Photograph by PTI

ricket is a game played gentlemen, hockey is a game played by brainless lunatics - this is what young fans will believe in if they see the violent acts of the Namdhari team.

In the 2008 Bengaluru Super Division league, the Namdhari coach and manager, Deedar Singh, was banned from the remainder of the league for fighting with an umpire. However, his team was allowed to continue in the league.

In a subsequent match between Namdhari and Fortis on October 12, the Namdhari players, with support from Deedar from outside the field, surrounded the umpire, protesting his decision to award a goal to Fortis. The situation turned violent when former KSP player Chetan Krishna suffered a gash on his forehead.

The match was abandoned, the Namdharis were scratched from the competition, and all their results in the Super League were declared null and void.

The executive council of the Karnataka State Hockey Assocation (KSHA) met on October 20, studied the report submitted by tournament director A. B. Palangappa, and took the following decisions:

• Namdhari XI team - banned for 3 years from the Bengalure Super Division and other KSHA events
• Namdhari player Dhyan Singh, who manhandled umpire Arun Babu - suspended for 5 years
• Namdhari coach Deedar Singh - suspended for life from associating with any hockey activity in the state of Karnataka

Coach Deedar Singh has shown a violent and mentally unstable streak before. Back in 2005, during the prestigious Jawaharlal Nehru hockey tournament in Delhi, the Namdhari team fought with the Indian Oil team after they lost a semi-final match. In an uncivilized act, coach Deedar Singh wildly swung a stick at Olympian Deepak Thakur and bit him on the shoulder, like a mad elephant in heat.

Two of Deepak's teammates - Inderjeet Singh Chadha and Deedar Singh Jr. - were beaten up by Namdhari XI players. Order was brought only after the arrival of a large police force. The Indian Oil team pulled out of the Nehru tournament in protest.

Indian cricket, tennis, golf and chess have such great role models in Sachin Tendulkar, Leander Paes, Jeev Milkha Singh and Vishwanathan Anand. In contrast, Indian hockey has violent coaches like Deedar Singh.

The shoulder-biting and stick-swinging coach Deedar Singh is a disgrace to the sport of hockey, and should be banned permanently from the sport.

hat the hell is wrong with Indian hockey? Are we so totally drained of talent? Is India good only for minor club hockey?

A total of 26 players, both men and women, both seniors and juniors, were nominated for the World Player of the Year in 2008. There is not a single Indian player in the list!

New Zealand, with a population of around 4 million (one-third the population of the city of Mumbai) has a nomination, while India with a billion plus people does not have any nomination! What does New Zealand hockey have that India does not?

In the senior Player of the Year category, Germany and Netherlands are the only countries to have players nominated in both the Men's and Women's categories. This is gender equality at its best. Hats off to Germany and Netherlands, who between them have more than 50% of the nominations in the senior category.

Women's Player of the Year	Men's Player of the Year
ARG - Carla Rebecchi	AUS - Bevan George
ARG - Luciana Aymar	AUS - Jamie Dwyer
CHN - Baorong Fu	ESP - Pol Amat
GER - Fanny Rinne	GBR - Barry Middleton
GER - Natascha Keller	GER - Tibor Weissenborn
NED - Janneke Schopman	GER - Timo Wess
NED - Minke Booij	NED - Robert van der Horst
NED - Naomi van As	NED - Teun de Nooijer

In the junior Player of the Year cateogry (for players born in 1985 or later), Great Britain and Netherlands are the only countries to have players nominated in both the Jr. Men's and Women's categories.

Jr. Women's Player of the Year	Jr. Men's Player of the Year
CHN - Qingling Song	AUS - Desmond Abbott
GBR - Crista Cullen	AUS - Eddie Ockenden
GER - Janne Muller-Wieland	GBR - Ashley Jackson
NED - Ellen Hoog	NED - Jeroen Hertzberger
NED - Maartje Paumen	NZL - Simon Child

There is not a single Asian player in the senior or junior Men's Player of the Year category. Are male players in Asia gravitating to sports other than hockey?

However, the real winner is Netherlands - they are the only country to have at least one player in each of the 4 categories. Netherlands is the true superstar of global hockey.

The winners will be announced during a special awards ceremony during the FIH Congress Dinner in Los Angeles, USA, on Friday, 28 November, 2008.

