March 15th :: A “ BLOCKBUSTER ” of a day for Indian Hockey




Pic - ::  March 15th 1975India's Captain Ajitpal Singh Receiving The 3rd  World Cup Hockey 

March 15th :: A “ BLOCKBUSTER ” of a day for Indian Hockey

March 15th 1975- what is that day so infamous for, one might ask. Well, the answer is on this day INDIA had defeated Pakistan by 2-1 in the THIRD WORLD CUP Hockey at Kuala Lumpur to win it’s ONLY WORLD CUP HOCKEY title , the scotreer for India being Surjit Singh and Ashok Kumar Dhyanchand .

I have described the entire incident in my article which is as under-:

That SLAP which won India the World Cup Hockey on March 15th 1975

on October 16, 2019

 In this web blog page on December 16th 2019 the entire article is cripted but I shall write here all about what were the off-the-pitch stste that went in a long manner and a long way for India to win that title  THE ONLY ONE IN THE ANNALS OF INDIA’S HOCKEY TO WIN THAT ONLY TITLE IN THE WORLD CUP.

No Money With The Indian Government To Prepare The Team-:

Everybody knows that Indian Hockey always had it’s coffer empty for everything. This game went on and on for many a decades because of the DONATION that came in from several quarters .  It has always been and it was always that some SAMARITANS who loved hockey always donated to the I.H.F to run the game, form the Indian team and send it to abroad to participate in the tourney and that is how India played it’s hockey.



Pic - :: Ajitpal Singh's eye and the body language tells it all 

The 1975 chapter was no different. The I.H.F had no money and it went to the Indian Government under Mrs Indira Gandhi for the monetary help to prepare and run this game and send it to the THIRD WORLD CUP to participate.

Madam Gandhi as reluctant to help as she had no money left under the Ministry of Sports to give it to the I.H.F to prepare this team and send it for participation . However she wanted the team to participate. Left with no alternative to help out the team Mrs Gandhi fell back to raja Bhalindra Singh for the help.The Maharaja then fell back to the King Of Patiala for the same.

The Maharaja of Patiala then called back Mrs Indira Gandhi and said that -  I’M READY BUT I WOULD LIKE TO GET MY MONEY BACK IRRESPECTIVE OF INDIA WINS IT OR NOT . NO “ FUSS ” THEN TO RETURN MY MONEY  IF INDIA DOES NOT WINS THE CUP.

An assurance was given to the Maharaja that all the money that he spends on the team will and would be returned back to him and that he should help the Indian Hockey team to prepare itself and participate for the tourney. Getting all the assurance the Maharaja of Patiala then moved forward to help India to prepare this team for the World Cup.

 Twenty Five Probables Invited To Patiala At The N.I.S For Trials And Team selection - :

Twenty Five Hockey players then from all across India were called in for the trials at N.I.S Patiala. However when the team reached there all the players were asked to wait till a final place for accommodation was arranged for them to stay for their boarding and lodging.

It was very hard and it was getting very HARD to find a proper place and the players were left and kept stranded for two days  to finally get a place for their accommodation.

It was Prithipal Singh, the Dean of the Hostel management and Administration of the Punjabi University for Agriculture who heard about this plight of the Indian Hockey team. He quickly went forward and met the Maharaja of Patiala and assured him of all the help for arranging the lodging as well as the boarding of the probable in the Hostel of the Agriculture University. It was then and it was that the arrangement was fixed which gave a heavy respite to the indian players. After two days of wqsting their time at last the Indian players got into the field from the third day to practice.

 The University Girls/Ladies were the source of distraction-:

The news that the Indian Hockey national players were staying at the Hostel and that they were practicing in the Hockey field of the University in the evening and at the N.I.S Patiala in the morning spread like a HOT WILD FIRE all across the city of Patiala. The ladies from the nearby by area and especial;lly the Hostel ladies would gather in a heap to the ground where the practice wer held. This would cause a lot of distraction to the players .

Especially when the team would dress up at the Hostel and move to the field, the CROWD that would assemble and all of them the ladies would really make the movement very uncomfortable for the players. This was a hindrance. It was Prithipal Singh, a member of the Indian Hockey team of the 1964 and 1968 Olympics,  and the Dean in the Administration section of the University then, who again came upto the rescue. He made a gallery in such a manner that no players would be visible to anybody when the players would come out of their hostel room for the ground and also during the practice session, there would be no ladies or the woman who would get any chance to assemble at the practice seession at the field or the ground.

