Black magic: How an India-born billionaire bankrolled New Zealand’s dream
BHUBANESWAR : In 2016, as New Zealand’s hockey teams were preparing for the Rio Olympics, they received a proposal from their hockey federation that left many of them feeling disturbed. The proposal was they should attempt to canvass sponsors worth $12,000 each. If successful, they would keep half the money while the other half would go towards bankrolling their Rio trip.
For the players, especially the women who were looking to do one better than their fourthplaced finish in London, this was an insult — a needless distraction when they should have been focusing on nothing but hockey. That incident alone should be enough to show Hockey New Zealand (HNZ) isn’t exactly flush with funds.
Their annual report for 2017 showed an operating budget of just over 7 million NZ dollars, around a fifth of what New Zealand’s highest paid athlete — NBA star Steven Adams — takes home from Oklahoma City Thunder every year. A 2016 report showed that New Zealand’s women hockey players — ranked fourth in the world not too long ago — took home a meager 15,000 NZ dollars a year, lesser even that of the country’s minimum wage. To be fair to them,hockey in New Zealand is a sport with limited avenues. HNZ estimated 35,952 people had come to see international hockey in 2017. Hockey India would be hoping that more people show up during the first three days of the World Cup.
Yet, the mood could not be more upbeat in their men’s team as they count down the hours before their opening game of World Cup in Bhubaneswar. The reason? A man by the name of Owen Glenn. A multimillionaire shipping magnate — who, curiously was born in Kolkata before his family migrated to New Zealand post-Indian independence — Owen Glenn has been a long-time supporter of hockey in the country.
He famously bankrolled the 2011 Champions Trophy in Auckland after it was taken away from India thanks to a power struggle between HI and the erstwhile Indian Hockey Federation (IHF) for control of the sport. In early 2018, Glen had enough of hearing about underpaid players and cashstrapped organisers. He announced the donation of a million dollars each year till the Tokyo Olympics to the men’s and women’s senior teams. The New Zealand government agreed to match that donation. The money was to reportedly be paid directly to the players.
When news of the deal first filtered through, the Black Sticks coach Darren Smith responded by saying his players can ‘finally stop living off the smell of an oily rag’. After he landed in Bhubaneswar on Saturday, he was all praise for Glen. “It’s fantastic,” he said. “We’ll see the difference beginning 2019 when Sir Owen’s kind contribution, along with High-Performance Sport New Zealand and HNZ will see the players financially a little bit better looked after. It all helps towards creating a fantastic environment towards the Black Sticks. Sir Owen’s been a great contributor for a long time for hockey in New Zealand.
Even with all the financial constraints and a limited scope for growth, New Zealand’s hockey teams have been giving their association quite the bang for their buck. India may not exactly be known for spending vast amounts of cash on their (non-cricket) sportspersons, but their hockey players are pampered when compared to their Black Sticks counterparts. Yet the last time India’s men’s team outperformed New Zealand in the Olympics was eighteen years ago in Sydney where the Black Sticks did not qualify. Their women’s team has been even more impressive in the quadrennial event with two consecutive semifinal appearances (they repeated their London feat in Rio as well).
They may have fallen to sixth in rankings in recent months but they are still spots three above India. But now, with the players free from financial distractions, the room for improvement is substantial. Hockey in New Zealand is finally ready to take on a semblance of professionalism. “Owen Glenn has been a big supporter for a long time,” says the team’s assistant coach Bryce Collins. “His influence is huge, it changes us from amateur to semi-professional.
The guys are very excited about that and this allows them to put their focus on hockey, and hopefully win medals on the world stage. The agreement’s has only been in place since November 1 but it’s through until Tokyo. We hope to continue the relationship beyond that as well.” With the deal only kicking in since November, the World Cup comes a tad too early to be affected by it. But it still is a yardstick for the Black Sticks to see where they stand in relation to the rest of the hockey world. While Argentina are comfortable favourites to top Pool A, New Zealand should be able to get out of the group alongside Spain, and with a bit of luck, above the latter.
That would set up a winnable crossover game against Ireland or England, and a quarterfinal against Argentina or Australia. The last of those obstacles — a quarter clash against either the World No 1 or World No 2 — will be extremely difficult to surmount. But with New Zealand, you never know! They have been steadily giving healthy returns on whatever money their federation could afford to bet on them. Now, for a million bucks, you’d expect something spectacular.