Captain Roop Singh :: The " BERMUDA-TRIANGLE " Of Indian Hockey



Pic - :: Captain Roop Singh snapped after the Finals Of 1932 Olympic Hockey .

Captain Roop Singh :: The “ BERMUDA – TRIANGLE ” Of Indian Hockey ,Isn’t He Worth A “ PADMA ”
Bermuda Triangle ……..

Well more about it later but when it comes to Indian hockey, this reality of the term that exists finds a place in the annals of Indian Hockey and it applies exactly on Captain Roop Singh , the youngest in the family of the Singh’s that is more known for HOCKEY rather than the service that the family has rendered to the Indian Defense in the Army compartment of the Indian Defense Service.

Hockey And India - ::

The relation between Hockey and India is the relation between the HEART and the BLOOD . Both are nothing without each other and both keep the human body alive.  Well, this is what is or this is what that it could be simonized if one has to inter-relate the Singh family and Hockey. Dhyan Singh is most known as Dhyanchand, a name that was given to him by Pankaj Gupta , the one who actually is the OXYGEN supplier of the Indian Hockey as the MOON known as the CHAAND was affixed to the name of Dhyan and Dhyan Singh became Dhyanchand .

The Singh Family Has Given India As Many As 15 International Medals in various Hockey tournament that it has played – FIVE of the " GOLD " medals won by the family has come from the Olympic Hockey. Ashok Kumar added a GOLD of World Cup in 1975 to make it , and hit it, for  a ..... " SIX " 

When it comes to Indian Hockey the FIRST name that comes to everybody lips is Major Dhyanchand. Every Hockey lover breathes by his name  when it comes to it. However one would NOT really know that he had his younger brother Roop Singh who was infact the YOUNGEST in the family who took to Hockey after looking his elder brother , the WIZARD  playing the game and he in his own manner and in his own right went on to become a star who was not less than either K.D.Singh Babu or his elder brother in terms of the quality and the depth of the class that he had in himself that relates to Hockey. The tragedy is Roop Singh had to remain always under the shadow of his illustrious brother.

What a kind of a player was Roop Singh will be and it should not be the matter of discussion as Dhyanchnad himself once had remarked that- “ K.D.SINGH BABU IS ACTUALLY MY CARBON COPY AND ROOP SINGH AT TIMES EXCEEDS ME WHEN HE PLAYS WHEN HE IS GIVEN THAT SPACE TO DO ALL BY HIMSELF ”.

Roop actually is better than me when it comes to play within the “ D ” as he has an ability which is so UNCANNY and so bewildering to watch .He can score from any angle and from any kind of a non movement of goal when he is in the “ D ” .His solo efforts also are very piercing and so accurate that once he starts darting, it ends with him finishing as a goal . For the purpose of the team and to maintain a spirit within the team, we do not allow him his space to operate but when allowed he BOMBARDS the goal .This was the VOICE of Major Dhyanchand on the VOICE OF NEW ZEALAND Radio when the Indian tour was touring that country . Roop Singh during that tour played a kind of a game which completely overshadowed the entire Indian team when it came to it though Dhyanchand was the TALK-OF-THE-ENTIRE-COUNTRY of New Zealand then when the team was touring New Zealand .

Roop Singh Was REQUESTED to Take Him Out Of The Indian Team For Olympics 1928-::

Born on November 1908 , Roop Singh was younger to his elder brother by ONLY three years. He was only 20 when India was making it’s Olympic Debut in 1928 at Amsterdam .  That was for the FIRST time that India was to play at the Olympics in Hockey.


Pic - :: Obedient  Captain Roop Singh, Always Under The TREE Of His Elder Brother

The Indian Hockey was a debate of who are the better one’s to play Hockey, either the Muslims that use to reside at India , or the Christians . However the TWO Rajpiut’s from the Singh family came in like the PHEONIX to rock the imagination of the Hockey world of India and ofcourse they were the DHYAN SINGH and ROOP SINGH , of which CHAND was affixed to the name of Dhyan who became Dhyanchand and his brother Roop Singh who unfortunately could not be named as Roopchand . He remained Roop Singh and went into the oblivion though he was NEVER even a fraction of a centimeter or a millimeter LESS than his illustrious brother .

