THE recent allegations that have gripped the Indian hockey establishment are of serious nature and the International Hockey Federation (FIH) will do well to seek an official clarification from those who matter in the IHF. That the allegations have come from within the Indian Hockey Federation lends a certain air of authenticity about it, but nothing can be said with finality unless the matter is professionally investigated. And that is where the FIH comes into the picture.
For those of you who might have missed out on it, Narinder Batra, who happens to be a senior official of the Indian Hockey Federation, has alleged that seven of the players who represented India in the recently concluded Junior World Cup, were over the maximum age limit for the mega event.
According Narinder Batra, who is IHF’s Senior Vice-President, V.S. Vinay, Vivek Gupta, Vickram Kanth, Navpreet Singh, Hari Prasad, Senthil Kumar and Ajitesh Roy were all aged over 21 years, which was the maximum age limit for players allowed to feature in the Junior World Cup.
The allegations, according to the published news report, came in a letter that Batra has written to IHF Secretary-General K.Jothikumaran. In the said letter, Batra further alleged that as per his information, “the manipulation in the age of players was done on the instructions of senior IHF officials”.
If Batra is to be believed, Vinay was of 24 years and six months old, Hari Prasad was 23, Vivek Gupta and Vickram Kanth were over 22 each, Navpreet was 21 years and two months old, while Ajitesh was almost 22. As I see it, there is no reason not to believe Batra if the Indian authorities are themselves avoiding to comment on the matter.
Regardless of the ultimate fate of this controversy, I really fail to understand the mindset which encourages playing overage players in age-specific competitions. This is like shooting yourself in the foot in practical terms. I know authorities do it in order to give themselves a chance to do better at such an event. And, like it or not, such happenings take place much more in South Asia than anywhere else in the world.
The concept of holding age-specific competitions is to ensure the spread of competitive games down to lower levels so that the game may grow at all levels both nationally and internationally. By fielding overage players, the authorities deny selection to the actual youngsters who qualify for a slot on the basis of their talent and age. This, in turn, acts negatively towards the basic purpose of holding such events.
On the other side of the equation are those overage players who are selected to represent the country illegally. While they may shine during such outings, their time under the spotlight is limited because by the time they are promoted to the senior ranks, they are often too old to last long enough on the international stage.
But if it is such a lose-lose equation in which no one stands to gain, one may well ask, what is the point in fielding overage players. This is done by establishments that are desperate to prolong their stay in power. They remain on the back foot because they cannot run the game professionally, and they come under serious criticism form those who know the game and its administration. Every failure of the team adds to the pressure, and there comes a time when the authorities resort to illegal actions in the hope that such negative tactics would make their team win and, in turn, they will have something to boast of in front of the media and retain their power and pelf.
It is no wonder that the Europeans and Australians do not adopt such illegal tactics because the strategies and selection criteria adopted by relevant authorities in those countries happen to be professional enough to pay dividends.
THE recent allegations that have gripped the Indian hockey establishment are of serious nature and the International Hockey Federation (FIH) will do well to seek an official clarification from those who matter in the IHF. That the allegations have come from within the Indian Hockey Federation lends a certain air of authenticity about it, but nothing can be said with finality unless the matter is professionally investigated. And that is where the FIH comes into the picture.
Regardless of the ultimate fate of this controversy, I really fail to understand the mindset which encourages playing overage players in age-specific competitions. This is like shooting yourself in the foot in practical terms. I know authorities do it in order to give themselves a chance to do better at such an event. And, like it or not, such happenings take place much more in South Asia than anywhere else in the world.
