Burial Of Indian Hockey :: " METAMORPHOSIS " Indian Hockey 1976 to 1982 - Indian Hockey " FINISHED " for ever
Burial Of Indian
Hockey
There could be two examples , one about West Germany winning
the 1972 Olympics title and India after three years from it winning the World
Cup at Kuala Lumpur at Malaysia. I would like to add Holland winning it’s FIRST
international world title on Hockey in 1973 beating India by 4-2 in the
tie-breaker.
Take the first case of West Germany winning the Olympic
Hockey title. Examine and evaluate how far and to what an extent they made
their strides in the field of World Hockey. I take the added on or the ad on as
an example of Holland and ask you- WHAT WAS HOLLAND’S EXAMPLE AND EXAMPLE ABOUT
THEIR IMPROVEMENT IN HOCKEY
The MILLION Dollar’s question is- WHAT HAS BEEN INDIA’S
IMPROVEMENT IN WORLD HOCKEY
Indian Hockey after that victory in 1975 added ONE more Gold
in the Olympics in 1980. GOOD it is , BUT AT WHAT EXPENSE. Was that GLITTER
worth enough to be considered as anything worth or should anybody SHRILL and
SHOUT about the KEYNEYSIAN theory of Indian Hockey, equalizing it to alkyls
and talk all about the theory of
Economics that Keynesian advocated about Economics that could be applied on
Indian Hockey.
HEAD SWOLLEN OFFICIALS – Indian Hockey Broken into pieces
In 1980, till the time till about 1984 when Mr M.A.M
Ramaswamy was the SUPREMO of Indian Hockey, Indian Hockey won the Silver in the
Asian Games at Tehran, it won the Silver medal in the 1973 World Cup Hockey, it
won the World Cup Hockey title in 1975, it won a Silver in the 1978 Asian
Games, a GOLD in the 1980 Oympics, finishing FIFTH in the 1981 World Cup, rounded
off by Pakistan by 1-7 in the Asian games Finals at New Delhi in 1982,
finishing fifth in the Olympics in 1984, ENTER
THE DRAGON or the GHOST sipping the BLOOD out of us in the 1986 World
Cup where we finished 12th ie the LAST in terms of the position when
Pakistan finished 11th in that championship after beating India by
3-2 for the play off for the 11th and 12th place
“ THE TWO GIANTS OF WORLD
HOCKEY IN 1948 FINISHING AT THE LAST TWO POSITION IN 1986- 38 YEAR NOT EVEN A
FULL FOUR DECADE AND THE ASIAN HOCKEY WAS OFF TO THE GRAVE YARDS, BURIED TO LIE
IN PEACE FOR EVER ” .
1928 to 1968- YES 1968 when for the first time we failed to
make it to the finals of the Olympics, FOURTY years that we ruled the World
Hockey especially when it came to the Olympics, and 1948 when Pakistan first
participated in the Olympics as an Independent country, when they finished
fourth, to 1986 38 years almost near to FOUR DECADES, when the
ASIAN-POWER-OF-HOCKEY in the WORLD was minced to dust when Pakistan finished
eleventh and India 12th ie the LAST position in the annals of World
Hockey, within FOUR decades the entire hockey was gone from Asia in terms of it’s
dominance. South Korea as a substituted DRAGON from Asia had emerged but IT HAS
NEVER WON A WORLD CUP OR AN OLYMPIC TITLE.
What was the reason of a TOTAL-COLLAPSE and the DEATH
of Indian Hockey ?. It was that the
hockey of the Germans, Holland, Spain and Australia were fast trying to read
the way this game is played by either Pakistan or India and the manner that
they play it and bring about some addition or alteration to make the game far
more suited to them. They were bringing in new style into their game and were
adding variation in their style of Hockey but here in India and also in Pakistan
we were completely ignoring the real facts that were emerging in Hockey.
Every time that we failed, we came up with a STRAIGHT answer
that the ASTRO-TURF and the artificial surface were hampering us and that was
the reason that was completely destructing us for everything. But was that an
excuse.
In the WORLD-HOKEY-BODY meet of 1975 immediately afterwards
when this meeting of the world governing body council of Hockey met under the
Chairmanship of Mr Rene Frank, he openly said that in future the Hockey matches
would be played on the Astro-turf. Immediately West Germany laid that turf and
invited India as the World champion then, Holland, Pakistan and the host
Germany , to play a four nation invitation Pre-Olympic Hockey meet at Munich.
All the other three mentioned here went to participate but not India.
The Indians then who were ruling the I.H.F and who were the “
MAALLIK ” of the HORSES which ran the DERBIES were running the Indian Hockey
players like the HORSES run in the derbies by holding exhibition matches, some
played against the Filmstars, some played against the some who had NOTHING to
do with Hockey GLAMOURISING the game.
It was there at Munich during the Pre Olympics Four Nation
tourney that Ishlauudin had first remarked that – AGAR HUMNAY APNA AANKH NAHI
KHOLA TOH HOCKEY PAKISTAN KA PAANI MAI GAYA, which means that IF WE DO NOT OPEN OUR EYE IMMEDIATELY NOW THE
PAKISTANI HOCKEY IS GONE FOR EVER.
In that tourney West Germany defeated Pakistan by 4-3 to win
that FIRST EVER HOCKEY INTERNATIONAL
MATCHES PLAYED AT ASTRO-TURF. The opening encounter too saw Pakistan losing to
the host by 3-4.
Immediately when the Pakistan team landed at Karachi, the
P.H.F immediately met the Pakistani players who participated in that tourney to
get a first hand report from them. When they heard all about the intricacies of
the astro-turf Pakistan courtesy the Pakistan International Airlines laid a
NERW-ASTRO-TURF at the Lahore HQ of Pakistan
and then immediately the next at Karachi. By 197 , Pakistan had TWO astro turf.
