Let's consider a possible situation on the hockey pitch in the near future. On August 15, India men’s captain Harmanpreet Singh is about to pass the ball to his colleague Manpreet Singh against Wales in the first match of the 2026 FIH World Cup. India have been playing in blue jerseys since 1982. So naturally, the captain would be looking to pass the ball to someone in blue. Wales, on the other hand, wears different shades of red. This hypothetical confusion can become all too real, perplexing players who have hardly played in the new saffron jersey before leaving for Switzerland for a team-bonding exercise. The women’s team have not even had a single training session in the new jersey, while the men have just had one.
Changing the team jersey colour was totally unwarranted, and particularly unwanted at this moment, with less than a month to go for the World Cup. The criticism is not without merit. Some of the greatest players to have worn the India blue have made the point—former captains V Baskaran and Viren Rasquinha blasted the decision as blue has long been associated with team India’s identity. What Albiceleste is to Argentina and canary yellow to Brazil, blue is to India. India’s cricket and football teams, too, play in blue.
Hockey India offered a specious excuse for the change, saying that the blue jersey was not ideal for visibility on blue turfs. The justification is belied by the fact that India won both Olympic medals over the last five years on such surfaces. HI also claimed to have consulted players and the support staff on the change, which the latter denied.
Top HI officials’ reaction to the scrutiny should not surprise us given that the organisation is plagued with serious administrative misgivings amid charges of harassment, intimidation and a breakdown of trust between office-bearers and executive board members. The latest episode has only revealed these deeper fissures. The HI chief questioned the director-general on the rationale behind the change and stated that even the executive board had been kept in the dark; the secretary-general backed the director-general. Given such fights among the sport’s administrators, is it a surprise that India are struggling on the field since the Olympic bronze in 2024?