No Coach Announced Till Then - :

Strange one might feel. A national Indian Hockey team for the preparation was practicing either without a coach or without a Manager .

Yes- this was the state of the condition then. This team for about seven days practiced in between them with Prithipal Singh assisting the team in all the manner to  practice and play .  He wasp performing a DUAL role. He had to carry all the duties of the Univerisity of Agriculture as a Dean of Administration then, as well as look into the affair of this Indian Hockey probable for the 3rd World Cup then.

He brought this to the notice of the Maharaja of Patiala then. The Maharaja was shocked to hear that the I;H;F till then did not announce either the Coach of the team or the manager. He reported this matter to the President of the I.O.A, Raja Bhalindra Singh.

Actually nobody then as interested to become the Coach of the Indian Hockey team or iyt’s Manager. The reason was that , previously, those who wee the Incharge were not even reimbursed their DAILY ALLOWANCE of a DOLLAR each who had performed this duty for the indian Hockey between 1968 to 1974.

Raja Bhalindra Singh then spoke on this matter to the maharaja of Patiala and they summoned Mr balbir Singh Senior , the Captain of the Indian Hockey team of the 1956 Olympics, to be the manager of the side. He was the Coach of the Indian Hockey team that played in the 1971 World Cup to win a Bronze. He was FORCIBLY persuaded by the Maharaja of Patiala to take the charge till they appoint a National Coach. Balbir Singh Senior took the responsibility and thus the Indian team started practicing in a full scale.

Sessions were divided and distributed for practicing the penalty corners, the Goalkeeping practice and then the team game. The real start of the team practice then took place after so many a days of practice that the players did it for themselves to keep them attuned for the practice..

Gurcharan Singh Bodhi appointed as the Indian Hockey team Coach - :

After so many a search to appoint one and to find one as the Coach of the Indian Hockey team for it’s sojourn of Malaysia 1975 finally Mr Gurcharan Singh Bodhi was selected and appointed as the Coach for this tourney.

The reason why it took so many a hard time to finally get a Coach was that the I.H.F wanted to reimburse all the expenses to the Coach only after the tournament was over. Nobody thus wanted to take the charge. Mr Bodhi was assured of all the promise and of all the help as well as that his etire fee would be reimbursed by the I.H.F through the maharaja of Patiala . At last everything fell into the place and the Indian Hockey team then got a coach for that tourney.

THAT PUNJABI WORD BY THE MAHARAJA “ OYE _ BALBEERAY – “ PAINDA ……” , MANNU-CUP-HONA

The Maharaja Of Patiala was so far so long bearing all the expenses of this team for everything till then.The food, the diet, the medicine , everthing was being spent by him to prepare this team. He was noticing that even the players were practicing with all their HEART-POURED , there was some AIR that was flowing that the Maharaja could smell . He was a bit skeptical to find that there was some air of disco-tempt  amongst the players and some were not very comfortable with the kind of a hapharad things that were seen at times. He could guess that the players were not at their CONFIDENT-BEST. To remove this air, one day all of a sudden he appeared at the practice venue and stopped the practice.

He called the entire team and the coach as well as the manager o ask if everything was OK. After hearing from the players and the Coaching Staff- to remove the air of UNCERTAINTY he just ROREAD like a LION to SCREAM-:

“ OYE BABEERAY, “ PAINDA >>>>I ….. SAALA, MENNU CUP ONA ”

This ROAR, a TYPICAL Punjabi one, FREEZED everybody there. It was CLEAR…….

BUSINESS IS BUSINESS and the RESULT was the CUP that India has to win. This was the scene when the things once for all FELL into the place.

The Players Revolt-:

All the teams which got the invitation to play in this tourney, India, Pakistan, Malaysia, Germany, Australia, Ghana, Holland, Argentina, Spain, and Poland were asked to assemble at Kuala Lumpur atlesat by five days before the commencement of the tournament . All the teams arrived at the venue except India.

It was because of the lack of the money to buy that tickets for the players the players were stranded at Patiala and because of this the team was also not announced .There was a BUTTERFLY in evey stomach.The Maharaja of Patiala again got into the thick of the action.