Here in India the situation were such that the Ministries
too got into the Hockey and the one who made Hockey, it’s players and it’s LIFE
a “ MAN-SHIT ” worst than the BULL-SHIT was none other than the Union Minister
Sikander Bakht. There was a cricketer SIKANDER BAKHT who was playing Test
cricket for Pakistan.He was assisting Imran Khan to win Test matches for
Pakistan at Australia in 1976 ( 1-1) and at West Indies ( West Indies - 2, Pakistan
– 1) in 1976-77 and here was that Union Minister Sikander Bakth who made the
LIFE such a HELL for Aslam Sher Khan that Aslam Sher Khan wrote a book- TO
HELL WITH INDIAN HOCKEY
I’m, placing the
book and the illustration of that book here-:
Pic-:: Cover of
the book – TO HELL WITH HOCKEY
Bibliographic information
|
Title |
To Hell with Hockey:
The Life Story of Olympian Aslam Sher Khan, as Told to Matin Khan |
|
Author |
|
|
Publisher |
Allied Publishers,
1982 |
|
Length |
89 pages |
The book and it’s main cover appears to be such that I have
disclosed here in the photo where Aslam Sher Khan is carried on the shoulder's of the fan's of Bhopal's Hockey and THIS IS THE FIRST BOOK WHICH DESCRIBE HOW ASLAM SHER KHAN
WAS TOLD BY THE HOCKEY COACH OF BHOPAL TO WET HIS BED IE TO INDULGE IN A HOMO
SEXUAL MANNER FOR HIM TO FIND A PLACE IN THE BHOPAL NATIONAL HOCKEY TEAM SQUAD
. It is a TRUTH that Aslam Sher Khan has mentioned and while reading that IT
WOULD SCARE THE READERS THE MANNER IN WHICH HE DECRIBED IT and the manner he
was treated when he refused doing that.
Pic :: The Cover Of The Book TO HELL WITH HOCKEY
Any other person or a player who would be in that position
would have given up the Sports but NOT Aslam Sher Khan. The Pathan that was he went
onto represent India in the 1972 Olympic Games when his age was only 17, and
again in the 1976 Olympics games when he LED India against Malaysia for the
place off game scoring TWO of penalty corner for India to win the SEVENH
position then.
By the way what is the BOOK- TO HELL WITH HOCKEY is all about. Well, here is a SHORT gist of the same-"
" Victory has a thousand fathers and defeat
is an orphan." That was an American President, John F. Kennedy, on
international crises, but he could as easily have been referring to the
vagaries of Indian sport, so aptly does the description fit.
But perhaps no other sport has demonstrated the
truth of that statement as forcibly as hockey, India's solitary and sporadic
claim to international fame.
Till the late '60s, when Indian hockey was
riding the crest, nothing was too much for the national hockey team and everybody
remotely connected with the sport hopped nimbly onto the bandwagon.
Then came the slump in Indian hockey and
suddenly the champagne rat flat, the roses wilted and the players were more
akin to pariahs. The same story repeated itself with the Indian World Cup win
in Kuala Lumpur in 1975 when the heady feeling again proved momentary and the
witch-hunts and buck-passing once again took precedence over the actual sport.
Though by now an all-too-familiar litany, the
seamy side of Indian hockey has never been stripped so naked as in the
autobiography of Aslam Sher Khan, former hockey superstar and architect of
India's 1974 World Cup win
Khan's is the kind of rags-to-riches story that probably holds true for most of the country's hockey stars, but he is the first to feel so powerfully about the injustice and the wheeling-dealing that governs the sport to put it into a book. In purely literary terms, that perhaps is an error of judgment. The passion and anger is too strong and too overpowering to make for any literary pretensions.
But that, in the final analysis, is probably the
only way that a book of this type could have achieved some impact. Though
crudely crafted, it is nonetheless a straight-from-the-gut, no-holds-barred
account of the struggle of a highly talented athlete to claw his way to the top
of the heap, and the pitfalls and politics that eventually dictate his every
move.
Daring Revelations:
Starting with Khan's baptism into hockey, when he was dropped from
the Bhopal team in the nationals because he refused to go to bed with the
55-year-old coach of the team, the author takes the reader on a sordid and
sweat-stained sojourn into the tortured maze that represents the state of
sports in this country.
The politics of the selection process - Khan was
the first Muslim hockey player to play against Pakistan, 27 years after
Independence; its fickleness - he was dropped from the team immediately after a
match-winning performance; and its illogicality - he is perhaps the only
Olympian to have played as a full-back, a wing-half and a forward, all in the
same tournament.
Khan dismisses the selectors as
" chauvinistic bastards " for their petty parochial interests and cites
some telling instances of the depths to which hockey officialdom is capable of
unabashedly plunging. In fact, Khan's book, for all its slim look, is not just
a side-swipe at the powers-that-are but a constant barrage of literary
body-blows.
Those looking for lengthy descriptions of
historic matches and revelations on the finer points of the games will be
disappointed. Only at one point does Khan make the significant observation that
" we are taught to dodge and dribble but no great emphasis is ever placed
on scoring ". For the rest.
To Hell With Hockey is essentially a personal testimony to the dark side of
Indian hockey, a side that few people have so far had the courage to expose.
Aslam Sher Khan is certainly never going to get a government-sponsored job or
that of a coach in this country; he has stepped on too many sensitive toes for
that.
But if the sordid revelations in To Hell
With Hockey make even the most miniscule impact on the way the game is
run, it will be Aslam Sher Khan's greatest contribution to the game.
“ ASLAM SHER KHAN IS THE ONLY
HOCKEY PLAYER IN THE WORLD WHO PLAYED AS
A FULL DEEP DEFENDER TO START WITH, IN THE OLYMPICS IN 1976, THEN COMING
TO HOLD THE CENTRAL MISFIELD POSITION IN THE SAME TOURNEY, THEN TAKING THE
POSITION OF THE FORWARD IN THE SAME OLYMPICS AND AT LAST LEADING INDIA IN THE
SAME OLYMPICS “ .
