden death, Kolkata's Mukti Prakash's first stroke was blocked by the goalkeeper, but Mumbai's Azad Khan scooped out. In the next set of strokes, Prakash Thopo put Kolkata ahead finding the target, while Mumbai captain Abhijit Shrishat's push went past the right post by a couple of inches, handing Kolkata the title.

Host Visakhapatnam again finished third, beating Tuticorin 3-0 in the losing semifinalists' match.

Iqbal Singh Rahal of Kolkata was adjudged as the best player and best forward of the tournament. John Kennedy Shazan of Tuticorin was the best goalkeeper, Ch. Dastagiri Basha of Chennai was the best half-back, G. Srinivas of Visakhapatnam was best full-back, while Paradeep Port Trust received the best disciplined team award.

India-France 1990 World Cup Match (Photograph courtesy Christophe Prat)

he Photograph of the Month for March features the 1990 World Cup match between India and France. In a stunning upset, France beat India 2-1 to register its only World Cup victory over India.

India lost despite having stars like Pargat Singh, Ashish Ballal, Jude Felix, Jagbir Singh, Thoiba Singh and Dhanraj Pillai in the team. The two Indians in the photograph are Ajeet Lakra (left) and Ashok Kumar, both defenders. The two Frenchmen in the picture are Timothee Delavenne (foreground) and Jean Louis Ponthieu (background).

France finished 7th in the 1990 World Cup, while India ended up a shocking 10th. Coach M. P. Ganesh was sacked following the debacle.

he European Hockey Federation (EHF) and AstroTurf® synthetic sports surfacing, a division of SRI Sports, Inc., have renewed the contract for Astroturf to be the official supplier of synthetic field hockey pitches to the EHF.

The recently signed agreement between AstroTurf and the EHF extends the organisations’ formal partnership, which began in 1994, for an additional four years, through October 2007.

AstroTurf fields are constructed from nylon 6.6 fibres, which provide a softer and less abrasive surface of play. The first synthetic surface ever used for field hockey, AstroTurf made its debut in the sport at the 1976 Olympics in Montreal. Since then, the material has been seen frequently on both professional and amateur pitches, most recently at the 2002 Men’s World Cup, held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

The EHF also announced a new partnership agreement with Musco Lighting. Musco Lighting has specialised in the design and manufacture of high quality sports lighting systems for over 25 years. Musco Lighting is headquartered in Iowa, USA, with European offices in Manchester (England), Cork (Ireland) and Athens (Greece).

Musco's technology was used in the 2000 Sydney Olympics, the 2002 Manchester Commonwealth Games and by many NFL, NBA and NHL stadia in USA. A recent collaboration between Musco and the England and Wales Cricket Board brought night cricket to fans and television audiences across the continent.

his year's Sultan Azlan Shah Cup, scheduled to be held from March 22 - 30 in Ipoh, will have a ‘third eye’ to assist the umpires.

"The FIH will bring in the equipment and expertise to operate the electronic eye, which will oversee the implementation of several changes in the rules of hockey," said Malaysian Hockey Federation (MHF) secretary S. Satgunam.

The two umpires on the pitch will be in constant touch with the crew manning the television screen via microphones and earphones, and any wrong decisions will be instantly relayed to the umpires.

One of the new FIH rules to be tested in the Azlan Shah Cup by the third eye is the ability to score from anywhere inside the 25-yard line. Another, albeit controversial, new FIH rule is the limit of upto 8 defensive players within the 25-yard line, while a minimum of three players must remain beyond the 25-yard area. A breach of the rule will result in the opponents being awarded a penalty corner.

The two match umpires will have their hands full trying to figure out how many players are inside the 25-yard line, so the third eye will help them keep track.

This year's tournament features four teams from Asia - India, Pakistan, South Korea and hosts Malaysia - along with New Zealand and defending champion Germany.

Dev Chandrasekhar of Telesto Comnet Pvt. Ltd. is this edition's Visitor of the Month. Dev had the following to say to BharatiyaHockey.org:

Can I make a presentation on how to make hockey a profitable proposition for players, fans, and sponsors? I run a telecommunications services firm, have been a journalist in the Indian and foreign media, have contacts in the corporate and investment community, and am a consultant on stakeholder communications strategy to a couple of firms.

We must stop whining about how much cricketers earn, and learn to look after ourselves. Hockey is a great, dynamic sport, and it must be marketed that way!

he Calcutta Customs has a storied history in Kolkata, Indian and international hockey (till the 1960s), as the following record shows:

Tournament	Champions In
Calcutta Hockey League	1909-10, 1912-13, 1921-22 1926-27, 1930-33, 1936-39 1950, 1963, 1996
Beighton Cup	1908-10, 1912, 1925-26 1930-32, 1935, 1938, 1965

The following Calcutta Customs players represented India in the Olympics:

Player	Champions In
Leslie Claudius	1948 (London), 1952 (Helsinki) 1956 (Melbourne), 1960 (Rome)
Shaukat Ali	1928 (Amsterdam)
Fred Seaman	1928 (Amsterdam)
Masud Minhas	1932 (Los Angeles)
Eric Henderson	1936 (Berlin)
Gurbaksh Singh	1968 (Mexico City)