The rise and fall of Railway teams in the Nehru Hockey tournament

Nehru Cup

It was yesterday once more when the quarterfinal league phase of the 50th Torex Nehru hockey tournament commenced at the newly constructed Shivaji stadium in Delhi. For the first time in many decades, three teams from the Railways, Central and Western (both from Mumbai) and South Central (Secunderabad) have reached the last eight.

Teams from the Railways ruled the roost when the Nehru Hockey tournament first commenced in November-December 1964. In its first decade from 1964—1974, Northern Railway dominated like a mighty colossus, entering the final on seven occasions and emerging champions four times in 1964, 1967, 1973 and 1974.

Twice during this decade, two railway teams contested the finals in 1964 (Northern Railway vs South Eastern Railways) and 1974 (Northern Railway vs Western Railway). Sadly, the 1974 final marked the end of an era. Since then, neither Northern Railway nor any other Railway outfit has entered the final of the prestigious Nehru hockey tournament.

Railways were once a dominant force in Indian hockey. In the 1948 London Olympics, India first participated as an independent nation and the captain was from Railways, outside right Kishen Lal. Others from Railways to captain India in the Olympics were V. Bhaskaran (1980) and Pargat Singh (1992).

From the 1960 Rome Olympics till the 1992 Barcelona Olympics there were invariably four to five players from the Railways in the Indian team. In the 1988 Seoul Olympics there were six Railways players in India’s squad – defenders Pargat Singh and Ashok Kumar, midfielder Vivek Singh and forwards Jude Felix, Balwinder Singh and Mohammed Shahid.

However, since the 1992 Barcelona Olympics not a single player from Railways has played for the Indian hockey team in the Olympics. Ex-Olympian and former Railways centre forward Harbinder Singh feels the slump is due to inadequate recruitment policies and more lucrative career options in the wealthy public sector units like Indian Oil, Bharat Petroleum and ONGC.

Harbinder, now the Vice-President of the Nehru Hockey tournament society, recalls the simplicity with which he joined the Railways. He had helped Punjab win the 26th National hockey championships in Bhopal. However, on the advice of legendary defender Prithipal Singh he decided to join Railways.

He came to Delhi on 11 April 1962 and went to Northern Railway headquarters in the morning and filed his application. The process was so simple that by evening he was appointed as apprentice Way Inspector. Within a few days of joining he went with the Northern Railway team to play in the Bombay Gold Cup. Harbinder was just 19 years old then and stayed with the Railways till his retirement in 2003.

Unlike the ease of the past, at present recruitment is a long drawn process and takes two to three months. Also, according to Harbinder, players are recruited in the Grade III category and hence do not find it lucrative to join Railways. The triple Olympian Harbinder felt that officers in his days gave more encouragement and importance to sportsmen and that made the difference.

Five decades ago, the Nehru hockey tournament was a launching pad for Railway teams from different regions to make their mark. In the inaugural final in 1964, Northern Railway beat South Eastern Railway 2-0, with ace defender, the late Prithipal Singh, converting two penalty corners – one in each half.

Players who had excelled in India’s 1964 Tokyo Olympics triumph figured in both teams which contested the 1964 Nehru hockey tournament final. Northern Railway had defender Prithipal Singh, right half back Mohinder Lal who scored the match winner against Pakistan in the Tokyo Olympics final and centre forward Harbinder Singh in their playing eleven. Centre-half Rajinder Singh was in the victorious Tokyo Olympics squad, but did not play in the final.

Inside-left Inder Singh, who would play for India in the 1966 Bangkok Asian Games and the 1968 Mexico Olympics, joined Northern Railway in 1965 and played for his institution in the 1967, 1969, 1970, 1973 and 1974 Nehru hockey tournament finals.

In the 1964 Nehru hockey final, Northern Railway had a lethal forward line, consisting of outside right Balwinder Singh, inside right Tejinder Mohan Singh, centre forward Harbinder, inside left Ehsan Ahmed and outside left Sunder Singh. They were an incredibly attractive team to watch due to the speed of their attacking players.