This lion hearted Pathan and a terrific defender AS WELL AS
A PENALTY CORNER SPECIALIST was very fearless in his TALKS and in his manner to
act very STUBBORN with the wrong one’s, and that was the reason why he faced a
lot of problems.
He was immediately axed after the 1972 Olympics least and
lest in 1974 when Leslie Claudius was the Coach of the Indian Hockey team for
the 1974 Asian Games, HE MADE IT VERY CLEAR TO THE I.H.F AND SPECIALLY TO
Mr M.A.M. RAMASWAMY THAT HE WOULD NOT
TAKE THE CHARGE IF ASLAM SHER KHAN WOULD NOT BE THERE IN THE SDIE. When agreed
upon Aslam Sher Khan was there in the squad for the 1974 Tehran Asian games and
then came the moment in 1975 when he converted that penalty corner in the dying
minute to save India against Malaysia in
the semis……. The REST IS A HISTORY
Pic :: 1975, Aslam Sher Khan Carried On The Shoulders Of Bhopal Hockey Lovers And His Fans After He Reached Bhopal After India Winning The 1975 World Cup Hockey
Now coming back to the main stream of the article, and I
produce the narration as well over here. In 1977 the Pakistan Hockey federation
held the QUAID-E-AZAM Hockey tournament .That tournament was played at Lahore,
the HQ of Pakistan Hockey on the newly laid Astro-turf. Aslam Sher Khan was to
lead India . The RUBBISH of Indian Hockey came out of that and out of it . The
ASH were the Indian players selected and the ash WERE THE result THAT CAME OUT
OF THE SAME. The result ws-;
ASLAM SHER KHAN WROTE
THAT BIO-GRAPHY OF HIS LITTLE BUT IMPEGNIOUS AND ..... “ impecunious
” HOCKEY CAREER AND THE NAME OF IT IS WRITTEN HERE. He described everything
that was SHAME,DEATH and ROTS that Indian Hockey had gone into and had gone in
the state of being surviving.
I'm NOT BELITTING any WOMEN FOLK'S in particular and their status be it a WIFE, be it a MOTHER or be it s SISTER or be it anybody from the Women sector ot the society that belongs to women, but I'm only explaining all about the WRONG fundamentalism of the wrong maenings that have been adjudicated and advocate by the era's and the people who ruled that era's and th wrong kind of an adjectives and modes that were applied on the womenfolk's and the manner that it crept in to the societal systems of India from time immemorial and that came in to the Indian Hockey where because of the wrong doings on the women or the wrong doings by the men on the women did devastate the Infdian Hockey.
Aslam Sher Khan's book when I read that was something a new kind of an experience for me to read but over th period of time wife infact was ABBREVIATED with two different forms of the same and that is what hit the Indian Hockey. When I write that I REQUEST EVERYBODY NOT TO MISUNDERSTAND ME. My Intentions are NOT to degrade and evaluate the ladies or the WOMAN but when the cases were held by the authorities here for examination and evaluation the real full meaning of the word wife took a wrong direction and it was wrongly used as if a JOKE was the case and a JOKE ought to be made of the case though the cases were serious but that is how it was at last made by the authorities.
The Britishers did it to fuse and bemuse the Indians when they were ruling India and the Indians adopted it as if it was their RIGHT to adopt and practice that. What is it is going to be explained by me here but again back to Hockey and Indian Hockey.
HE DECLARED HE WAS
NOT PLAYING HOCKEY AT ALL FOR INDIA ANYMORE.
Have you ever HEARD a player declaring and retiring from the
game when his career in the game was taking a upward flight and that too at the
age of 22 years. If you DO NOT BELIEVE that, that was ASLAM SHER KHAN FOR YOU.
He is till alive and his SON is a M.L.A that we call it here in India at U.S.A
maybe the real word for that is SENATE as they call it in the
U.S .
THIS IS HOW INDIVIDUALLY THE PLAYERS WERE DEMOLISHED IN INDIAN
HOCKEY.
Back again to the main stream of Indian Hockey from 1976 and
thereafter. Compare the attitude of the Pakistan Hockey and Indian Hockey and
their adminis(traitors) or administrators’ as we would like to call
them.
Pakistan
immediately after laying the turf at Lahore and at Karachi, it held an
international Hockey championship by the name of QUAID-E-JINNAH International Hockey tournament .
It did it with a purpose and with a sense AND THAT WAS TO
EXPOSE THEM AGAINST THE HIGHLY STRONG NATION OF HOCKEY THAT WERE MAKING THE
MARKS IN THE INTERNATIONAL HOCKEY COMPETITION FOR THE PLAYERS TO ADD ON TO
THEIR REPERTOIRE.
Pakistan :: The “ ASHWAMEGHA ” ie the UNSTOPABLE CONQUERING HORSE OF
WORLD HOCKEY
They won that championship in 1977 and from 1978 to 1984, blanking
their opponents and banking on that
experience and the kind of a game that ought to be played upon that kind of a
surface , adding certain variations to the game and changing certain old style
that Pakistan would follow in the game, Pakistan and it’s Hockey won the 1978 Asian games championship,
beating India by 1-0, it then won the 1978 World Cup Hockey title by
beating Holland by 3-2 in the finals, it won the 1979 World Cup Junior Hockey
title at France, it won the 1981 World Cup Hockey at
Bombay, then, by beating West Germany by 3-1 in the finals where India under
the leadership of Surjit Singh finished fifth, it won the 1982 Asian games Hockey
championship by beating India by 7-1 in the finals for which Mir Ranjan Negi
was HANGED for everything to LIVE and feel the WRATH of the same, and it won
the 1984 Olympic Title
beating West Germany by 2-1 in the finals and again it won the Asia
Cup in 1981 by beating India by 4-0 in the finals and beating India
by a margin of 4-3 in a HIGHLY CONTROVERSIAL GAME in which four CLASSIC INDIANS
were BANNED by the I.O.A and the F.I.H . In between Pakistan also won the ESANDA WORLD CUP HOCKEY in 1979
when they defeated Holland by 4-2 in the finals
It was in 1972 when Pakistan were banned for FOUR years and
now FOUR Indian players, very SKILLED , one of them was Merwyn Fernandes also was
banned for FOUR years……. More about it here in the article when I write all
about the same.