Vidya Stokes, President of the IWHF
By K. Arumugam of Stick2Hockey.com

alf a dozen former women's internationals met Sports Minister M. S. Gill and complained about the 'defunct and malfunctioning' Indian Women's Hockey Federation (IWHF).

The players in the hour-long meeting with the Minister included Arjuna Puraskar winners Preetam Rani Siwach and Sandeep Kaur, 1982 Asiad gold medallists Anurita Saini and Devinder Bhatia, and 1998 Asian Games silver medallist Sunita Dalal.

The players' delegation highlighted 17 greivances with the IWHF to the Minister, some of which were:

• Failure to conduct the annual national hockey championship in 2008
• Failure to send selectors the previous nationals
• Failure to conduct elections, which are overdue by six months
• Unduly long term of office - the top officials are in the post for almost 25 years continuously

The IWHF is a one-woman show, run by its secretary Amrit Bose. The IWHF president, Vidya Stokes, is a mere figurehead in the IWHF; her main job is being the Opposition Leader in the Himachal Pradesh Assembly, and does not have time for women's hockey.

Indian women's hockey functions at the whim and fancy of "I-am-always-right" Amrit Bose. She is casual, auocratic, arrogant, and thinks that the world moves on her finger tips.

The IWHF is being run from the home of IWHF secretary Amrit Bose, since they had to vacate their office in the National Stadium due to renovation for the 2010 Commonwealth Games. If the IWHF cannot pay for an office, it has no moral right to call itself an organization.

Both the junior team coach (G. S. Bhangu) and the senior team coach (M. K. Kaushik), are puppets at the hands of Amrit Bose. Bhangu and Kaushik do not take any stand against the IWHF, because their primary objective is to protect their jobs.

The last-minute cancellation of Indian junior girls team to Australia should not surprise anyone who is familar with the ad hoc nature of the IWHF. By Monday, October 13, an 18-member Indian junior girls team had assembled in Delhi for their flight to Australia the next day. Many of them were going to fly in an aeroplane for the first time.

Just before their flight, they were curtly informed that their 9-match training tour was cancelled, and that they should pack their bags and go back home.

The reason for the cancellation was pure misanagement by the IWHF, who had approached the Government at the eleventh hour for funding.

I. Srinivas, joint secretary in the Sports Ministry, said: "The IWHF is well aware about the procedure for financial assistance. It takes about 15 days to arrange funds for an overseas tour, but they didn't approach us in time.Sanctioning financial assistance within a day or two isn't possible. The government should not be taken for granted."

In all this mishandling of the tour, the people who suffered most were the young players, denied vital exposure. According to one of the team officials, "The players were bitterly disappointed at this last-minute cancellation of the Australia tour."

Article by K. Arumugam of Stick2Hockey.com

he election for the FIH president is round the corner. Two biggies - European Hockey Federation president Leondro Negre (Spain) and the present president Els van Breda Vriesman (Netherlands) - are in the race.

The winner of the contest will be known on Saturday, November 29, when the FIH Congress concludes in Los Angeles, USA.

Both the contestants, in a democratic and also tech-savvy way, have launched their election websites. This type of development is welcome, and we have to thank the present administration for opening the public door for canvassing.

FIH elections are a predominantly European affair. All the past FIH presidents were from Europe. All the past FIH Secretaries were from Europe, except for Peter Cohen of Australia. Europe has been dominating the world hockey body scene, and the rest of us don’t bother and don’t care why is it so.

The traditional function of the FIH is to manage rules and regulations of the game, allot tournaments and post officials to FIH-sanctioned tournaments.

The approach of Els, I strongly feel, was different from this tradition. She developed the FIH Marketing hub, and allotted tournaments on the strength of market forces, and not on the strength of lobbying within the FIH. We never had FIH Global Partners before she came on to the scene. The FIH website was an apology before her arrival.

Countries where hockey is in the top five or six ranks in the popularity chart should stand to benefit from her approach. I am not talking about FIH Ranking of nations, but the comparative popularity of hockey amongst other sports in countries.

In particular, no FIH president has taken so much care to see Indian hockey improve. 'Promoting Indian Hockey Project' is unique in the history of global governance of field hockey. She even roped in the International Olympic Committee for the project. Even the World Cup was allotted to India in order to revive Indian hockey. She perhaps thought the emerging Indian economy could be a driver for Indian hockey to come up.

