Different camps

Chief hockey coach Michael Nobbs has registered strong objection to the World Series Hockey scheduled between December 17 and January 22. Over the course of 37 days,a total of 61 matches are expected to be played among eight city-based franchises. After the failure of the Hockey Premier League to sustain itself,this new league is another shot at both popularising the game and giving the players a greater measure of financial security.

Nobbs objection,however,is that the matches are too close to the Olympics qualification matches,and the players exposure to different coaching styles in those 37 days could disorient them,to the national teams detriment. Many current and former players contest Nobbs argument. Goalkeeper Adrian DSouza,for instance,draws a parallel with football,with players seamlessly moving from league games to international matches. Former India captain Dhanraj Pillay adds that the practice these days,in any case,is to have a 25-30 days camp before a major tournament,and the national team will have that much time before the qualification matches.

The problem is that it is difficult to take the arguments only at face value,because the hockey administration in this country is so vitiated by factionalism and turf wars. Yet,there is no denying that qualification for the Olympics is essential for Indian hockey. When the team failed to qualify for the Beijing Olympics,it decisively broke a long,but tenuous,link with their glorious history. It was of course a depressing moment,but in retrospect it should have been a provocation to stop harking back to old glory and to come up with a gameplan to claw back into the reckoning internationally. In that gameplans absence,other arguments are just distractions.