India in retrospect finished last in the Quaid-E-Azam Hockey
tournament in 1977, it won a SILVER in the Asian Games at Bangkok in 1978, it
finished seventh in the 1978 World Cup Hockey, it finished FIFTH in the 1979
Junior World Cup Hockey, it won a GOLD in the 1980 Olympic Games when as many
as SEVEN powerful nation declined to participate in that Olympics, it finished
Fifth in the 1981 World Cup at Mumbai, now, it was hammered BLUE and RED in the
finals of the 1982 Asian games Finals where it lost to Pakistani by 1-7 it
finished FIFTH at Olympics at Los Angeles and in the Esanda World Cup Hockey it
finished fifth when Ashok Kumar led the side. That was Indian and it’s STANDING
at Hockey and even then Mr M.A.M Ramaswamy was considered AS THE ANGEL AND IT’S BLESSING OF INDIAN HOCKEY
“ ANGELS AND VENUS I GUESS IF I’M RIGHT- ARE THE FEMALES WHEN IT
COMES TO IT ”
Here a MALE was CONSIDERED an ANGEL and THAT IS THE REASON
THAT INDIAN HOCKEY WAS ALL as I would feel was an “ INVERTED
– “ U ” -TUBE ” , I guess
as the direction and the manner that the Indian team was moving ahead.
Back again to the main stream of the 1976 Olympic Hockey
team, it’s saga and the place from where the Indian Hockey totally went into
the PYRE. It only is that somebody has to LIT the PYRE .
Came the Hockey 1976, India DID NOT undertake any tour or
play at any kind of an international event to gain the expertise and the
experience of playing on the artificial turf. It straight away went in for the
1976 Olympics on the basis of being the World Cup champions of 1975.
To help the team gain some match practice on the Astro-turf
it arranged certain matches at East Germany and Spain en-route to Montreal at Canada
and at Canada it arranged to play some matches against some Canadian teams.
Good it was that these matches were played at the
Astro-turf. BAD it was when the teams playing against India were either the
THIRD GRADED teams, all juniors that were playing against India with little or
no experience for the Indian to learn and adopt anything new. Over it the
system of playing the game and the manner that the moves were made all
resembled to the OLD-TRADITION style of the game where the quick bout of short
passes and the same old crosses from the flank were applied to smash the
opponent and their rhythm which was very good when it came to beating these
kind of NOT-WORTH Hockey team of any
standard to play against the World Champions.
The media went BERSECK and GA-GA-GALA-GALA which covered
these matches that India was playing as a pre-warm up matches before the
Olympics. It is the HABIT of India and it’s media, ie the Indian media- TO HOWL
IN THE LIGHT WHEN THE HOWLINGS ARE DONE AT THE NIGHT BY THE FOXES AND THE
WOLVES .
Their howling at the DARK feeds them with FLESH and POUNDS
which they MAUND and WOUND their prey for a HEART-BOUNTY but the Indian media…….
OH!!!, OOFFF!!!!! OH !! SORRY ,
MAINAY TOH DUKHTI RAGOH MAI UNGLI “ GHUSED
” DIYA HAI ie I have pressed the VEINS of the Indian media , when
pressed upon if and by inserting a FINGER upon it. where and which PAINS excessively.
The Indian media as the Indian Hockey team was the World Champion and when it started
beating all these RUBBISH third class team that it was playing started writing
all many a FAIRY stories about the success of this team in the Olympics. Less
and least they analysed that these teams were the mere ordinary teams that was
supplied by those Hockey Federation where India was playing these practice matches
.These results might have been god for the Indian team only to keep their moral
and the morale HIGH between themselves but the real test lay at the place where
the Olympics was to be played and there India came a TRUR cropper.
The total INEXPERTISE of the Indians to play against the
very balanced the highly charged better positioned opponents was evenly
exemplified when India lost to Holland by 1-3 with Ties Kruize converting two
penalty corners within a span of two minutes, and Australia hammering India by
6-1 . It was Argentina which STUNNED the WORLD when they beat Australia by 3-2
to place India and Australia on a level and equal par with same number of
points in the group.
The games organizer as a matter of SYMPATHY to the one’s
playing for the FIRST time in an international games on the ASTRO-TURF gave
another chance to Australia and India to rub their shoulders for a second SPOT
in the group to move further. It was Australia who took the lead in the replayed
game for the second spot. India gain through a WORLD-CLASS-GOAL by Ashok Kumar equalized
to make it 1-1. Thereafter India played a DING-DONG-SING-A-SONG Hockey to
squeeze Australia and created many and most of the chances opening themselves
in front of the Australian goals. As many as 11 short corners from the 41st
minutes of the game to the 57th minutes earned by India could NOT be
converted by either Surjit Singh or Aslam Sher Khan. Three of Surjit SCORCHERS
that went into the net was declared UNDERCUTTING and TWO of Aslam STRAIGHT
DRIVE also beat the Australian goalkeeper and entered the net but the referee
discarded and negated it because of UNDERCUTTING.
The problem was these two were an EXPERT in taking the
penalty corners on the mud or on the earth if that is what I would call that.
There on the ground/mud/earth the manner that the ball is hit while taking the
penalty corners the ball does not rears and gears up, but on the astro – turf when
you put your FOOT into the turf the turf at that place when it takes the loaf
and the load of the feet or the foot, gets pressed a little That is what the
APPLIED PRESSURE of the foot/feet acts on the astro turf. Naturally when you
hit the ball beneath by the stick, the RUB of the STICK would go a bit below or
down the turf and it would hit the ball at the lowest EBBS for the ball to RISE
up and when it rises up it FLOWS with a velocity of about 270KMS/HOUR and that
is the speed. If that speed hits the goalkeeper or any player who runs to
intercept that shot, he WOULD get KILLED as the speed by which the ball travels would cause that
damage .
