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Hockey India has never been transparent and the Gurbaj Singh saga continues to condemn hockey sports administrators as shadowy egotistical mandarins. Admittedly, India has made significant strides under the present administration, but it has had more than its share or scandals and sordid sagas.
As a passionate hockey fan, true to Indian hockey for decades, traveling far and wide to watch India play, investing time and money for the sheer love of the game, I feel cheated.
The least the administration can do is to give public access to the board of inquiry report that put (who I think is the best attacking mid-fielder in the game today) Gurbaj Singh out in the cold for 9 months.
The HI website and it's social media campaign is one of the best in the hockey world today. The president, Narinder Batra hogs media limelight at every opportunity and trumpets his ethos of honesty and fairness, but he has to learn that transparency is the bedrock of honesty.
Besides, he is answerable to us, the actual hockey fraternity of India - the fans. Let him not underestimate the fan power, that if unleashed could well be his denouement. He owes us the reasons for putting Gurbaj to pasture. Of course, he will hide behind the investigators, who we all know are his lackeys.
Now that the Jalandhar high court has quashed the verdict against Gurbaj and directed HI to reinstate him as an active potential for the Indian team, HI should give us the assurance that it will comply. When he was to be condemned, HI went to town with the news. Now I'd like to hear Hi resonating the high court decision.
We know that discipline is integral to the game, but the game being played is not about discipline. It’s about putting a player away because he chose to challenge the administration. Petty politics and administration's insecurity. That's what this game is about.
I suspect there is more to it than meets the eye. Much more. It is the usual games that administrators play, ruining the best of players. If I am wrong, then HI owes us the report.
Gurbaj embodies the best that Indian hockey has on offer. Sublime skill, technical strength, speed, dexterity and above all true team player. Leaving him out in the cold on trumped up charges will be a travesty, that will significantly deplete India.
Write, talk, post, tweet, use every avenue of social media to stand up for player who is left out in the cold because HI has a domineering head and all his lackeys are sycophantic, lacking the courage to stand for what is right.
