It’s high time the IHF hired a foreign coach

The feeling is yet to sink in. Never in my wildest of dreams could I have imagined that India would one day not qualify for the Olympics.

I can’t describe the feeling; you would know what I mean had you shed your sweat and blood for the country on the hockey turf. It’s really tragic, really sad.

But then, this was something that had to happen. The way the IHF has been functioning, you couldn’t expect anything better.

It’s the first time since 1928 that this has happened, and unless some drastic measures are taken, I can say for sure that this won’t be the last time.It’s very easy to blame the players or the coach, but is that all? What about the game’s administrators?

It’s they who have to take the maximum blame for the sorry state of the game today. In the name of youth, they have destroyed the team. Youth is fine, but you need experience also.

Why weren’t players like Sandeep Singh, Gagan Ajit Singh and Arjun Halappa not included in the side? Instead, VR Raghunath, whose tackling has always looked suspect, was taken as a drag-flick specialist and pushed upfront. We sorely missed the services of Sandeep, as penalty-corner conversion proved to be our bane. This was not a small tournament, like the Azlan Shah, where you could experiment, but one with high stakes.

Why wasn’t Ric Charlesworth consulted on the team composition? Why, he was not even given a chance to interact with the players. He was not allowed to travel with the team to Chile. Is this the way you treat a legend, that too someone who has moulded the fortunes of so many top teams in the world?

He didn’t come here on his own; he came here on the FIH’s recommendation. I sure do hope the FIH takes a strong note of this.

It is high time KPS Gill and Co left the precincts of the IHF. They have destroyed the game enough; there is nothing more left. I was speaking to Rahul Gandhi the other day and was amazed by his knowledge of the game.

He genuinely feels sad about the state of Indian hockey today. I think it will be great if someone like him took over the IHF reins. He has a vision for the future and the game will benefit from it. Even Sharad Pawar would be a good option. Indian hockey needs someone who can bring money and glamour to the game.

Even our players’ achievements are never recognised. See how our cricket team was treated by the BCCI when it won the Twenty20 World Cup, or the recent series in Australia. Can you even remember that we won the hockey Asia Cup recently? That’s because the feat went unnoticed. That’s the way IHF treats its players.

I think besides other factors, hype too had a role to play in the team’s pathetic showing against Great Britain.

There was pressure owing to that, and the players choked. The situation, to me, looked eerily similar to what happened to us in the final of the Asian Games in 1982. Perhaps, it’s now time to get a foreign coach, someone like Ric Charlesworth.

The game is changing, so is the situation. He should be given a long stint, around 3-4 years, and a free hand. The players too should not be dropped at the slightest pretext; they should be given enough opportunities to prove themselves.

I think the worse has happened; it has turned full circle. Here on, it can only get better. I am optimistic that this debacle will herald a new beginning for Indian hockey. We all should work for it to happen. This is not the end of the world. We shall overcome this setback and come out stronger.

(Mir Ranjan Negi is a former India goalkeeper and coach. He spoke to Satya Siddharth Rath)