ROURKELA: The exclusion of Rourkela from hosting any match of the upcoming men’s Hero Hockey India League (HIL) 2025-26 has left lovers of the sport disappointed in Sundargarh district which is considered the cradle of Indian hockey.
After the roaring success of the previous edition of the HIL primarily hosted at Rourkela, the city’s omission from the upcoming season of the tournament also undermines Rourkela’s growing fame as a major hub for hockey.
Sources informed that the HIL 2025-26 season for men is going to be held from January 3 to 26 at Bhubaneswar, Ranchi and Chennai. Of the total 33 matches, Bhubaneswar will host 14 matches including the play offs and final. The rest matches would be played at Ranchi and Chennai.
This comes at a time when Rourkela had successfully hosted 40 of the total 44 matches of the previous edition of HIL including the semi-finals and final while Ranchi had hosted only four matches.
Senior hockey coach Kalu Charan Chaudhury said the sport literary runs in the blood of the majority tribal population of Sundargarh. The people of the district have intrinsic love and understanding for hockey. Hockey lovers, especially from rural parts of Sundargarh, love the stick sport and are well-aware of its techniques and rules, he said.
“Arguably, very few major hockey venues in the country can match the spectators’ response like that at Rourkela. The spectators here are known for appreciating good and competitive matches and individual players, be it during the team franchise players of HIL or country teams as was seen during the city’s co-hosting of matches for the FIH Men’s Hockey World Cup in January 2023,” he added.
Former junior international hockey player and serving coach Peter Tirkey said Rourkela not hosting regular big matches is disappointing for hockey lovers. It also adversely impacts the growth of young hockey trainees of the two government hostels, hockey centres of SAI and SAIL and 17 rural training centres in Sundargarh. “Watching international players live in action, the young trainees draw inspiration, build spirit for competitiveness and learn new techniques and skills,” he said.
However, as a consolation, Rourkela has been chosen as the only venue in India to host six matches of the FIH Hockey Pro League 2025-26 (Men’s) to be played among India, Belgium and Argentina from February 10 to 15. Other Pro League matches would be held at Hobart in Australia, Rotterdam in Netherlands and London in England till June 28.