There is one more game on this earth man.......... Review on Hockey

Novi Kapadia famous sports journalist and football specialist once said to NDTV in a show that :

“We should not go for two on-the-ground referees in football because it will take away the pace from it , cricket is a slow game so it is justified to keep a 3rd Umpire in it, but if we keep in football then it’s condition will be just like Hockey where in every 30 seconds whistles are blown and it has seriously affected the pace of the game and hence the overall interest”.  When he was answering to a question to a person who called  during the show.

Now did u took a notice of his last sentence Hockey where in every 30 seconds whistles are blown and it has seriously affected the pace of the game.

I feel that Novi was damn right and accurate in his answer justifying the need of only one referee in football,           mannn……… it has really costed the game a lot.

I wonder what would happen if the famous legend of Hockey DhyanChand comes alive again and see  fate of game nowadays , there is no second thought that his soul would be torn apart.

Hitler’s Story

Looking at the present condition of the game it becomes very hard to believe the story when Adolf Hitler himself visited to see the finals of 1936 Olympics between India-Germany in which India drubbed Germany 8-1.

It reflects that what kind of impact this game had in the past. But now ………………….. very unfortunate……………..

Sports Ministry’s Recent Action

Recently ,  the Ministry of Sports Authority of India has removed this game from the list of preferred game and has put it in general list along with football on the basis that national team has been faring very badly in this game and it is also receiving very negligible audience.

I think that it has been a very harsh step taken by Sports Ministry on hockey that use to be our national sport , football one can understand that India has not done well and doesn’t even seem to be doing well but is this fair treatment with hockey . I ask u?

Though I can’t question Sports Ministry as  it’s a very high profile issue…

Penalty Corners

Moreover the major reason which I feel that is costing Hockey it’s charm is the same , too much of whistling , mainly for penalty corners.

First of all it becomes very difficult to justify penalty corners , I mean the way they are granted. Whenever the ball hits the defending teams’ player’s leg, thigh or shoe within the circle of the goal it is granted to the attacking team  Now , I fail to understand when the ball is played on the ground with hockey stick kissing the turf it can happen many times and hence becomes very easy to obtain. Anytime when I switch on the TV for a hockey match I see players taking up position for penalty corners , now isn’t it becoming too much and some teams are very expert in taking up penalty corners , hence it favors them. Penalty corners are certainly not bad rather it is a distinguishing feature of Field Hockey but excessive of it is costing the game.

Falling Standards

Another major reason is that we are not having enough of quality talent coming for this game. Hockey has been a popular game in these countries and has had a rich heritage like other games.

India , Pakistan , Australia , New Zealand , Argentina , Great Britain, Germany, Holland , South Korea.

As usual India and Pakistan are stuck up in the *daldal *of Cricket with all sorts of idiot politics in it (doing injustice to Wasim *bhai *and Saurav Ganguly) and above all maniac media. Kiwis have started taking up Rugby too seriously with most of the population sticking to it. While Argentines’ love for football is not hidden from anyone and same with UK & Korea.

And hence these countries despite having loads of talent for hockey is unable to lure quality youngsters.

Only Australia , Germany and Holland maintains the standard in this game which truly reflects their true sporting spirit.

Biased Media

That I think is the major culprit , it has got the power but they will not use it. Now I wanna ask these media persons when they are telecasting their Sports show isn’t India’s victory and their qualification into semis of Azlan Shah Tournament at that time a major news rather than doing repeated unnecessary commentary on India’s  preparation for their good for nothing Bangladesh Tour. They are conducting discussions with expert panel but don’t even have time to show two goals which Indian hockey team did against Argentina ????

They don’t even have time to talk to their correspondent in Malaysia. At the same time when India loses wicket , then it become breaking news, an insane girl hugs Dhoni it’s a breaking news  But Hockey sorry “babaji ne shraap diya hai” *even to talk about it for two minutes. Disgusting ………….

Success of sister game

It’s sister game ice hockey continues to dominate North America and is still followed as passion in Canada. Moreover it also played on a large scale in Northern Europe.

Future

Despite all this according to me hockey can’t be written off , we can make out from the success of ice hockey that it’s isn’t that boring , all we need to do is to change the format a bit  , make it more aggressive and more appealing to eyes by adding more attractive features when it comes to presentation. In the sub continent no doubt that it has flopped but if the steps are taken in right direction then it can be revamped. Also we need a bit of luck.

All I can say is that justice hasn’t been delivered to this game of course there are various Lacunas but they can be easily be improved as other countries are busy in other sports I think it’s best chance for India and Pakistan to bring this game back as both of these countries are faring very badly in Cricket now days now all I can hope is for a victory for India in Azlan Shah Cup so that it can help in reinventing the game. But there are miles to go before I sleep……………………….