In the trials for the 1928 Olympics, Roop Singh as a young lad of twenty years actually had the selctors rubbing their eye with his performance at the trial and it was a major concern for the selectors then, to decide whom they would like to drop from Broom Pinnigier, Michael Rocque, Fredrick Seaman , Kher Singh and Michael Gately to make a way for Roop Singh to escort the team to Amsterdam.

At that time the CHRISTIANS – HINDUS ie who were the non Christians, playing Hockey ,  and it’s imbroglio had started surfacing in the Indian Hockey and the axe  on either of these players who were the Christians as mentioned,  or Kher Singh could have raised many a storm and many an eye brow .Kher Singh was employed with the Punjab National Bank then, which was the promoter and say the sponsor of the Indian Hockey team to the Olympics , and dropping him would have send or hurt the Punjab National Bank . There arose a concern and Dhyanchand to save the situation from going to agrimony requested his younger brother to take his name out of the team .

  “ YOU ARE SO YOUNG AND YOU WILL GET MANY CHANCES HEREAFTER TO PLAY AND REPRESENT INDIA, IN THE OLYMPICS. BETTER FOR THE SAKE OF OUR NATION AND NATIONAL INTEREST PLEASE TAKE YOUR NAME OFF FROM THE TEAM ”. The younger one immediately responded and threw in a letter to the selection committee that for the sake of the interest of the nation  and to make the matter more simple for the selector he is WITHDRAWING his name from the Indian team for Amsterdam. THAT WAS THE FIRST SACRIFICE HE MADE IT FOR THE INDIAN OLYMPIC HOCKEY TEAM of that era.

Indian Hockey Scripts History at Amsterdam and Roop Singh Here at India - ::

What the Indian team did at Amsterdam and what it did at Great Britain while playing an invitational Hockey tournament at Britain along with some exhibition and first class arranged games is a HISTORY which nobody knows.

Great Britain were the Olympic Hockey Champion in 1908 , Hockey at the Olympics in 2012 and 2016 were not played .Britain again won the Hockey Gold in 1920 but the Olympics again at France in 1924 at Paris did not have Hockey played at the Olympics. Great Britain was the GOLD medallion of Olympic Hockey.

At Great Britain the Indian Hockey team played about 14 games and had pumped about 160 plus goals in those 14 games. There were another four games that was played with the Olympic Bound Great Britain team with the names altered as QUEEN XI Team, Duke Of NOLFORK team so on and so forth. These teams actually was the Britain Olympic bound team but to give it a festive colour, the team was changing it’s name to play India. In the four matches that India played against them, India had pumped those teams and had steam rolled them . The ultimate result was GREAT BRITAIN THE REIGNING OLYMPIC CHAMPION HAD WITHDRAWN THEIR NAME FROM THE AMSTERDAM OLYMPICS. Such was their fear of the Indian hockey Olympic team then that they did not participate in the Olympics at Los Angeles in 1932 and at Berlin in 1936.

Los Angeles Olympics, 1932 - ::

This Olympics, it could be construed that it was the HEART and the MAGNANIMITY of the United States to have conducted that mega event.

There was a time that the British Indian Hockey team had finally and in it’s all the best probability had decided to pull itself out of the tournament . Writes the New York times after the completion of the 1932 Olympics that - ::

“ The world was still reeling from the after-effects of the Wall Street crash of 1929 and the Great Depression when the 1932 Olympics in Los Angeles came calling.

India were among the countries reeling under financial pressure and the Indian hockey team briefly considered pulling out of the Summer Games.

Having won the gold at the 1928 Olympics in Amsterdam, hockey was a matter of national pride and the Indian Hockey Federation (IHF) soon conducted national trials to pick the best possible team.

It was the HEART and the SOLE of Mr Pankaj Gupta then who literally placed his head on the feet’s of the authorities of the Punjab National to get the money from the PNB authorities to take the Hockey Olympic team to Amsterdam ” .