All thr countries and their specialist playing Hockey then,
Thies Kruize, Paul Litjens, Manzur-Ul-Hasan, Shanmuganathan, Juan Amat, Terry Walsh, Ian Bell
of Australia invented a NEW trick to hit the ball exactly at the STOMACH-MID as
these would call it ie the CENTRE of the BALL exactly in the STOMACH of the
ball. This would call infor hitting atleast 500 to 1000 hits in terms of the practice
everyday to PERFECT that ART. The others PEFECTED that to the HILT. For that
kind of PEFECTION what is needed is the ASTRO-TURF, the PRACTISE of pushing the
ball on the turf for the penalty push, the STOPPING – DEAD of the BALL and then
the execution. Charelsworth, and Ian Bell of Australia, The Kruize and Amats of
Europe and some more from Pakistan since they had that TURF at Pakistan to
practice for kept on practicing and practicing for NIGHTS and NIGHT after practicing
for the days and here in INDIA THE…….. “ FIRST
” ASTRO TURF WAS LAID IN 1982 SIX YEARS AFTER THE COMMENCE,ENT OF THE ASIAN
GAMES FOR THE NEW DELHI ASIAN GAMES.
How can you expect aslam Sher Khan and Surjit Singh to do
wonders practicing these shots on the MUD and producing those GOLDS in the
Olympics by playing on turf. The result was that when playing against Australia
when Ajit Singh, the FATHER of GAGAN AJIT SINGH went to take a push for India
in the tie-breaker, his push was such that IT STOPPED TWO FEETS FROM THE SPOT FROM WHERE HE TOOK THE PUSH.
Thereafter when asked to him HOW COMES HE MISSED THE PUSH HIS REPLY WAS AN ATOM
BOMB THAT WAS DROPPED IN THE VICINTY OF WORLD HOCKEY. THIS WAS HIS REPLY-:
MAIDAN PAT “ GHAAS ” ITNA
THAA KI PSUH RUK GAYA ie the
GRASS was so much on the TURF that the ball stopped dead. WHWRE IS THE GRASS IN
THE ASTRO TURF. IT IS ON THER POLY TURF WHERE INDIA WON THE GOLD AT MOSCOW IN
1980 AND ON WHCH THE HOCKEY GAMES WERE PLAYED. That was the MENTAL
STRENGTH of that team when it lost it’s regale match against Australia.
COMPLETE RIFT IN THE SIDE :: OLYMPIC 1976 MARRED BY THAT RIFT
This was a GLAMOURISED Indian Hockey squad that went in to
play at Montreal at Canada in the Olympics and what added to their glamour was
the WORLD HOCKEY title and the belt that they carried with that. No and NONE of
the previous Indian Hockey team was as GLAMOROUS as this team was and that was
it. When they landed at some of the countries to play those practice matches ,
they were asked to sign on the Hockey stick and these sticks were auctioned.
The auctioneers parted with the booty to the Indian Hockey team as well.The
problems started surfacing when the money amongst the team was not shared in
the correct proportion and portion. That brought about a GREAT difference to
the settlement of the team as many were unhappy about the booty that they were
receiving.
Many of that team for examples Chand Singh, Ajit Singh were
NOT the , members of that WORLD CUP WINNING team-NEVER at all. Over it Bir
Bahadur Chettri was given MORE money at many a times when compared to Ashok
Dewan who was the playing members of that World Cup wining team.He had played
the finals against the Pakistani on March 15th 1976 on that day and
had won for India. He was so unhappy to see that Bir Bahadur Chettri was given
more money as compared to him. Chettri was from Bengal and so was Gurbax Singh
who was the manager of the team and who was from Bengal. These kind of mental difference
came along with the team when it started playing in the tournament proper at
the Olympics.
There at the Olympics no sooner that India lost playing to
Australia, the FIRST to revolt was Govinda. He plainly told that HE WAS NOT PLAYING THE CLASSIFICATION MATCHS
ANY MORE .Govinda before reaching Montreal with the Indian Hockey team had
dislocated his RIGHT SHOULDER playing against a Spanish team at Madrid . He
somehow was able to come upto the terms at the Olympics and he played in all
the games in the group. However he was NOT played in the CENTRE-FORWARD
position. That was his customary position but he was used in the wing at the
right by the Coach Gurcharan Singh Bodhi and that irked Govinda. He was of the
opinion that if he was used as the Centre Forward position he would have and
definitely could have scored a goal when India were all over Australia from the
41st minutes to the 57 th minutes of that game and India would have
made it to the semis. As Govinda had recovered JUST from his shoulder dislocation
the coach did not take any risk to play him at the Centre Forward position . Any
further injury would have completely broken the Indian team . But that did HARM
the Indian Hockey in that Olympics as Ajit Singh just did not appear to be
anywhere near the standard of anything when it came and when it boiled to
Hockey. The difference of playing in these kind of a turf completely took off
his HEAD from the game as he was found wanting, as BAD as a NOVICE in the game
and his penalty push was enough evidence to prove that in that replayed game
against Australia.
Many were questioning the Coach and Gurbax Singh’s decision
to send him to take that penalty stroke during the tie breaker which he missed
. There were many and the likes of Varinder Singh, Harcharran Singh who could
have been asked to take that stroke but here was Ajit Singh who was asked to
take that. That BROKE all HELL-LOOSE in the team.