I will never subscribe to the view that the global hockey will survive only if Indian hockey survives. The rest of the world has moved ahead; the successful conduct of Beijing Olympics without India in either the men's or women's hockey competitions, must open the eyes of India. World hockey can flourish without India, that is for sure.

Yes, India can certainly add colour and glamour to the game, as the Premier Hockey League has done. It is the first ever domestic hockey league where all matches were telecast live. If India's real marketing potential is harnessed, it can be a force to reckon with in the global scene.

70-80 percent of revenues in the global cricket scene are generated from India. If Indian hockey is administered properly, such a wonderful thing can happen in the hockey world too.

We Indians might not have understood the potential of India in the global context, but Els certainly has. She is perhaps the only FIH president who genuinely put in place a plan to activate Indian hockey. Without her strong words and action, the evil virus called K. P. S. Gill that was eroding Indian hockey would not have been eradicated. Due credit should go to her for helping with the outser of K. P. S. Gill.

Els brought the world's best coach to India. She went out of the way to allot World Cup to India. One of the FIH press releases stated that profits from the 2010 Delhi World Cup will be spent on improving Indian hockey only. What more does India need from the FIH?

When she put forward the Promoting Indian Hockey Project in August 2006, we never knew India will subsequently finish:

• 11th in the 2006 World Cup
• 5th in the 2006 Asian Games
• 2nd in the 2008 Chile Olympic Qualifier and out of the Beijing Olympcs

We were not looking that bad in August 2006; still the FIH under her leadership proposed the Indian project.

India is indebted to her. As an acknowledgement of her interest in Indian hockey, the present administration should openly announce their support to her.

Certainly, we have enormous respect for Leandro Negre of Spain. It was a fellow Spaniard, former IOC president Juan Antonio Samaranch, who elevated an Indian as the IOC Vice-president.

Samaranch was trying to do his bit for Indian hockey in the early 1980s, similar to what Els is doing now. He allotted funds to avail the services of super coach Horst Wein of Germany, but the Indian Olympic Association messed everything up.

Negre would certainly not abandon the projects initiated by Els in case he is elected to the FIH hot spot. However, in view of Els' last three years of consistent efforts to improve Indian hockey, Indian administrators should not tread a politically correct path – taking no open stand – but publicly announce their support for Els.

Photo from the tournament closing ceremony, Image Courtesy Surjit Hockey Website

he Silver Jubilee Surjit Hockey Tournament was held at the Olympian Surjit Hockey Stadium in Burlton Park, Jalandhar, from October 18 to October 25. Nine top domestic teams, and 3 teams from across the border in Pakistan (from Gojra, Sialkot and Sargodha), participated in the tournament.

The title sponsor of the tournament was Indian Oil Servo, while the co-sponsor was Gold's Gym. All matches of the tournament were played under floodlights. No gate entry money was charged from the spectators.

Punjab and Sindh Bank (Delhi) and Javed Hockey Club (Gojra, Pakistan) reached the final of the tournament, with the following match results:

Stage	Date	Punjab & Sindh Bank	Date	Javed Hockey Club
League	Oct 18	beat Seema Suraksha Bal (BSF) 4-0	Oct 21	drew with Bharat Petroleum 3-3
	Oct 21	beat Indep. Hockey Club (Sialkot) 6-3	Oct 23	beat Rail Coach Factory (Kapurthala) 11-2
Semis	Oct 24	beat Air India 2-1	Oct 24	beat Indian Oil 3-1

In the final played on October 25, Punjab & Sindh Bank beat Javed Hockey Club (Gojra) 1-0 to win the Silver Jubilee Surjit Hockey tournament. The winning goal was scored in the 44th minute by Rajvinder Singh of Punjab & Sindh Bank.

The winners received Rs. 2.25 lakhs as prize money, while the runners up received Rs. 1 lakh.

The Player of the Tournament (cash prize Rs. 25,000) was won by Mohammad Saqlain of Javed Hockey Club, Gojra (Pakistan). The Top Scorer of the Tournament (cash prize of Rs. 11,000 each) was won jointly by Khashif Ali and Tariq Aziz of Javed Hockey Club.

A leading Punjabi television channel, PTC Punjabi, telecast the final of the tournament live.

