The crowds are there, so is the interest. But is it just the advertising that has paid off?
Phir dil do hockey ko had been resonating through TV screens, radio sets, the Internet and the printed word, even before the hockey World Cup got underway, under the floodlights at the newly refurbished Dhyanchand Stadium in New Delhi last week. The tournament got off to a flier with India defeating arch rivals Pakistan convincingly. Suddenly, there was a buzz around the whole event. Everywhere you went people were at least talking about hockey if not watching it. Facebook status messages and Twitter focussed on how ‘proud’ and ‘excited’ people felt because of the hockey World Cup ‘coming home’, as many banners in the city proclaimed.
For any sports lover, these are welcome signs. But there seems to be something uncanny about the sudden renewed interest in hockey as far as the average person is concerned. And no one knows this better than the players and the coaching staff. They weren’t expecting huge crowds in the first place, so to see such huge support even when India loses matches has come as a pleasant surprise. “It did catch us off guard and gave us a huge lift,” says India’s coach of Spanish origin, Jose Brasa. The players have found it inspiring — after all, who wouldn’t? — but they are surprised too. Used to playing in near-empty stadiums, they have been motivated to give the fans their money’s worth. When India were losing to Australia, the crowd was still cheering the team on. The decibel levels continued to rise as the match went on and not in the home team’s favour. Chants of “Indiaaa, Indiaaa” reverberated in the stands long after the outcome was clear. India team member Sandeep Singh says there is an extra spring in the players’ step. “Playing for the country never requires extra motivation but this kind of crowd support has been encouraging,” he says. Former India captain Viren Rasquinha is delighted by the level of interest. He recalls playing at the old National Stadium in front of barely a few hundred people. “As a player, it makes a world of difference to see so many people turning up,” he says.
For once, the organisers have been sensible enough to keep the ticket prices affordable. Priced at Rs 100, Rs 500, Rs 1,000 and Rs 5,000, the stadium gates are open to all manner of people, not just the very privileged. Just look around the stadium and the picture is heartening. Families are out in force, grandparents reliving the glorious days of Indian hockey, and youngsters are getting acquainted with the beautiful game through the memories of their parents. There appears to be no one who is there just to while away the evening. As the crowd stands to attention not just for India’s national anthem but for that of the opposing team, it is, or seems to be, in the words of a sporting oath that all of us are familiar with, beyond the immediate moment, for the “glory of sport and the honour of the team”.
A N Gupta, a retired university professor, recalls how he went to all the games during the 1982 Asiad, but since then fell out of love with the game, even as the Indian team went on a steady decline. But like many he is in love again, realising that it’s hockey and not cricket which is our national sport.
But what we need to make sure is that the euphoria doesn’t fizzle out. Prior to the World Cup, not many would have been able to name five Indian hockey players. But Sandeep, Rajpal and others are household names today, even if for a brief while. “Let’s hope the support continues even if we don’t do too well in the World Cup.” More than anything else, for the sake of the revival of our national sport we need to look at the bigger picture.
The World Cup will be over next week but fans need to ask themselves some hard questions, and make sure that they are not the ‘sing when you’re winning’ type. Our national sport deserves better than that. Even if Indian hockey has seen tough times in the last few years, we need to make sure that interest levels don’t subside. So that next time around, hockey players will themselves endorse their sport, and Indian hockey will not need to turn to filmstars and cricket players to draw the crowds.
Sachin Tendulkar recently said when asked about hockey, “The support should be stronger in times when the team is going through tough phases.” Is someone out there listening?
