BHUBANESWAR: The Oxford dictionary describes ‘groundhog day’ as a ‘situation in which a series of unwelcome or tedious events appear to be recurring in exactly the same way.’ At this stage, they might as well name the day in honour of the Indian men’s hockey team.
Hope (India 5-0 South Africa) is followed by expectation (India 2-2 Belgium). Hype (India 5-0 Canada) reaches fever pitch before anger, denial and acceptance (India 1-2 The Netherlands) gives them a reality check.
This cycle of hope-expectation-hype-acceptance has been the one broad theme of the senior team over the last few years. Sure, they have improved but they have always had an asterisks against their name. The two Champions Trophy silver medals in 2016 and 2018? Holland did not play in 2016 while Germany did not get an invitation in 2018.
What about the two third-place finishes at the World League Finals in 2015 and 2017, you ask? They finished last in their groups in both events and managed to play the quarterfinals because of the quirky nature of the format.
The difference between the good and the great teams is their ability to win the knockout matches. How many have India won at the World Cup, Champions Trophy, World League Semi-Finals and Finals and the Olympics since 2016? Zero from seven. For all their off-the-field improvement in terms of nutrition and fitness, they have still not been able to find a cure for one of the biggest problems ailing Indian hockey right now. Winning when it matters the most.
The founding idea behind Sjoerd Marijne’s player-driven approach was simple.
“You pick a style that you are comfortable playing with,” he told members of the men’s team. “I will design the programme based on those parameters laid down by you guys.”
A few weren’t receptive of such a deal. Few calls were made to Hockey India and Marijne’s job was already insecure as the team headed to the Commonwealth Games. The gist of the complaint was simple.
“Why should we tell him... it’s his job to tell us how to play.”
After months of refusing to implement the Dutchman’s methodologies, the players finally relented. All of them came together to think as a group after the Commonwealth Games. It was time for them to sack Marijne. His crime? To enable players to think for themselves.
Moreover, it’s that basic lack of hockey intelligence which has again cost India a chance of winning a big match. One only needed to listen to Jeroen Hertzberger in the mixed zone after the quarterfinals to confirm it.
“We were a little bit sloppy in the first 30 minutes,” he said.
“Whenever we had the ball, we just wanted to go, go, go (forward). In the second half, we changed. That was the key to not letting them take control. All Indian attacks originated from our sloppy play. India are a team that live off mistakes. There is nothing wrong with that, they have gotten to No 5 in the world, so they are doing something right. But we are not stupid...”
He stopped short of saying that the hosts were stupid but it’s easy to infer that from reading between the lines. Even Dutch coach Max Caldas emanated that feeling when he was listening to Harendra Singh’s press conference. When Singh was ranting on about the level of officiating, the Argentine couldn’t help but chuckle. When the former international got to the part about counting circle penetrations, he changed the goalposts of what actually constitutes a circle entry.
“It is a successful penetration only when the pass inside the ‘D’ reaches its intended target.” It was at this stage that Caldas lost it. He LOL’ed. It’s been a long time coming but Indian hockey had finally reached its new destination: from royalty to laughing stock.
From 1980, 51 coaches have held the post as ‘chief coach’ of the India men’s team. It translates roughly to one every 268 days. They all tried to bring in their own footprints in an effort to recapture the glory days. Rajinder Singh Sr, for example, had just one team talk.
“Desh ke liye jaan laga do (give your life for your country).” Singh Sr, who got the role after Cedric D’Souza was dumped during the 2002 World Cup, liked to keep it simple. The only tactics was ‘zor se khelna (play with aggression)’.
This was around the time when the aura surrounding the sport in India was steadily declining. While other teams began to reinvent the wheel by bringing new coaching methods, Indian coaches took a leaf out of the dark ages. Rajinder Singh Jr, who was appointed a year after Singh Sr was sacked, maintained the template of giving briefings that would have made a 10-year-old wince.
“Punjab and Sind Bank jaisa kelna (play like Punjab and Sind Bank).” It was his go-to line because he had made them national champions.
To give the administrators their due, they tried to modernise when they gave D’Souza the job in 2001. The expectation was that he would help in revolutionising how the coaching was going to be conceived. He did his best by bringing in modern methods and encouraged his wards to think for themselves. It ended disastrously as the players got together to do the one thing they always do: get the coach sacked.
From 2001 to 2018 nothing has changed.
We lack game sense: Sardar
Former skipper Sardar Singh agrees with the assessment that the Indian team lacks the game sense to win big matches.
“The lack of game sense is one of the biggest reasons we aren’t able to win big tournaments,” he said. By game sense, he means the capacity to be smart. “We need to be smart... in the way we switch flanks, engage in counter-control and so on.”
He also said Hockey India did not help the team’s cause by spreading an atmosphere of insecurity.
“Most players did not know if they would be a part of the team for the next tournament. Some senior players who deserved to be in the team did not know themselves if they would be in the team so they couldn’t guide the team.”