Besides hockey, bad politics which has been part and parcel of Indian hockey for as long as one can remember,it is India's shameless defence which is the real problem for several years now. India has been losing big time by huge goal margins for the last several years. Losing 8-1,7-2,6-3,5-2,9-3 and so on does not shame team India any more. The media ends up saying India put on a barve fight even in defeat. This is how team India consoles itself even in shameful defeats. Gone are the days when India had players like Kindo,Krishnamurti and the likes when India hardly ever conceded goals. The maximum goals India would concede would be no more than one or two, rarely three. One cannot just blame Rajinder, Gill and poor remuneration for India's pathetic showing. Even the players are no where near the standard of Holland, Germany and Australia. Forget those big teams, India has hard time not losing even against minnows like Malaysia,South Africa,Belgium,Canada,Poland and Argentina these days. India are no longer the giants of hockey. Even Pakistan has slipped but not to the level India has stooped.
It is really pathetic our team has made a nosedive due to the ego satisfaction of coach Rajinder singh. It is not his father-in-laws property to handle the team as per his wishes. The pride of a whole nation is involved and he be taught that it is not confined to Patiala alone. The team shud hav quality players and he cant dictate terms on the players. His recommendations for sacking veterans purely on ego grounds be put an end to and indeed on such matters he be put an end to. The recent ascendancy has been buried by his apprehensive behaviour and the team is proving to be a novice now. It is high time he is sacked by the powers that be and a foreign coach appointed to rejuvenate.
Indian hockey is ruined by the big sardars purely bcas of ego factor and by sticking to the higher positions they donot want to descend at the cost of the national team. Come what may, their attitude is to sacrifice the nation in the hands of smaller teams. Team spirit is totally lacking and no motivation at all. There is no reprimand of poor performers but on the contrary, they are included by virtue of their influence with top brass. It is indeed a shameful affair and we should stop playing the game atleast for 5 years until a new team emerges to save our pride. All aged sardars at the helm of affairs be shown their gates and even a revamp will produce better results. It will be apt that we appoint Charlesworth as a coach to invigorate the present team to prove their worth. It shudn't be Rajinder's team anymore to handle it as his pig squad.
RE:dumping
by Guramrit Singh on Jul 07, 2004 01:28 AM
Mr. Subramanian P,
I endorse all your views, and share with you the dismay and anguish Indian hockey fans go through all the time. But your reference to the top brass as "Sardars" is in offensive tone (its very obvious) and refers to a much wider group. The people at fault, who-so-ever they are should be held responsible as individuals. K Joythikumaran has been Gill's right hand all these years and I believe shares the blame for the mess. But that does not, and should not make me use a generic word to refer to him. I appreciate you for being careful in future.
Rediff Moderators, it should have been made sure that the messages posted here do not use inappropriate language that can be offensive to any group. I hope you will be careful in future.
Lastly, everyone in the present IHF set-up should go, making way for old players, with help of professionals with managerial and management skills to take over the game. Only then I see India moving up the hockey ladder. It is a shame that game is run by whims and fancies of few egoistic people.