When the classification matches were to take place,
B.P.Govinda plainly said- HE WORLD NOT PLAY THESE CLASSIFICATION MATCHES AT
ALL. Next to follow was Ajitpal Singh. This defeat against the Australian side
in the replay game and it’s outcome completely BROKE him. He immediately
DECLARED that he was retiring from INTERNATIONAL Hockey. The THIRD was SURJIT
SINGH who plainly told that he was NOT interested at all to play any games in
the Olympics. He was of the FIRM belief that ONE of his shot which was negated
by the Umpire in that match was a LEGITIMATE goal and that it
was disallowed by the Referee who had married an Australian Beauty just before
the commencement of the game and whose WIFE (
WORRIES INVITED FOR EVER )
was watching the Australian-India tie from the spectators end and stand . Her presence in the stand, rooting for Australia was putting many a kind of pressure on the umpire/referee and the referee in a manner that was and that could be termed as CONFUSING STATE OF MND, negated the goal scored off a penalty corner by Surjeet Singh. The refusal of Surjeet Singh to play the classification matches did crash the Indian camp of their mental energy. Thereafter
it was Ashok Dewan who plainly told that he also was NOT interested in the
classification matches and at the YOUNG age of 20 he declared that he was
retiring from International Hockey. Chand Singh all of a sudden disappeared from
the Olympic Village. A lot of search was conducted as to where did he go, but
he was not found at all at Canada. Those were the problems that surfaced at the
games then.
It was Aslam Sher Khan who was asked to lead India and he
led a BRITTLE and a BROKEN India. From the deep defenders position , he was
moved up at the Centre Half , from there to the MID-FIELD, from there to the
Centre-Forward position and it ended when his TWO penalty corner conversion
gave India a 2-0 victory over Malaysia and a SEVENTH position. That was Olympic
Montreal for India and the TALE that was scripted at Montreal of this Indian
team. It was New Zealand which won the GOLD after it beat Australia by 1-0 an
INDIAN by the name of “ RAMESH PATEL ”
playing for New Zealand who had scored that ALL-IMPORTANT-GOAL for New Zealand.
WIFE- we term it HOUSE WIFE. However the WORLD of PERSONNEL
MANAGEMENT of the BRITISH RULE in India , has ascribed that word in a DIFFERENT manner .It is (W)orries (I)nvited (F)or
(E)ver and in the other case
the personnel management of the Britishers when they ruled India which inculcates the LAUGHTER as the BEST medicine, as Britishers would laugh at the Indian for many a things, describes it as (W)onderful (I)nstrument (F)or (E)njoyment and this
is what it had happened to Chand Singh. A beautiful young lady HOOKED him at
the Games Village and he was OFF with that lady to some unknown destination.
Some say, at Canada that Chand Singh was so lost at her beauty that he became a
BEAUT and fell into her trap to marry her , or to elope with her. Still nothing is known about this Hockey player Chand Singh who was a very good player. He could have served the Indian Hockey team for a very longer duration of time but that WORRIED INVITED FOR EVER has still kept everybody worried about his whereabout . Nobody cares for anybody but the Hockey did care about him for a very longer duration of time lest now everybody has forgotten him with the passage of time. .He never was to return back to India
thereafter . For that was Indian Hockey and it’s mental shake and make up after
that loss to Australia.
If that WORRIES INVITED FOR EVER or that WONDERFUL INSTRUEMENT FOR ENJOYMENT theory , if and only if ie, IFF , it all holds good then there is one and ONLY ONE more case of the late Mohinderr Singh . He was employed in the Punjab Police as a Havildar. He had married a very beautiful looking sardarni, ie a Punjabi lady on whom one of his Senior had his eye on and upon. One day he came to know that whils he was on duty, his Senior came down to his house and took his wife forcible. Mohinder Singh could NOT digest this insult a GRAVE-ONE at all. His Senior in the Police who did this was a HEAVY WEIGHT, both in terms of Seniority in the Police as well as his connection to the Punjabi political circle. the result was HE SHOT HIMSELF and that was another big blow to Indian Hockey as Mohinder was a class half back and he could have gone a long way to serve Indian hockey. He was only 26 years of age by then.
The Britishers had used these abbreviations and the full words for some reason that were somewhat a kind of a CODE-WORD for them but this became a BADWORD later for the Indians at India and how did it damage the Indian Hockey is an example I lay. I have only used this as an example and NOT for any thing else.
Back home here the causes and the reasons of the FAILURE
were and was attached to Aslam Sher Khan for the reason that is still not known
to anybody. None blamed the I.H.F for not laying a Astro-turf till then and
till 1982. None blamed the Supremo Mr Ramaswamy the CHIEF of the I.H.F. From
1973 to 1983 till the time when he was the Chief of the I.H.F , India had won
only ONE World Cup tile and ONR Olympic Hockey title in the absence of al the
SUPER POWER of Hockey .Yet when the team won that Olympic titles it seems that
ALL the SINS of the Indian Hockey was WASHED like the BODY is purified after
taking a DIP and washing it with the WATERS of MAA-GANGA at Varanasi. That is
how it happened in 1980 after India won that Olympic Gold.
Hee again Mr Ramaswamy was being continued to be treated as
the BLESSING OF ANGELS for whatever India was winning in terms of titles. The
fact is INDIA HAD WON TWO TITLES TILL THE MOMENT Mr RAMASWAMY WAS AT THE HELMS OF INDIAN HOCKEY BUT HIS HORSES FROM 1975 WHEN INDIA HAD WON THAT WORLD CUP TO 1980
HAD WON ABOUT 100 DERBIES ALL
ACROSS THE WORLD. Till the moment he LIVED as he is NO-MORE now , his HORSES
had won 600 DERBIES World
over. For that is the complete story of Indian Hockey and the manner that the
administration were ruling Hockey and the game in India.
1977 to 1979 ::
Indian Hockey at it’s WORST Play
After a very poor display when the Indian Hockey team landed
here the war between Aslam Sher Khan and Sikander Bakht was to be seen and believed.
It was the time of emergency . Public spatting and fueds in the public was
TOTALLY not allowed at all by the politicans for them to display it or to act
upon the same. But Mr Sikandar Bakth did not follow the rules and NOT at all. He
completely was for aslam Sher Khan for the reason that we DO NOT KNOW it at
all.