By then the Indian Players who had put that many a hard day of practice at Patiala too started feeling the impulse and the torsion of the heat .They came out in OPEN.

Pic - :: The 1975 World Cup Hockey Winning Team 

 EITHER DECLARE THE TEAM WITHIN AN HOUR OR WE LEAVE THE CAMP, ONCE FOR ALL


.This was the ULTIMATUM given by every player of that team at Patiala . It is here that the Maharaja of Patiala , rang to the Union Minister of Civil Aviation and appraised him all the truth about the state of affair of the team and the reason why the tickets could not be purchased to send the players to Malaysia.

The Union Minister of Civil Aviation then rang to Mrs Gandhi, took his permission and booked all the tickets for all the players as well as the coaching staff for Malaysia on a TO-BE-PAID-BASIS and the message was sent to the Maharaja. The Maharaja informed this to the team Manager who then announced the entire team for Malaysia for the 3rd World Cup.

 By that time the Indian team reached there there was NO TIME left for this team to practice and get accimitalised to the Malaysian atmosphere .

The very next day the opening ceremony was over with the Indian team taking part in it . By that time the evening ceremony of a COMBINED DINNER PARTY for sall the team took place.This was held for every players from every nation to get used to mix with one-another and spent a hearty time with the Maharaja Of Kuala Lumpur who was financing for this tournament. It was at that time when Ishlauddin in a joking manner said to Ashok Kumar – Finals Mai Dekhengay Aur Dho Dalengay to whch Ashok replied him- TROPHY TO APNA HI HAI NAHIN TOH MAHARAJJI APNAY KOH PHAAD DEGA. It means Ishlauddin was saying to Ashok that MEET YOU IN THE FINALS AND WOULD WIPE YOU ALL, to which Ashok replied him THE TROPHY IS OURS OR ELSE THE MAHARAJ OF PATIALA WOULD TEAR US INTO PIECES.

India’s Problem-:

As India was the last team just to arrive for this tournament a day before the opening ceremony , they did not get any time to practice on the surface that was laid out for this tournament.  Hence the first three matches that they played were not upto the mark.

The DEATH came to them when Argentines defeated  them by 1-2. That was a DEATH KNELL for them. But a ever SERIOUS Balbir Singh, the manager pumped tons and tonnes of CERTAINTY to the Indian team infusing them with confidence that they would beat Germany .



Pic -:The Indian Team Celebrates After Scoring The Second Goal In Their 3-1 Victory Over Germany 

If one looks at the Argentine Hockey, then it could be said that their Hockey started rising in a very very snail growth pace in terms of the manner after that 2-1 victory over India at Kuala Lumpur and in the last Olympics held at 2016 they won their FIRST ever Olympic Hockey Gold by defeating Belgium by 1-0 in the finals. Argentina is thus the ONLY nation to have won the WORLD CUP Football as well as the Olympic Hockey Gold.



https://youtu.be/kEgtoyVu1IU

Pic - : U Tube Of The Entire Finals Played On March 15th 1975 in the 3rd World Cup Hockey Finals. 

On that day when they beat India at Kuala Lumpur, they simply gave an outstanding display of the ROBUST-MODRN Hockey which is now the way the game is played. They simply played a hit and run type of a game and scored two goals. They harassed the Indians like anything on that day. Ashok Kumar individually played a game of his life for the Indian , exhibiting his class of dribbling, and setting the Indians with that kind of defense splitting passed and the throughs down the flanks. However the Argentines thwarted all the effort. THat was not the day meant for India and that loss completely took away the life from the Indian players as they were not expected to loose .But the win against Germany and a photo shown here about how the Indians made a MINCE of them and the confidence that they gave, beside playing and enjoying the game in the most joyous manner restored and demonstrated all about their superiority against the Germans and that victory and the SCENT of that infact went a long way to help India to win that Cup at Kuala Lumpur.

The Indian team took on Germany and were leading by 1-0  , Shivaji Pawar being the scorer, till a HEAVY deluge of rain completely broke that match to be replayed. This again was a disaster to the fortune of India . However in the replayed game India beat them by 3-1 with goals from Shivaji Pawar, Mohinder Singh and Harcharran Singh to move into the semis.