Had it not been Mr Pankaj Gupta and his effort to get the money from the Punjab National Bank then the Indian Hockey team would not have made it to the Los Angeles Olympics .

 IT WAS HERE THAT A 24 YEARS OF AGE BY THE NAME OF ROOP SINGH MAFDE HIS WAY TO THE INDIAN OLYMPICS HOCKEY TEAM.

Let us now come to the main subject of Roop Singh as this article  is all about him.

Roop Singh - ::

There is a SONG that says-:

 ROOP TERA AISA , DARPAN MAI NAA SAMAYE, KHUSHBOO TERI AISEE

JOH MUN MAI NAA SAMAYE

MUJHE KHUSHI MILI AISEE JOH JEEVAN MAI NAA SAMAYE

This song was SUNG by the GREATEST “ Kishoreda ” and this is from the film “ EK BAAR MUSKURA DOH ”

I’m SURE that this SONG was written after keeping Roop Singh game in the mind .Youngest of the THREE Brothers of the Singh family whose eldest was Dhyanchand and the middle one was Mool Singh , Roop Singh had a FACE which was just made for HOCKEY and his game always BEAUTIFIED the game in it’s natural form.

Hockey in the form of the game and that one, ie , the one ,  which was played as a CENTRE-FORWARD by ROOP SINGH just cannot be REPLICATED till the WORLD EXISTS and the ENJOYMENT ie the KHUSHI that the people got were like JEEVAN MAI NA SAMAYE. It means that the LIFE cannot embody it, the manner and the style coupled with the science and the arts that he mixed it with, to play the gameThe END result would be – “ EK BAAR MUSKURA DOH ” A smile of the most MYST would come out from everybody’s mouth whenever he scored ONE for India That was the STYLE and the CLASS with which he scored

Two Olympics 1932 and 1936 and TWENTY SIX goals as a Centre forward with TWELVE as his HIGHEST in ONE against the USA India beating them by 24-1,  in 1932 in the FINALS a RECORD which I do NOT think that it will ever be broken.

Pic-The Newspaper Clipping Which Certifies That Roop Singh Had Scored 12 Goals against U.S.A

A FAST-MEDIUM speedster but a player on whose STICK the ADDRESS was always written when he moved with the ball- “ GOAL ” with his so accurate PIERCING capacity, TEARING the opponent’s defense by that kind of a SPEED coupled with the ball control and dribblings and the PICTURE-PERFECT shooting from any angle from the “ D ” to score a GOAL Roop Singh would PASS on the POINTS or get the ball to pierce the EYE-OF-THE-NEEDLE ,when he would pass the ball or when he would score the goals, in an manner that if he did that, he did it in an manner , with the ball without his body or his stick touching the TWO edges of the EYE of the needle to score- “  that was his accuracy ”

India At Los Angeles Hockey-:

It goes without saying that India had scored 35 goals at Los Angeles and Roop Singh had scored 12 of them if one goes through the newspaper clipping that I have put here but there are some school of thoughts which says that Roop Singh had scored only TEN goals in the match against the U.S Hockey team . In the two matches that India played there, India beat Japan by 11-1 and the U.S.team by 24-1 .The U.S team had requested the Indian team to allow them to score atleast a goal and the Indian Captain Jaipal Singh Munda who was doing his studies at London then allowed them to score ONE against India as a GIFT offered to them and to keep , ie , honour their request rather than putting it in shade.

Roop Singh was at his brilliant and belligerent best inn both the games against Japan and US and in that match against US it was he who was more on a solo-note rather than anything else. In that game whenever he felt like creating a BLUE out of anything or a BOLT from the blues, his stick weaved and wove the fabrics so silken to feel and so musical to hear.

His stick had the ball glued in an manner as if the magnet had attracted the iron piece and his hand ran over the ball controlling like the HANDS THAT RUNS OVER THE STRING OF SAY A GUITAR TO PRODUCE THOSE SOOTHING SWEET NOISE WHICH WE CALL IT AS A NOTE OR A TUNE .