Some say that he was too closed to Gurfan-E-Azam but he
wanted to take over the Bhopal Hockey Association. The TWO who stood against
him were Aslam Sher Khan and Inam-Ur-Rehman. For if Mr Sikander Bakht had won
at Bhopal and had taken over the mantle of Bhopal’s Hockey, it would have done
a WORLD-OF-GOOD to Mr Ramaswamy. But Aslam Sher Khan and Inam-Ur-Rehman stopped
happening that at Bhopal. So much of a hell broke loose that Aslam Sher Khan
decided to do away with HOCKEY . He gave the job at Indian Airlines as well and
went into politics winning his seat from the Betul constituency at Madhya Pradesh which is near to
Itarsi.
Therefater the FIGHT between Inam-Ur-Rehman and the aides of
Mr Ramaswamy was at full and it came clear when Inam –Ur –Rehman who was the
coach at the Indian Airlines, was always finding that the referess at the
various games and competition were always and purposely deleting Indian
Airlines by hoofing them out of the championship. That was hitting the Airlines
and it’s saga.
To LIFT up the moral and the MORALE of the Indian Airlines,
immediately after Aslam Sher Kahn quit his job at the Airlines, the Airlines
immediately BROUGHT in Surjit Singh in the deep defence, but this also did not
prove anything good for Airlines. Even after taking a 2-0 llaed in the
nationals held at Cuttack in 1976 at the Barabatti Stadium, Airlines were made
to loose the match against Indian Railways who won that match by the extra time
goal they scored through a penalty .
Again it was the 1977 National finals where the Indian
railways led by Victor Phillips was held to a 1-1 draw in the two legged finals
against the Indian Airlines and the teams DID NOT PLAY the NECCESARY extra time . Neither was THE Railways
nor were the Airlines interested to play that extra time then. In the other
tournament, picking the leaf out of this books, the extra time game was NOT to
be played at all in the finals of the tournaments that were played in Hockey, in India then and that
would rob the title of the team that ought to have won those titles as a
deserving team . This attitude kept on going and flowing in the games when there
was a HEAVY BOMBARDMENT between Inam-Ur-Rehman and Mr Ramaswamy during the the
Nationals at Madras, then, when Indian Airlines in a TWO-LEGGED-FINALS defeated
Indian railways vide two penalty corners off Surjit Singh to win the National
Crown for the FIRST time in the annals of India as the INDIVIDUAL winner of the
national Hockey title in India.
It was Inam-Ur-Rehman , once again in his FULL THROTTLE with
all the “ PURDA ” , “ JARDA ” , “ GARDA ” and the “ NAMARDA ” that he used it
against Mr Ramaswamy, to the HILT took him to the jail that day but the
INTERVENTION of Ashok Kumar completely DSAVED Inam-Ur-Rehman and the situation
to go out of hand. So HOT and so LOT was Inam that day that he literally went to
the extent of SWIRLING his stick on Mr Ramaswamy that day.
World Cup 1978,
Host Of Hockey stars Quit The National Camp.
Problems kept on surfing and there were problems galore in the
offing. In the 1978 camp for preparing the Indian World Cup Hockey team for the
1978 Buenos Aires World Cup Hockey, all of a suden B.P.Govinda,, Surjit Singh,
S.S.Garewal Harcharran Singh, and Bir Bahadur Chettri walked away from the camp
that was laid and that was going to prepare the Indian team for the world Cup.
There were many reason. Primary of them was that the ensuing World Cup at Buenos
Aires was going to be held on the Astro turf and there was not any such turf at
India. It would not have been any good for the Indian to practice on the
mud/ground and put it’s feet on the turf ar Buenos Aires to play in that
championship. That was a valid point.
However the inside news later revealed that the food and the
situation as well as the rooms and the other amenities provided to the players
were all RUBBISH and were of a very inferior quality. The quality of the food and the amenities, ie
the beds, the cots etc provided were absolutely poor and vey bad.
Over it was the problem of captainship. Govinda was the
second senior most after Ashok Kumar who was the MOST Senior in the team. He
was a South Indian as also was Victorr Phillips who was from Tamil Nadu but was
playing for Indian Railways. It was in the air that since Victor Phillips was
from Tamil Nadu, he would be considered and he would be given the charge to lead
the team.
This highly infuriated to the extent that all the THREE
INDIAN AIRLINES players who helped the Indian Airlines to win the National
Championship in 1977 and in 1978 , walked out of the camp. Surjit Singh, Ashok
Kumar, S.S Grewal and B.P.Govinda walked out and Bir Bahadur Chettri,
Harcharran Singh were to follow the suit.
However looking into such a poor team that India would make
without these stars, the I.H.F fell onto to Ashok Kumar to come back to the
camp with an assurance that he would be leading the side. Ashok heeded to the
request.
After he came to the camp the SOUTH-INDIAN selector who were
there to pick the side later felt that if Ashok continues at the camp, then the
chance of Victor Phillips to become the captain of the team and to lead them in
the World Cup will become remote .They passed out a RULE that ::
“ IN THE PRACTISE SESSION DO NOT PASS THE BALL TO ASHOK KUMAR AT ALL
. IF HE DOES NOT GETS THE PASS, HOW WOULD HE PLAY AT AL L” .
A infuriated ashok completely was OFF and he decided to walk
off. Thereafter a INDO-PAK Hockey series was played with India losing to Pakistan
by 2-3 at Bombay, then, by 2-3 at Bangalore then, by 1-6 at Karachi but winning
by 2-1 at Lahore with Zafar Iqbal scoring that winning goal.
