Why shud we watch hockey.. ????

Why should I watch Hockey .. they never win.. and then we complain that cricket takes all the attention !!

This was my cheesy status on FB.. and I got pulled up for having done that.. din’t mean anything bad… was just venting my anger at India’s streak of losses in the ongoing WC2010 edition.. Who likes to loose.. at least I don’t..

Now let’s get it straight.. I am a big fan of most sports.. am kind of a sports person myself… so even though I personally don’t have a great love for Hockey or football (I follow only football world cups), I won’t disgrace these games per se.. my choice to like the game or not. I am a bigger fan of swimming which I am sure most of you don’t follow.. And let me put this forward… just to watch India play Pakistan in this edition of the world cup I changed my travel plans.. so much was I excited about the game (even though I knew India had lost 6-3 last time when they played them)

Now comes to the question of why should we blame cricket for everything bad that happens in other sports? We keep bringing forth this argument that in cricket we haven’t even won the world cup more than one .. & going by that logic wouldn’t ever catch up with the count of hockey world cups we have in our kitty.. but then world cups are not the only measure for a game… there are a few additional aspects that rake in a fan following for any game. Let me try and highlight a few points here:

1) No one likes losers / bad performers – is the bitter truth for the boulevards of life. In the corporate jungle worst performers are given pink slips.. on the sporting arena people shun watching the game.. Let’s take a few instances: Post the India – Pakistan hockey match which India won magnificently a lot of interest was generated for at least India’s games.. people flocked the stadium by scores only to find the team sink badly, not once not twice but thrice in a row. So, now if people stop flocking the stadium, we can’t say that people don’t buy tickets… who would like to go and watch a match which India loses on its home turf.

Let’s consider lawn tennis; When Sania Mirza burst into the tennis circuit after having won the junior Wimbledon she got a huge support from the masses.. people cheered her big time internationally (she had even claimed that she sometimes never feels that she’s outside India..so much support from the crowd). Every win/ loss of hers was reported. Today people don’t even bother to watch her play since its almost certain that she’s not gonna get past the 1^st round. Similarly, the logic holds for other games too. Even in cricket when we loose a game we jeer the Indian cricket team so much so that sometimes security has to be provided to the players' relatives..

Coming back to cricket, we are currently the number one ranked team in test and 2^nd in ODIs. We may not have won world cup more than once, but then which other team has ? Barring the Kangaroos and the Calypsos !! Also, even if we din’t win the world cup ODIs, during recent times we have won the T-20 world cup. The cricket team has also done fairly well in most editions of the Champion’s trophy.. hence we have not been outright loosers… When did we last win any small tournament in hockey ? Anyone without digging Google ?????

2) Individual brilliance – This is another bit which is absolutely important for any game. Indian hockey is still known by Dhyan Chand and there has been no heir apparent to his throne. The Dhanrajs, the Pargats don’t even come closer. Compare that to cricket. The game has successfully thrown up individuals like Sachin, Sourav, Rahul, Anil, VVS, Sunil, Kapil, Dhoni, Yuvi, Bhajji, Sehwag.. the list goes on and on as they are monikers in international press. The point that I am trying to make here is that even if the team as a whole flops, a single gem in the team can be a black hole of sorts to attract the crowds. During the 90’s when our cricket team was no great a performer people glued to their idiot boxes to catch a glimpse of the little master. Similarly, chess which is so much of an individual game, a single Vishwanathan Anand rakes in a huge fan following. And then tennis.. who can forget Leander Paes winning the Olympic bronze ? even Sania brought in a huge following for the game especially among women and youngsters.

Indian hockey and football miss these individual gems. The only famous name to some extent internationally in Indian football is I believe Baichung Bhutia. Even in international football, although Argentina and Uruguay have won equal number of world cups, a single man called Maradona still counts for generating a huge fan following for the Argentinians. Today he is a stuff of legends.

3) Glamour quotient – Today games are not just played for the simple love of it. Any sport should be viewer friendly, and should also make good business sense. This is where glamour acts a potion. The glamour quotient arises at two different levels – the sport as a package and the individuals who play the game.

Sports which are primarily individualistic such as Chess or athletics or tennis, individual glamour quotient is the sole important thing. Let’s say a Vishwanathan Anand makes for a good TV presence not just because of his brilliance on the 64 squares but also because of his suave mannerisms while Koneru Humpy doesn’t make the cut. Similarly in the game of pole vault Yelena Isinbayeva or in tennis Maria Sharapova hog the limelight even when they don’t win tournaments. Also, how can we forget Vijendar Singh who was in the news more for his looks and less because for his exploits in the ring.

On the other hand, for team games the glamour arises from its viewer friendliness – even cricket has had to shun the longer version to make it more viewer friendly – and once again individuals. Likewise, even though the English football team is great and the sport per-se is racy and creates enough of adrenaline rush – making it very viewer friendly, the presence of a Beckham and a Rooney also help in garnering attention – one for his looks and the other for his bulldozer attitude.

Indian hockey lacks this glamour at both levels. Neither do they play at a speed with which the Aussies play nor do they have individuals who make a glamour statement. Hence, a failure in garnering TV audiences and generating corporate interests both as a team and as individuals.

4) Professional management – this I believe is the most important thing which goes a long way is addressing a game. BCCI for whatever we may say remains a privately run body which makes it more professional than the other sports authorities. MS Gill had for a long time considered hockey as his fiefdom and ensured euthanasia for the game by carrying his personal agendas. Contrary to this, Jagmohan Dalmia for all his misgivings ensured one thing for the players and the game – and that was money. Can we claim any other sport where the authorities could loop in so much moolah ?? Talking about football, Jose ‘ The Special One’ Mourinho and Alex Fergusson remain some of the most well-known managers in any sporting event.

Do we even bother to raise our voices against the coach of Indian hockey when we perform badly, as we did against the Greg Chappals ?? Frankly, we don’t give a damn !!!

And finally one of my friends suggested ‘Nobody wants to spend even for a ticket... :(‘ . I would say it’s not about people not wanting to spend the buck for a ticket. But who would like to watch a game after spending a 1000 quid when one is sure of facing the ignominy of a loss with a 100% confidence interval.