Such was the authority of the Indian team playing in that and in those two matches and especaiily against the US team that Dhyanchand REQUESTED the Indian team NOT to score any more goals when the score stood at 18-0 but then the team scored another six. It became more “ tetchy ” and most etched to the memoirs of many those who were witness to the fact that Dhyanchand ORDERED his younger brother to  stop scoring any more goals .This was on the pretext that  WE AS A GUEST AT AMERICA AND AN AMBASSADOR OF THE GAME SHOULD RESPECT OUR HOST AND NOT ALLOW THEM TO FACE HUMILIATION OF A CANCEROUS DEFEAT .

Roop Singh like the younger brother LAXMAN, following the LORD RAM, completely stopped scoring after he finished scoring 12 in that match if one goes by the clippings of the newspaper a small part of it that I place it over here for the readers to read that.


Pic - ::Roop Singh completely engrossed during practise on the eve of  1936 Olympics Finals 

Had it not been the consideration and the molten heart which was full of consideration and sympathy for the Americans which Dhyanchand displayed on that day perhaps the score would have been-:

INDIA - 35 , U.S.A – 1 ......

and I write this because uptil the goal number 12 that India had scored on that day, India were scoring at the rate of ONE-GOALS-PER- TWO MINUTE. A sympathetic India turned it’s attitude and showed many a mercy to pity on the U.S. team by withdrawing themselves to play with only 30 %  to 40% of their efficiency and capacity after scoring the first twelve goals. Else the story of that game and the ultimate story of Roop Singh ending with HOW MANY GOALS in that match would have  been different from the one’s where we are debating about the exact number of the goals that he scored.

The “ FACTUALITY ” Of India’s Gallant Hockey  Display At The Los Angeles - ::

 The kind of the Hockey that India played at the Los Angeles Olympics completely broke the MYTH that had surfaced then at the world.

The WORLD till then always believed that DREAMS are the OPTION of the closed eye while one sleeps. However in the Los Angeles the one’s who were watching the Hockey games often spoke to each other and amongst themselves that “ THEY SAW THE DREAMS WITH THEIR OPEN EYE ”


Pic _ The Indian Olympic Hockey Contingent, Bottom Right At Extreme Marches Watched By Spectators at Los Angeles 

Awake to the realms and glued to the realities, the spectators who saw the Indian playing Hockey in those two matches on August 4th 1932 against Japan and then  on August 3rd against the U.S, Olympic team, actually were treated to see the magical magician doing magic’s in the form of the dream, which they were watching it with their eyes being open. This is what the Newspapers from America had to write about it-:

“ India played Japan in the first match. The Japanese were left bamboozled as Dhyan Chand scored four times, Roop Singh and striker Gurmit Singh Kullar slammed a hat-trick each as the Indian hockey team won 11-1 ”.

“ India then rotated it’s player for the next game against U.S. To receive a medal each , the players had to play atleast ONE game and India then rotated it’s players .Those who did not play against Japan were fielded in . Writes the newspaper that -:

A confident India rotated their entire 15-member team against USA in its next match. To be eligible for a medal at the 1932 Olympics, it was mandatory to play a game ”.

The newspaper further writes that - :

“ The USA pulled one back and the way it came was nothing short of dramatic.

With such a huge lead in hand, the Indian hockey team’s defenders decided to let the American attackers have a go. They didn’t realise that custodian Richard Allen was busy signing autographs behind the goal-post! USA did have their share of hurrah ” .

Indian Hockey team Olympics 1932 :: ‘‘ the most outstanding exhibition of skill in any sport .’’


Pic-:: Clustered By A Number Of Players And Hemmed Between Them, Roop Singh scores One More For India Againt U.S In 1932

A Los Angeles based newspaper then after the finals were over , when it sat to write it’s review on the Olympic Hockey finals of 1932 it simply wrote the lines in this manner - ::

“ All the colour, glamour and pageantry of Rudyard Kipling's India might well have found its incarnation in the personnel of the Indian team which is to represent the land of Mahatma Gandhi, and Subash Chandra Bose ” a Los Angeles daily reported.

