Field Hockey: Time to Go Green ~ Warangal Adda

[ravianshuman]

Field hockey is on the verge of extinction. Much as its administrators may wish otherwise, the writing is on the wall. It is a classic case of hockey administrators having little idea of markets, technology and what makes for a sustainable business model. It is no surprise that the Premier Hockey league - which started much before the recent successful launch of cricket's Indian Premier League - still languishes way behind and is more or less a box-office dud.

Don't blame a cricket-crazy nation for where hockey stands today. Rather, if one takes a look at the history of field hockey and how it has evolved in the last 40 years, it becomes increasingly apparent that understanding markets and technology play a critical role in the success of a sport.

The golden era of Indian hockey was in the 1930-40s when the legendary Dhyan Chand and his flock weaved magic around a bunch of mesmerized opponents. Such was their skill at the game that, during the 1932 Los Angeles summer Olympics games, the score line in the finals against the U.S. national hockey team read an unbelievable 24-1.

The supremacy of the Indian team continued till the end of the 60s. However, by the 70s, two major developments changed the game of field hockey forever. First, astro turf replaced natural grass in several sports and hockey was no exception. The second development was the large-scale tinkering of the game's rules with the purported intention of making the game more viewer friendly, but often necessitated by the introduction of synthetic turf.

Both these changes have been espoused as necessary for the growth of hockey worldwide. Hockey administrators claim that these changes are required to make the game faster and spectator friendly. Well, where exactly are these spectators? Do you see any stadium with fans spilling on to the streets, breaking beer bottles?

Let's face it: hockey today is much less popular than it was in the 1970s and the kiss of death, no doubt, was the introduction of synthetic grass.

The misguided transformation of the game in the 70s resulted in a "product" that was definitely a faster brand of field hockey with swift crisp passes – a perfect stage to showcase pure athletic skills. Not surprisingly, the Europeans, with superior physical strength and endurance, have benefitted from the introduction of astro turf while the Indians, who normally excel in dribbling ability and ball trapping skills on natural turf, have faded away over time.

One can say that field hockey now resembles a crude version of ice hockey. The European and American audiences haven't fall for this bait – ice hockey continues to dominate their mind space and field hockey has never really taken off there. At the same time, Indian audiences have increasingly lost interest in the game as their teams could never adapt to synthetic turf. Not only has the new game of hockey failed to attract world-wide audiences, it has blatantly ignored the biggest sport market for hockey in the world.

Hockey administrators have virtually killed the goose that can lay golden eggs. Indian hockey is more like a dead duck, these days.

Administrators fail to realize that players who have spent a great part of their lives, developing skills on natural turf, cannot just change their game overnight and perform on synthetic turf. The kind of adjustments required in speed, endurance, anticipation, and more importantly, ball distribution skills, are significant enough to render the Indian teams largely ineffective in most situations. Natural turf with its uneven bounce requires players to watch the ball closely till the last second to control the ball. Astro turf with its predictable bounce and speed requires players to commit to the ball as early as possible.

Imagine the plight of young Indian players who have grown up developing exactly the opposite kind of skills on natural turf, when they are exposed to astro turf at a later stage in their careers. Indeed, one has to commend the Indian teams down the years for having performed reasonably well given all the constraints they have faced. The other alternative of laying astro turf pitches all across India (in schools and colleges in towns and villages) is laughable.

If field hockey has to be revived, it is time to go green!

Yes, all that is required is to go back to natural turf and revise the rules of the game to resuscitate the good old attacking style of hockey Indians have always been well-known for. This is possible today for two very important reasons.

First, it so happens that a billion plus consumers of field hockey reside in India, not to mention neighboring countries where hockey is equally popular. On the other hand, the game is, at best, only mildly popular in Europe and Australia. It is unlikely that field hockey will catch the rest of the world's imagination in the near future. There is no doubt that the future of hockey lies in India and not anywhere else. A resurgent Indian hockey team is a sure bet to attract huge crowds.

Second, developments in television broadcasting in the last few years have made it possible to showcase the artistic nuances of Indian hockey – something that was not possible earlier. Today, with instant replays and skycam cameras that bring about visual perspectives from hitherto unrealizable angles, it is relatively easy to bring the new avatars of Dhyan Chand into the living room.

It is a no-brainer. If one understands who the target consumer is (the Indian audience), what the consumer wants (their team to do well at the game), and the developments in technology (innovations in television broadcasting), the only product worth offering is "green hockey."

Of course, this would mean upsetting the old world order. Who would ever want to do that! A better alternative is to promote a new league of green hockey in India. My bet is that we would soon see a beeline of European and Australian players and administrators suddenly rediscovering their love for natural turf hockey (and keeping in mind the general zeitgeist, do I hear eco-friendly, too?)

Mr. Lalit Modi are you listening? And Mr. Mallya, the ROI on your dollar spent for this cause (not to mention how happy your Coorgi friends might feel about this gesture) would be far higher than what you get from Force India. Because this would be Force Real India!!