During the closing ceremony, Member of Parliament and President of Shiromani Akali Dal, Sukhbir Singh Badal, donated an amount of Rs. 11 lakhs to the Surjit Hockey Academy. During the Opening Ceremony, Local Bodies Minister Manoranjan Kalia announced a grant of Rs. 5 lakhs to the Surjit Hockey Society.

Photograph Courtesy Official 1936 Olympic Games Report

he Photograph of the Month for November 2008 is of the India-Japan match in the 1936 Berlin Olympics. The official match report had the following caption to the above photograph: "With matchless precision, an Indian player drives the ball into the Japanese goal during an elimination match."

The match between India and Japan was played on August 10, 1936, at 4:30 pm, at the Hockey Stadium in Berlin. India won the match 9-0. The player in the above photograph is most probably the Indian captain Dhyan Chand.

The Indian team for the match against Japan was as follows:

Goalkeeper: Allen

Full-backs: Tapsell, Hussain

Half-backs: Babu Nimal, Goodsir-Cullen, Galibardy

Forwards: Shahabuddin, Fernandes, Bais Dhyan Chand Bais, Bais Roop Singh, Sayed M. Jafar

Goals (per the match report): India scored her first goal in the 15th minute, the second in the 19th minute. The other goals were shot at regular intervals.

Photo of the Nehru Tournament press conference and article courtesy K. Arumugam of Stick2Hockey.com

press conference was organised at the Chelmsford Club in Delhi to mark the commencement of Nehru Junior Hockey Tournament on November 1 at Gurgaon. ONGC was the title sponsor of this year's the Nehru Sub-Junior as well as Junior Hockey Tournaments.

Speaking on the occasion, Dr. N. K. Jit, Deputy General Manager, ONGC, talked about the Sports Policy of his organisation. ONGC has earmarked Rs. 50 crores for sports development.

Jit said: "We have teams in 16 different sports, and are in the process of forming a shooting team as well. The main objective is to complement government efforts to improve nation's sporting image. In hockey, we have recently recruited players of high calibre, and the results are showing. In the ongoing Mumbai Super Division Hockey League, we have won all the six matches played so far."

He was particularly happy on taking the prize catch of penalty corner specialist Divakar Ram in the ONGC team. Divakar was hired as an Executive Grade I officer, as was Olympian Harpal Singh, on par with top cricketers. "I thank our management for the grand gesture to a sport that is not as glamourous as cricket," he said.

ONGC also sponsors the I-League as well as the Development League in domestic football.

Since the ONGC hockey team shifted its base from Dehra Dun to Delhi in 2004, the company has been slowly trying to bring recognised stars to its payroll.

The new recruits in the ONGC hockey team are: Dinesh Ekka, Harpal Singh, Baljinder Singh, Jasbeer Singh, Arun Ravat, K. H. Jainta Meitei, Sandeep Antil, Jagvant Singh, Divakar Ram, Bikas Toppo, Pramod Kumar, Yoginder Guria, Vikas Chaudhry and Joginder Choudhry.

Uttar Pradesh's Pant is the coach of the ONGC team. Pant was formerly attached with Lucknow Nawabs, which was a Second Division PHL team in the 2005 season.

Photograph courtesy Balbir Singh Sr.

riple Olympic gold medallist Balbir Singh Sr. has written a hockey training manual entitled "The Golden Yardstick" - In Quest of Hockey Excellence. This the author's second book, having written the book "The Golden Hat Trick" in the late 1970s.

About the Book

Hardbound, A-4 size, fully colour, glossy art paper, 170 pages, 100 images (vintage and contemporary) and 90 diagrams.

The sport of hockey lacks a yardstick by which to measure the fundamental skills of a player, which this book addresses. This book is an iconic player's treatise on assessment and development of captivating hockey skills, based on his association with the game for over five decades. The tests outlined in the work aim to achieve perfection and excellence at every level. The author uses his vast experience as a successful player, coach, manager and administrator to succinctly show how to educate and train prospective hockey players. Each of the 20 chapters deals with specific skills, their governing rules, easy but effective drills to acquire them, along with numerous diagrams. Besides basic skills, the contours of physical fitness and mental toughness are also adequately outlined.

Testimonial

Jacques Rogge - International Olympic Committee (IOC) President

"As an Olympian, I am particularly pleased to write the preface for this book... The Olympic Movement is grateful to outstanding athletes around the world, like Balbir Singh, who have made a difference and shaped the history of their sport in the 20th century."