“ So agile are the members of the team that they can run the full length of the hockey field, juggling a small wooden ball with the flat of a hockey stick ."

Their superiority was also noted by Los Angeles’ sports journalists, who voted the Indian hockey team’s prowess as ‘ the most outstanding exhibition of skill in any sport .’

The Indian hockey team’s dominance was never in question and it had clearly left an indelible mark on its audiences at the 1932 Olympics.

Roop Singh As A Player That Could Be Attached To History Of “ BAD-LUCK ”

Roop Singh , it was his bad luck that he had to play under the ageism of his elder brother and the orders that were served to him by his elder brother were like the orders served to  Lord Laxmana by Lord Rama when they were at exile at the forest .

The two were the pairs of Lord Rama and Lord Laxmana , the manner in which they carried themselves. Dhyanchnad for the sake of the team to keep it united without any grouse to erupt always sacrificed his own persoanls wish if he had and he would always adivise Roop Singh to allow the others to corner the glory and the limelight which Roop Singh always did it obeying his elder brother.

Roop Singh in his entire career in Hockey playing the Olympics for India had scored  24 goals in the two Olympics that he played. This could have been more and most if he was given to score which he could have at his will. For the sake of the team and obeying his elder brother he simple and simply let those glory past by him. He thus had to remain under the shadow of his illustrious brother or else he could have walked the moon without a oxygen cylinder. His record of goal scoring  was simply perplexing to read those .

Roop Singh’s records That Needs To Be Put In Right Perspective-:


Pic- : A Clipping Of The Newsspaper Which On Right Asserts Roop Singh Scoring 12 Goals Against U.S In Hockey games 

Roop Singh is the player to have scored the maximum number of goal in a single match of an Olympic Hockey game.It stands at number 12 in a single match. This needs to be corrected by the Olympic International association to put it as an OLYMPIC RECORD .

 Roop Singh in an single edition of Olympic Hockey had scored 16 goals. This again has to be verified as he had scored four goals out of the 11 against Japan in 1932 and 12 against U.S.A in 1932 which makes it 16 in the entire tourney.This record ought to be checked, corrected ands put it to the records book of Olympic Hockey.The present record stands in the name of Surinder Singh Sodhi with 15 goals.

Berlin Olympics 1936 :: Roop Singh breaks the Stallman as Hell Let Loose At Finals - :

In the Finals of the 1936 Olympics at Berlin , before the start of the tourney proper of Hockey, in an exhibition match the German Main Olympic Squad played a match against India and beat them by 4-1. It was here that Dhyanchand send a SOS  to the British India Hockey Federation to send Ali Ishthiaque Hassan Dara to bolster and reinforce the team . Dara reached the venue and was included to play the finals against a rampaging and a bulldozing Germany 

The Germans had studied India by the palm and by the breathe as well as the breath. They were on the run and open up to score in the first half of the Finals whereas India was a bit cautious in the first half. The defeay of 1-4 in the  exhibition match  had it playing on the head  of the Indians. The Germans were at spree attacking India from the Right, Centre and the Left but the Indian defense was upto the task.



Pic - :: Roop Singh in an attacking mood inside the striking circle with the ball in the goal in a game at Berlin, 1936 

At this juncture Dara who was playing in the Left in the inside moved to the Centre after discussion with Roop Singh and Roop Singh who was playing at the Centre was moved to the Left in the in. This went unnoticed by the German Coach and Roop went down to the Indian defense line while the Germans were attacking in the 31st minute. In a melle that followed in the same minute at the Indian goal, a loose ball was collected by Roop Singh who ran through the entire German defense like a RED-HOT - KNIFE that runs through the FREEZED-COOL-BUTTER to cut the entire German defence and reach their " D " where he after entering it, moved a little bit of his left and with a quarter turn of his body to the right, he created a gap between him and the right corner of the net .No sooner that he saw the gap opened and remain still he with a reverse push send a lighting arty which was just like a bullet which entered the German goal and thus it was he who opened up for India.That was in the 32nd minute. Thereafter it was just a piece of history that was to be etched, itched, bitched, wildered and embossed in the annals of India with GOLD for the historians to write it, and for the connoisseurs of the game to read it for their entire life  