From the victorious 1964 Northern Railway side, Harbinder is the only one left in Delhi. Balwinder, Tejinder Mohan and Sunder Sing have settled abroad. Goalkeeper Dogra, defender Prithipal Singh and the classy midfielders Mohinder Lal, Rajinder Singh and Hari Shanker have all passed away.

Olympian Joginder Singh, a skilful outside right, was the most renowned player of South Eastern Railway and initiated most of their attacks. Joginder, or “Gindi” as he was popularly known, developed his hockey skills in Delhi practising near the Shivaji stadium and so he had a large fan following in the capital.

His duel with Northern Railway’s left half back Hari Shanker was one of the highlights of the final. Known as “Baba” Hari Shanker, this lean and lanky left half back used to cycle to the stadium from his house in nearby Pahargunj and was also very popular with the local crowds.

The final of the 1964 tournament was supervised by K.G. Kakkar who later became joint secretary of the Nehru hockey tournament society and J.D. Nagarwala. The late K.G. Kakkar served the society for over four decades and expired at the ripe old age of 91 years.

The year 1964 was memorable for the jovial and mercurial K.G. Kakkar. He supervised the finals of the most prestigious football and hockey tournaments in the Capital – the Nehru hockey tournament and the Durand tournament final, in the latter of which Mohun Bagan beat East Bengal 2-0.

It may be recalled that India was then Olympic champion in hockey (1964 Tokyo gold medal) and Asian Games champion in football (1962 Jakarta Asiad), so there was passionate fan following for both these sports in Delhi.

Again in 1974, Northern Railway ousted Western Railway in a closely contested final, in which there was end-to-end attacking hockey. The tricky international outside left Chand Singh was the star of the Northern Railway team in this final. Another outstanding player was the burly defender, Olympian Mukhbain Singh, noted for his crisp penalty corner hits and Tarzan-like physique.

Western Railway had Olympians Balbir Singh and Gurbux Singh in their ranks. Both were past their prime but were still very crafty forwards. Outside left Shiv Dutt impressed with his speed and control. Shiv Dutt was unlucky to have not played regularly for India, as he was competing with the dashing Harcharan Singh and Chand Singh who were also at their peak during this era.

For the local crowds, the most popular Western Railway player was the dusky defender Alexander, who played barefoot and was noted for his game reading, anticipation and superb interceptions.

In 1967 Northern Railway were joint champions with Indian Navy, after two successive drawn finals. It was in this final that tenacious defender Michael Kindo came to the forefront, excelling with his firm tackling and interceptions. He was chosen for the National camp after the 1967 final. Kindo is often considered one of the hardest tacklers in Indian hockey.

Again in 1973, Northern Railway beat another Services outfit Sikh Regimental Centre (SRC) which had H.J.S. Chimni who represented the victorious Indian hockey squad in the 1975 World Cup, and the popular, dashing outside right Karnail Singh in their ranks.

The Corps of Signals were Northern Railways’ nemeses during their decade of dominance. Twice this very fit and cohesive unit denied Northern Railway the title, beating them in both 1969 and 1972 by a 1-0 margin. The Jalandhar-based Corps of Signals used to especially train for the Nehru hockey tournament and were always an entertaining and spirited side, renowned as giant killers.

In the 1969 final Northern Railway lost to Corps of Signals 0-1 in the final, despite dominating the game. International defender Raminder Singh scored an early goal and though Northern Railway maintained relentless pressure, they could not get the equalizer. In the 1970 final Northern Railway drew the first match against the formidable All India Police XI but lost in the replay.

The domination of Northern Railway from 1964 to 1974 was not surprising as during this period Railways dominated the national scene. In the senior National championships for the Rangaswamy Cup, Railways were the most successful team, champions in 1964, 1966, 1967, 1968, 1970 and 1974 and runners up in 1969, 1972 and 1973.