About the Author

Born in October 1924, Balbir Singh Sr. rose to fame at the 1948 Olympic Games where he spearheaded India's attack en route to the gold medal. He went on to win gold at the Helsinki (1952) and Melbourne (1956) Olympics as well.

The author holds the record for the most goals in any Olympic hockey final - 5 of the 6 goals scored by India in the 1952 Helsinki Olympic hockey final against Netherlands.

After his retirement as a player, Balbir Singh Sr. had a succesful stint as a coach and manager of various Indian teams. He was the manager of the only Indian team to win the World Cup (1975, Kuala Lumpur) and the only Indian team to win a Champions Trophy medal (1982, Amsterdam).

Balbir Singh Sr., who was former Director of Sports, Punjab, continues to remain closely associated with the sport of hockey.

Video of the Book Release Function at the Prime Minister's Residence

IBN Live - http://www.ibnlive.com/videos/66633/hockey-legend-balbir-singhs-quest-for-excellence.html.

Who Will Find The Book Useful

Hockey clubs in India and abroad, training institutes like SAI, Australian Institute of Sports, etc., Public Sector institutional teams like Indian Airlines, Pakistan International Airlines, etc., and universities with established hockey programmes in India and abroad

How to Purchase

Please contact the author Balbir Singh Sr. at balbirsenior@hotmail.com, to find out how to purchase the book.

Eliza Nelson - Sports Officer, Central Railway, Mumbai, is this edition's Visitor of the Month. Eliza captained the Indian team to the gold at the 1982 Asian Games in Delhi, where women's hockey made its Asiad debut. Eliza, who won the Arjuna Puraskar in 1981 and the Padma Shri in 1983, wrote the following to BharatiyaHockey.org:

Excellent information put up on the website. At present, I am a selector for women's hockey. Players are welcome to contact me for the sharing of views on hockey.

Statistics by B. G. Joshi

he November Fun with Numbers features the list of all Olympic hockey players of Goan origin. A total 42 players of Goan origin, representing 9 different countries, have played in Olympic hockey.

The only Goans to win the Olympic hockey medals, whether gold, silver or bronze, are the Goans in the Indian Olympic team. The last Goan-origin player to win any Olympic hockey medal was 28 years ago, when Mervyn Fernandes played in the gold medal winning Indian hockey team in the 1980 Moscow Olympics.

Country	Player	Olympics	Country	Player	Olympics
India (14)	Paul Peter Fernandes	1936 (IND) 1948 (PAK)	Kenya (13)	Michael Estavo Pereira	1956
	Leo Pinto	1948		Rosario S. F. Dalgado	1956
	Walter D’Souza	1948		Reynolds Anthony D'Souza	1956, 64
	Lawrence Fernandes	1948		Aloysius Eduardo Mendonca	1956, 60, 64, 68
	Maxie Vaz	1948		Anthony Querobino Vaz	1956, 60, 64
	Reginald Rodriguez	1948		Hilary John Fernandes	1960, 64, 68
	John Mascarenhas	1960		Sylvester Fernandes	1960, 64, 68
	Dr. Vece Paes	1972		George Andre Saudi	1960, 64
	Mervyn Fernandes	1980, 84, 88		Edgar Simon Fernandes	1960, 64
	Joaquim Carvalho	1984		Leo Ciriaco Fernandes	1964, 68, 72
	Darryl D'Souza	1992		Reynolds Pereira	1968, 72
	Jude Menezes	2000		Phillip D’Souza	1972
	Lorraine Fernandes (women)	1980		Raphael Fernandes	1984
	Selma D'Silva (women)	1980	Tanzania (5)	Sotar D’Silva	1980
Canada (3)	Ken Pereira	2000, 08		Stephen D'Silva	1980
	Robin D'Abreo	2000		Frederick Furtado	1980
	Wayne Fernandes	2008		Leopold Graciad	1980
Britain (1)	Rui Saldanha	1972		Benedict Mendes	1980
USA (1)	Trevor Fernandes	1984	Uganda (3)	George Moraes	1972
Mexico (1)	Zeno Fernandes	1968		William Lobo	1972
Pakistan (1)	Jack Britto	1952		Polycarp Pereira	1972