Pic - :: 


Pic - :: Hemmed in by a couple of defenders Roop Singh creating gaps in the striking circle against France in 1936 to make an attempt to score for India again 

If the Olympics of 1940 and 1944 were held assuming that the World war did not take place , then TWO more medals in terms of the GOLD with Roop Singh playing in those would have not only made him the HIGHEST scorer of the goals in the Olympics which would not have ever been broken but he would have led the side at the age of 36 in 1944 and that would have been SURE in any case and every case . He gave up playing Hockey at the age of 38 in 1946 because of the trouble that was faced monetarily .He was absolutely fit to play for India in 1947 for the East African sojourn but he did not play because monetarily he was down and out.

His record of playing Hockey from 1926 when he was 18 years of age till the age of 38, for twenty long years is next to his elder brother Dhyanchand who played this game for about 23 years . The two brothers in between then have scored about 1107 goals for the teams that they played together and that is India.

Roop Singh In His Olden Days-:

 Once when he gave up playing Hockey he was faced with many a perennial problems that related to his job, his health and his monetary condition. He had to take a job in the personal military army of the Scindias at Gwalior. After the Independence when the Army was disbanded somewhere in the mid of the fifties, he had to search for a job which he did not get. He was asked to coach the Gwalior School Hockey Team, a job which he did it for most of the days . However that did not bring him any good fortune.

He faced such a problem that he was diagnosed with Tuberculosis Penury hit him so hard and so bad that he had to sell his medals to receive the treatment for his disease yet that was not enough. A benefit match organized for him also did not fetch any good returns or any BOUNTY  for him . He suffered a lot in his last days with no help coming to him from any Government quarters.

Roop Singh, A “ PADMA ”  is what he is worth for -::

It is high time that the TRIO, Major Dhyanchand , Kishore Kumar and Roop Singh ought to be conferred with the BHARAT RATNA and the “ PADMA ”

A Hockey player whose record and who won TWO GOLD for India and that too by creating all sort of records, and creating all the ripples to obey his elder brother always to give up scoring more goals during the match,  ought to be considered for atleast a PADMA award posthumously .This the present Government should think of and should confer it.

As a SPECIAL CASE for Captain Roop Singh a HIGHER GRADE of the award in the category of PADMA ought to be conferred to him – in this HOCKEY year of Indian Olympics where the Indian Hockey team simply came out to produce a kind of a show that it has awakened the nation to remain HYSTERIC and sing all the LULLABHOYS’ of Indian Hockey from the past to the present to take it to a glorious height for the future . He sacrificed so much for the Indian Hockey to keep the Indian Hockey afloat and that also ought to be read and taken into consideration for the conferration of the award to him. 

 THE SEEDS WERE SOWN BY THE SINGH FAMILY OF JHANSI FOR THE SAME IN 1928 AND 1932 . Those were at the Olympics.

Major Dhyanchand along with Kishore Kumar ought to be conferred with the BHARAT RATNA. This will really mean a lot to the people of India and nobody would have any grudge for the same.

More about Roop Singh and Indian Hockey could be learned by reading my book "  FROM DHYAN TO DHAN - INDIAN HOCKEY ::: SUDDEN DEATH OR EXTRA TIME "  which is available at Amazon and Flipkart and one can place the order on the agencies mentioned to get them and read the book.

That is it

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 

This website is maintained , controlled and managed by OOK’S Technologies, by Mr Amook Vandan Yadav , Phone Number 8090848585 , Varanasi 


 

 

 

 

 


Comments

  1. This article itself would suffice for an Bharat Ratna, which is truly long overdue. This nation is indebted to these two brothers. Pray God Almighty intervene in this family with two new miracle offsprings.🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment