Don't make Gods of our hockey players

Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda has announced cash rewards for the players in the Indian hockey team that qualified for the London 2012 Games. Awards included: Rs 5 lakh per goal scored by each player from Haryana in the final match. Rs 1 lakh per goal scored by players from Haryana in other matches Rs 11 lakh per player from Haryana. Rs 2.5 lakh to each player of the Indian team, irrespective of the state to which he belongs. So Sandeep Singh, who hails from Haryana, and scored 5 goals in the final, is in line for Rs 25 lakh for the final + Rs. 11 lakh for the 11 goals he has scored in the rest of the tournament + Rs. 11 lakh for haling from Haryana, giving him an overall jackpot of Rs. 47 lakh. Madhya Pradesh, too, announced cash awards of Rs. 1 lakh per player. And given their fondness for playing ‘follow-my-leader’ one can look forward to more states making similar announcements in the next 24 hours. [caption id=“attachment_226487” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“The Haryana CM’s announcement is likely to net Sandeep Singh a whopping Rs 47 Lakh! PTI”] [/caption] And all that the team has done is to qualify for the Olympic Games – not won a medal there. Indian team coach Michael Nobbs puts the ‘achievement’ in perspective. “Qualifying for the Olympics was very important for the Indian team. But is only a good start. My main goal is after five years. In that time I want the team to be confident of a podium finish,” he is reported in the Indian Express as saying. There is, without a doubt, cause for celebration, especially as India did not qualify for the 2008 games – the only time India has not featured in hockey in the Olympics. Hockey is certainly a part of the sports heritage of the country, as The Times of India demonstrated so eloquently some years ago: This is the kind of celebration that the news of the qualification deserves – not front page news and cash awards. If the standards we need to meet are so low – just qualification – how do we celebrate if we actually do well at the Olympic Games? More to think about – how will we deal with it if the team does not fare well? Will we treat them as badly as we treat our failed cricketing heroes? Will we attack their houses, as fans did to Dhoni’s house when India lost to Bangladesh in the 2007 World cup? Let’s give these hockey players a break. Do not make them Gods, do not put them on a pedestal, do not pressurise them with our expectations. Let them be human, let them do their best, and celebrate extravagantly if they exceed realistic expectations. That’s the time to make Gods out of them.