Even as various members of the Indian contingent continue to win medals at the Commonwealth Games, a sport that isn't even there continues to dominate the news cycle for a second day running.
On Friday, Dilip Tirkey, president of Hockey India, sent two emails to find out details about who instituted the change in the colour of the Indian jersey from blue to saffron ahead of the World Cup. The mails, accessed by this daily, were sent to HI's top brass.
In the first mail, titled 'Clarification Regarding Change in Indian National Team Jersey Colour' and addressed to EB members, made it clear that his 'concern was not with the choice of saffron itself'. However, he writes that 'this decision appears to have been taken and implemented without being placed before the Executive Board for discussion and without my prior knowledge'.
As reported by this daily on Thursday, Tirkey, the second most capped Indian men's hockey player in history, wasn't even present in Bengaluru during the jersey unveiling. While that in itself may be normal, he wasn't even aware that the jersey unveiling was actually a switcheroo without the prior consent of the head.
While the president has made his peace with the team wearing saffron at the World Cup, he wants a 'written clarification at the earliest' so that he can 'respond appropriately and accurately'. While the former India captain made it clear that he didn't wish to apportion blame, he wanted to see 'transparency, accountability and adherence to our established decision-making processes.'
In the second email, directly addressed to 'Commander Srivastava Ji' (executive director of the federation), Tirkey raised a five-point agenda to be made available by 5.00 PM on Friday. These were
1. The background and rationale for changing the traditional colour of the Indian National Team jersey
2. The authority under which the decision was taken
3. The process followed in arriving at the decision, including the officers, committees or other persons involved
4. Whether any consultation was undertaken with the President, Executive Board, current players, coaches, former international players or other relevant stakeholders
5. And the reasons why neither the President nor the Executive Board was informed or consulted prior to the public announcement