Sjoerd Marijne as India men's hockey coach instead of Harendra Singh is another tale of whimsical selection

The job of the Indian hockey coach is increasingly looking like a reversible jacket – the women’s coach becomes the men’s while the former junior India coach waiting in the wings for a call-up as men’s coach gets appointed as the women’s coach. All done and dusted in under three days. This when the rest of the country or whatever hockey fans are left were wondering what would be Hockey India’s next move; what would CEO Elena Norman or the high performance director David John keep in mind while sifting through the applications received for the job of the chief coach of the men’s team. Two possibilities emerge here – one that they probably never received any application, or two, that they decided it really wasn’t worth the effort since almost any coach worth his salt already had a contract till the 2018 World Cup. In other words, all that bravado that came from sacking Roelant Oltmans was pure posturing. The core committee that sat down to sack Oltmans had former captains, two Olympic gold medallists and at least six former and present captains. [caption id=“attachment_4024143” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File photo of new India men’s hockey coach Sjoerd Marijne. AFP[/caption] We must believe then that the final decision was probably taken by those with absolutely no credentials. Otherwise, why turn a women’s coach into the men’s and that too give a contract till the 2020 Tokyo Olympics? And why did Sjoerd Marijne, the women’s coach, who, according to sources was hugely reluctant to take the men’s job, suddenly telephoned in Germany and asked to take over? And why was Harendra Singh, all ready and excited to be the men’s coach, asked to take over the women’s? Didn’t John tell the media a few days back that “Harendra is the best man to take over the men’s team?” Can’t help comparing it to the days of KPS Gill who would change coaches, in a matter of months, even before the season had ended. And then surprise everybody by appointing someone who had no international experience (Rajinder Singh Junior, 6th spot in 2006 Commonwealth Games). Then Gill had said, “Rajinder is a tremendous coach and he would do a fine job.” Rajinder lasted two tournaments; coached in 11 matches with three wins, one draw and seven losses. Those appointments came with a tinge of arrogance that spelled ‘I don’t care what the others say. I am the Indian Hockey Federation (IHF) president and I will do what I please.’ The appointment of Marijne smells either of arrogance or sheer incompetence. Marijne, in so many ways, is not to be blamed. Who wouldn’t want to be coaching an Indian side that has already qualified for the 2017 Hockey World League Finals and the 2018 World Cup; simply because we are the hosts. Marijne finds himself bang in the middle of some of the most exciting hockey coaches trading ideas and seeing himself among some of the best coaching minds in the world. It was an opportunity that only an eccentric man would throw away. Indian full back at the 1994 and 1998 World Cups and the 1998 Asian Games gold medallist, Anil Aldrin, calls this decision “autocratic”. “The best thing would have been to give the job to Harendra Singh after the Rio Olympics or they should have kept Oltmans till the 2018 World Cup,” said Aldrin. Aldrin also said that Oltmans was allowed to mix juniors with seniors, and then to expect results overnight was not right. “This is patchwork,” said Aldrin. “It just boils down to bad management.” Just when everybody settled down to wait and watch and see what happened on the coaching front, it was in the last 24 hours that decisions had been taken and Sports Authority of India (SAI) and sports ministry were the only ones who could have taken it. HI probably were just handed the names. Even the sports ministry announced it. Vasudevan Bhaskaran, the 1980 Moscow Olympic gold-winning captain, was surprised when asked about the sudden appointment of both the coaches. “I just heard,” he said. “I don’t know what happened.” Pressed further, he said that normally, HI would sit down with a core committee and take such decisions. “That is how exactly Jose Brasa, Terry Walsh and Oltmans were appointed,” says Bhaskaran. “But I don’t know what happened overnight and what the reason behind such rushed decisions was.” In Europe and Australia, there is not much difference between coaching the men’s and women’s sides. Frank Murray and Ric Charlesworth have both coached men’s and women’s teams. So has Max Caldas, the present Dutch men’s coach. Also Carlos Retegui, the Argentinian men’s Olympic gold-winning coach, was in charge of the men’s and women’s teams simultaneously at the 2014 World Cup. But in India, the men’s and women’s sections have not always been mixed. Yet, Colonel Balbir Singh coached the men’s team at the 1982 Asian Games and the Esanada Tournament and then coached the women’s team at the 1998 World Cup. MK Kaushik had also coached the women’s and men’s teams. So Harendra would not be setting a precedent. But whether the decision had been thrust on him is not known. The sad aspect is about the players. Theories and philosophies of every coach are different. Some inherent coaching methods like the drills on penalty corners could be similar. Or the pattern on substitutions. But every coach has his own unique style. And players have to adapt. This bunch has already worked with Nobbs, Walsh, Paul van Ass and Oltmans in six years with one Champions Trophy silver, Asian Games gold and an Asian Champions Trophy gold to show for their efforts. And every time, the players have expressed off the record that it took a year to understand what a coach’s long-term philosophy was all about. At the back of the mind, it’s always easy for a player to say ‘hell with it, if I am unable to settle down, why should I stress’ – and this has been said by the players. The sports ministry, SAI and HI just can’t play with the players. It’s not about winning trophies. If that was the case, a long-term approach would have been backed by the SAI and ministry, not this hackneyed, knee-jerk reaction after every win or loss. Aldrin wanted to know on what basis this selection had been done. “There has to be a focus and end result. You cannot keep changing and putting players down when the team doesn’t perform.” It’s also quite strange that the announcement of the selection of the coach came from the sports minister Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore’s Twitter account. Are we to presume that every coach change and selection in every Olympic sport will now be tweeted by the sports minister? HI, 20 minutes later, tweeted the coach appointments and never really said anything about the whole turn of events. Federations have a strong chin when it comes to taking punches. They have a stubborn, obdurate presence in Indian sport. Well, let’s forget all that for the time being and welcome the third Dutchman, Marijne, as the men’s team coach. Reality begins now.