In the semis with only a minute to go and with India trailing by 1-2, it was Aslam Sher Khan who was brought in as a substitute seven minutes from the end , who converted a penalty corner to make it 2-2 and in the extra time it was Harcharran Singh who scored that BEAUTY of a solo to put India in the finals.



Pic - : Ashok Kumar in action against Malaysia in the semi-finals 

In the semis India all looked that it would be out of the tourney . India trailed by 1-2 and there were only seven minutes to go for the final hooter. It was Ashok Kumar who was there, here and everywhere shredding his BLOOD for the equaliser. He wanted to either score a goal and or wanted to earn a penalty corner.He was successful in earning one just a minute before the final hooter. Aslam Sher Khan was brought in place of Michael Kindo , seven minutes before the final hooter.It was Aslam Sher Khan who scored and made it 2-2.

In the finals India trailed by 1-0 at the breather . After the breather it was Surjit Singh who restored the parity with a stnging hit off a penalty corner and then in the 53rd minute of the game it was  Ashok Kumar who scored of a melee and that goal helped India to win the Cup, it’s only success till now at the World Cup.

 FOURTY SIX YEARS ……….

When the team came back it was the CEREMONY and the HONOUR that was extended to this team.The kind of the adulation and the HONOUR and the kind of the greetings that this team received was something which broke all the records for everything.



Pic - :: Mrs Indira Gandhi totally  immersed and glued to the beauty of the World Cup Hockey 

The players met Shrimati Indira Gandhi and she simply was INDESCRIBABLE the way she spend all the time and spent her energy to be with the players for all those minutes that she spend with the team. She infact ORDERED to CANCEL and DISSOLVE every TAX from the prize in every form that the team had received at Malaysia and the one’s that were waiting for this team here.

It may be mentioned that every players of that team at that time had brought in PRIZES worth MORE-THAN-RUPEES-40,000=00 – THEN , which in todays time would be about Rs 44 Lakhs .These were the kind of different award all in KINDS that the Indian expartiates gave it to the Indian team members then.

Mrs Gandhi ordered every kind of a tax to be waived off from this team  and that was that. The Maharaja of Patiala was reimbursed all his amount that he paid to the team and the Punjabi Univeristy was paid for every expenses that it bore to the team.

The “ MILLION DOLLAR ” QUESTION IS- :

 HAD ALL THIS MONEY BEING REIMBURSED IF THE TEAM RETURNED EMPTY HANDED .

For this is how then during those days the camps, the teams and the arrangement made for the Indian Hockey team before it flew for it’s outings and the Football as well as the Hockey team always had to face this PIQUANT situation.

This is how they would play for India then, in this CONDITIONS< and yet win the medals for India.

NOTHING SEEMS TO HAVE CHANGED SINCE THEN FOR INDIAN HOCKEY AND FOOTBALL.

STRANGE- that this Hockey team has still NOT conferred the ARJUNA AWARD to late Mohinder Singh, Aslam Sher Khan, Shivaji Pawar, Varinder Singh, and Padma Shri to Ajitpal Singh, Ashok Kumar Victor Phillips , Michael Kindo  and B.P.Govinda for their BRILLIANT contribution to the game ” .

The INDIAN POLICY of the NATION GOVERNANCE is same . CLICK, and FLICK .The VOTES matter and nothing else…….. and the case of this Hockey team in terms of the conferration of the National award simply demonstrates that…..

That is INDIAN HOCKEY, that is the administration of those who rule the nation to confer the AWARDS……

Well that is it. It is 46 years that we have won that Hockey title and I’m putting it here because I do not know will I be alive to write it after the day MARCH 15th completes it’s 50th year, the date of it’s GOLDEN JUBILEE .

Team/Name of the Indian Hockey players who played on that day to win the 3rd World Cup Hockey
Goalkeeper – Ashok Dewan Right Full Back – Aslam Sher Khan Left Full Back – Surjit Singh Right Hal- Varinder Singh, Centre Half – Ajitpal Singh, Left Half – Mohinder Singh , Left out – Harcharran Singh , Left In – V J Phillips , Centre Forward – Shivaji Pawar , Right In- Ashok Kumar Right Out – B P Govinda

Coach - :: Gurcharan Singh Bodhi

Well , that is it and That sums it all.

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 .






Signature Of Shyamal Bhattacharjee 

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