Anatomy of a hockey disaster: Paul Van Ass saga proves Batra is as bad as Gill

What does it take for a sport to make it big in India? Some might say money. Others might hint at talent. Still more would veer towards success at the international stage. But none of them really matter – not in India anyway; not when you have administrators who feel they know the sport better than the coaches; not when you have administrators calmly walk onto the turf and give the players a pep talk; not when administrators sack coaches 380 days ahead of the Olympics; not when administrators sack coaches days after winning an Asiad gold; not when you have a KPS Gill; not when you have a Narinder Batra. [caption id=“attachment_2361840” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Van Ass talks to the team during the HWL in Belgium. Hockey India[/caption] Money might help an individual rise through the ranks but can it do the same to a sport? Then again, one individual might have great talent but how does one raise a generation of talented players — and unless both the earlier conditions are fulfilled — getting success at international level as a nation will remain an empty pipe dream for India. The Indian men’s hockey team was the first to qualify for the Rio Olympics – this is not to suggest that they are better than Australia, The Netherlands or even Germany – but only to make the point that they have managed to get the most difficult part of the journey out of the way. They have qualified and they could/should begin preparing in earnest – set everything else aside, put on the blinkers and focus on the Olympics… and the Olympics alone. But that would have meant that Batra would have had to remain out of the limelight; he would have had to take a back seat to hockey and that just didn’t sit right with the man in charge. If it’s hockey in India – the administrator always needs to be at the forefront; he is the face and he is their tragedy. The KPS Gill years were no better – if Batra feels better it is only because Gill’s madness was at another level. Gill’s 14-year term as chief of the now defunct Indian Hockey Federation divided the federation (IHF and HI), the hockey fraternity and players, and over time, significantly dented the team’s performance and morale. At the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, the Indian team was captained by Pargat Singh. Coach Cedric D’Souza didn’t want him in the team but Gill forced his hand. India finished eighth and Pargat’s full back position was the weakest slot. Gill, rather defiantly, blamed the umpiring. He dropped/sacked star forward Dhanraj Pillay when he criticised them (demanded more pay) after the Asian Games in 1998 (where India won gold). The reasoning given was that Pillay couldn’t work with his team-mates. But he wasn’t the only one sacked – the coach MK Kaushik and several other senior players were given marching orders too. At the 2002 World Cup, India finish 10th and became the first nation in hockey history to sack their coach, Cedric D’Souza, midway through the tournament. By the time Gill was done, he had sacked 18 coaches and destroyed the careers of many players. And even then he had the temerity to say: “Hockey is not instant coffee.” The problem with this whole narrative is that Batra is just starting out (he took over in October 2014) and he has already sacked five coaches (including Paul Van Ass, if he goes). Why, he even dreams of running the Indian Olympic Association at some point… Administrators – in India at least – are known to interfere and grant favours but the good one’s stay away from the game as much as possible. The Badminton Association of India is pretty nuts as well at times – for starters, they sent a 46-year-old man from Punjab police to represent India at an international tournament in Iceland, on the recommendations of the Punjab Badminton Association (PBA). The doubles discipline has also be neglected. But they have mostly allowed coaches to do their job – that is also good administration and it shows in our rising profile in the sport. Let people do the jobs they have been hired for and success will follow. In hockey, however, the administrators believe they are untouchable. They interfere with team selection, sack coaches, scrap schedules – all because their ego is at play. Van Ass miraculously survived for 126 days – the hockey equivalent of instant coffee. Terry Walsh was sacked just days after he coached the team to gold at the 2014 Asian Games and an automatic spot in Rio. One can’t help but wonder whether any coach worth his name will want to be in charge of India. Put all of this together and it is a recipe for disaster. When Gill was once asked about the debacle of the hockey team, he famously snapped back: “the team has lost. I have not.” But if hockey loses, then who wins?