We all know about our national symbols. Lotus
is our national flower, Tiger is our nation animal, peacock is our national
bird, Ganges is over National
River Ganges
is too polluted to stand in, Jan Gan Man is subject to controversies similarly
Hockey in our country is also dying. Day by day we are forgetting to care about
our national heritage. But if we talk about Hockey then the situation is worst
among all. There are several conservation initiatives to curb the falling
number of Tiger and peacock and we have several million rupees Ganges cleaning program. At least some body is there to
care about them. I fully support all these moves to preserve the symbols of
nation importance. But what about our National sports Hockey? Is there any one
who can feel the plight of the game and its players? Is there any one who
thinks that It’s high time that something should be done to save our national
game before it’s becomes a thing of past? Is there any one?
It’s
tough to say exact phase when the bad days of Hockey started in our country.
Some people think the rise of Cricket is the sole reason behind the down fall
of this game and few out there think that the international governing body, its
biased rules and policies are which went against the Asian hockey. Whatever the
reason may be but the truth is that today hockey is critically ill and is surviving
on ventilator. It’s hard to believe that a country which once ruled the entire
world in this game has now become so insensitive toward this ailing sport that
it does not want to do any thing to revive it. At least I can’t see any such
thing happening.
Indian
Hockey team is the first non European Country to be part of International
Hockey Federation (FIH). What exactly that mean? This means that in spite of
being the most experienced out side Europe we
are lagging to those novice players who got recognition much later than us.
Many late comers like China ,
Korea and Japan Australia
I always believed that not only sports but in every walk of
life whether its films, business or politics, we needs a hero or idol which
inspires others and boost its popularity. We had a hero in Dhaynachand and that
was the time when we were on top. and if you ask me then I would say after him
only Dhanaraj Pillai was the only player who sustained for long and gave us a
hero in form of him. There were other notable players also but no one had
succeeded to mach the charisma of these two. On the other hand if you see we have
almost an endless list of Cricketing Idol. 83 World cup win not only gave us a
cricketing Hero in form of Kapil dev but also enabled a great interest of
people in Cricket. We had Sunil gavaskar, Bishan singh Bedi, Jadeja, Ganguly,
Srinath, Dravid, Laxman, Sehwag, Yuvraj, Harbhajan , Dhoni and of course Sachin
Tendulkar. All of them not only achieved personal milestone but also brought
the Indian cricket from no where to top. Players like Sachin Tendulkar are no
more related to cricket only. He is an idol to follow irrespective of someone’s
background. These cricketers have created a huge interest of people in cricket.
Reason behind the rise of cricket in India
To great extent all credit goes to the governing body. How
can the country forget the KPS gill, for what he did to Hockey. A former DGP of
Punjab once credited with having brought the Punjab Insurgency under control,
had done a great damage to the Hockey. His dictatorship and authoritarian
nature killed the players trust. Corruption in his tenure damaged the Indian
Hockey financially. But He was not alone, in fact no one could do this alone.
He had a strong backing in Government. It is only after a lot of hue and cry
from former player which led the government to act. And what an act it was. Instead
of bringing any positive change, the government pushed the Indian Hockey in the
darkness of anonymity. Yes Indian hockey is now struggling to have its
identity. We have two governing body in Hockey, IHF led by the same Corrupt KPS
Gill and other one being HI(Hockey India India
I consider the media equally responsible for not doing
enough for the cause of the game. The Bottom line is that every one out there
is to make money. All these news media channels, have enough bandwidth to show
the dancing cat, cat fallen in bore well, all the witch crap but they have no
time to show or discuss Hockey. It’s so
disgusting when you have to search the entire web just to know the result of
the match your national team had played because no nation sport or news channel
has bothered to cover the game. The
people follow what comes before there eyes. And by going the power of media, I
am sure if the Hockey gets it due coverage, even one tenth of what cricket is
getting, we can see a dramatic surge in interest of the people in the Hockey.
And as the viwership increases money will follow. It’s a full round circle.
After all, every one is fed of too much cricket. Too much focus on cricket will
not only saturate the viewer but also do a great damage to the game too. We can
see its sign now. A fare chance should
be given to every other sport to prosper. Every player put a lot of effort to
bring glory to the game and the country. We should acknowledge their efforts.
Only this way we can inspire the future generation to look beyond cricket.
But for all this to happen, first government will have to
act firmly and sensibly to bring the idiotic act of the HI and IHF to an end.
Being the national game, government should make it compulsory to broad cast
every game Team India plays
at least in and around India
We can not simply abandon our nation sports because we are
not doing well. This is just not the way to do it. We love our nation and we
love our national sports.
Players should also understand their responsibility. It’s
not always the way to grumble about everything. They must understand the basic
theory that they will have to produce some Heroes for the world to follow. They
will have to do the unprecedented. Every revolution demands the sacrifice.
Players have to sacrifice some monetary interest and will have to set some
example. I believe the infrastructure and governance in Pakistan Australia
Players should inspire from the past glory and learn the
future tactics of the game.
I also urge the players to drop their personal difference
and egos. You would not get any thing but eventually damage your own career and
Indian Hockey. Show some discipline for the sake of the game. I some time read
some disciplinary action being taken against some bright players. They don’t
understand hockey lover have a lot of hopes from them without them the team India
And at last its a great responsibility of the platform like “Chak
de Indian hockey” to constantly fight for the game. Spread awareness spread the
interest.
I hope one day Hockey will come out of gloom to gleam.
I love my country I love Hockey.
Sanjeev Shukla