When the team came back here, Ashok Umar was again persuaded
to join the team which he did . He was at first NOT interested but when assured
of the Captainship, he agreed later to find that HE WAS FOOLED. The
administrators and the selectors
declared that VICTOR JOSEPH PHILLIPS would lead the team at Buenos Aires. Ashok
was LEFT stranded. It was that some good hockey lovers persuaded him to assist
the side and to accommodate him Zafar Iqbal was dropped stating that Zafar
Iqbal was an inside right , the same position whwre Ashok played, but the
REALITY was Zafar Iqbal was playing in the Outside Left position. However when
a PROPER sense prevailed and when the selectors were told that Zafar Iqbal was
a OUTSIDE-LEFT and not a INSIDE RIGHT, that they again corrected the list ti
include Zafar Iqbal and his name in the list
of the players to board the flight to Buenos Aires. So late was his name
accommodated that he went to Buenos Aires but in a second plane all alone to reach Buenos
Aires and his TWO days of HARD practice on the Astro Turf at Buenos Aires was
GULPED away by the FOOLISHNESS of the
Indian authorities ruling Indian Hockey. However when the Indian team for the Bangkok Asian Games was announced Zafar Iqbal name was NOT there in the list of Indian probables for the Bangkok 1978 Asian Games.
THIS IS HOW THE
INDIAN HOCKEY WAS RUN AND RULED BY THE AUTHORITIES
India finished SIXTH in that championship and it was
CONSIDERED something as VERY-GREAT. As compared Pakistan conceding only TWO
goals in their group encounter beat West Germany by 1-0 and in the finals after
being down by 0-2 at the breather with TWO goals scored by them of TWO
penalties of Paul Litjens and Ties Kruize, in the finals, came back in the
second to score through, Akhtar Rasool , Ishlauddin and Ehsanullah in that
order to beat Holland by 3-2 to win that title, their second WORLD CUP TITLE
after their FIRST in 1971 to send the World that they had formed a team which
was to DEVASTATE their opponent in the forth in the game of Hockey and just see
their results that they achieved from 1978 to 1984 and I have written all about
the same.
The India were considering their SIXTH placement at Buenos
Aires as something very GREAT. Declaration of the papers, ie on the piece of papers
were made to be written by many Hockey
players of that team that the team management was so super that the players
were the beneficiaries of sipping FRUIT-JUICE during their BREAKFAST as well
and that was handed to the Indian Government as well. It somehow made to show
that NOTHING was wrong in the Hockey Federation of India and that Mr Ramaswamy was
looking at all the BEST of the facilities that a hockey player could get it.
Came the 1978 Asian games at Bangkok and again it was again
the same ROOF and the same issue about the Captainship. The Indian Hockey team
was not doing anything good at all in the international level of competition
and it was again thought of to bring back the star studded Indian Airlines
players and again Surjeet Singh, B.P.Govinda, and S.S Grewal were asked to join
the Indian team for the camp and
Phillips was removed of thje ppost of the Captainship and B.P. Govinda was
asked to lead the side. This aggravated
Phillips to the extent that he decided to do away with Hockey. To pacify him he
was assured of a PROMOTION in the Railways immediately the games were
over and to please him and the Tamil Nadu faction of Indian Hockey , when the Indian
team was to depart from the airport of Madras for Bangkok, it was a player Ravi
Kumar from Indian Railways and Tamil
Nadu whose name was UNHEARD by anybody and everybody was brought to the
airport and was send with the team at Bangkok and it was SALIM ABBASI from
Bhopal who was packed off from the airport. This STUNNED the entire team and
many said that with the cut off that Salim Abbassi was for India in that team,
thje Indian team infact had lost the title if it was to meet Pakistan in the
finals.That that is what had happened. Pakistan beat India by 1-0 in the finals
even after playing such a well structured and a meaningful hockey. The Tamil Nadu player Roger Maggie was an instant hit but Ravi Kumar was NOT played at
all and the forward line even though was very good but it lacked the expertise
of salim Abbasi and that made all the difference. This Asian games threw up a
player by the name of ROBERT CLAUDIUS who was a REAL find for Indian Hockey but
after the games were over he was to DIE as a scooter accident took away his
life. THAT COMPLETELY ONCE AGAIN.............. “ KILLED ” THE INDIAN HOCKEY .
It would NOT that anybody would believe that but it is a fact
that in the 1978 Asian games finals where Pakistan lost to India by 1-0,
everybody who were playing and watching the final games had said that VICTOR PHILLIPS WAS NOT PLAYING THE
FINALS IN THE BEST OF HIS ABILITY AT ALL.
It was also evident at the Finals of the national
Championship where Indian Airlines beat Indian Railways by 2-0 in the finals of
the National Championship in 1978 immediately after this games were over. Victor
Phillips was showman and a GREAT figure of Indian Hockey then, but was shown a RED CARD by Umpire Narwariah of Nagpur in the finals and
he was send off. When on a PERSONAL enquiry, I enquired to Mr Narwaria about
the incident he FRANKLY told me- WHO GALEE DE RAHA THAA, which means he was
abusing me. That is where and that is the place where the Indian Hockey had
gone yo and where it was drafted to . Immediately after this championship
Michael Kindo who was playing his last national Championship, and Victor
Phillips had announced about their retirement from International and Indian
Hockey.
I shall continue with my write up more on the same but for the time being I close here itself .This will be continued further and the article is NOT completed .It REMAINS .........
Well , that is it
Regards and Thanks
Pics
Shyamal Bhattacharjee
Mr Shyamal Bhattacharjee, the author was born at West Chirimiri Colliery at District Surguja, Chattisgarh on July 6th 1959 He received his early education at Carmel Convent School Bishrampur and later at Christ Church Boys' Higher Secondary School at Jabalpur. He later joined Hislop College at Nagpur and completed his graduation in Science and he also added a degree in B A thereafter. He joined the HITAVADA, a leading dailies of Central India at Nagpur as a Sub-Editor ( Sports ) but gave up to complete his MBA in 1984 He thereafter added a Diploma In Export Management. He has authored THREE books namely Notable Quotes and Noble Thought published by Pustak Mahal in 2001 Indian Cricket : Faces That Changed It published by Manas Publications in 2009 and Essential Of Office Management published by NBCA, Kolkatta in 2012. He has a experience of about 35 years in Marketing .
This website is maintained , controlled and managed by OOK’S Technologies, by Mr Amook Vandan Yadav , Phone Number 8090848585 , Varanasi
Comments
Post a Comment