Time to move on!!
(The final part) In India, national game should be cricket because it has just become the cramming line that our national game is hockey. No one knows about know and how of hockey, we don’t know where are hockey stadiums, we don’t know where are hockey academies, where are hockey players, etc except a few ones. On the other hand we know every nerve of cricket, who are players, when is the next match, when Sachin made 200, etc. This shows the level of chauvinism that Indians show when it come to cricket.
Change is the requirement of today. If we do not change anything, we cannot progress. On the grounds of tourism industry cricket is a major source of income as lot of foreigners come to watch matches and visit different places. This is so only because Indians not just watch cricket they feel it and its religion. If it becomes a national game, it won’t change anything. It is just the popularity of the game, which decides its position and we all aware of the position of our hockey team. So what if we won 8 consecutive gold in Olympics from last 20 years, hockey became just like a name game.
If we are feeling patriotic on this issue then we should move forward and try making it popular by promotion via media and other sources. Businesspersons and other big players can sponsor it. Common people can watch it and motivate their kids to join the game and government can facilitate the players. Still it should be changed from national game.
It’s easy to blame to the governing body for all sort of mishaps but I don’t think it’s completely their fault but they are to blamed up to some extent. First let’s admit the reality that Indian Hockey team is never in top 3 teams in last 40 years.1980 Gold medal was just a fluke nothing else. For last 4 decades, the performance of hockey team was unidirectional and now it has reached the lowest position. There are many interrelated issues but the hockey federation has never done anything in grass root level for the development of hockey. Just by starting a high paying league (PHL) the federation was thinking to attract youngsters to play the game (I am not against PHL but the federation should have done many other things with it).
If Hockey is not able to create any sensation among the youths then it is not our fault. It is the weakness of the game. I really don’t find any logic behind Hockey Being the National Sports. Only because we had a great history in Hockey and few of our grandparents used to watch that game cannot be a reason for it remains to be a national game. No one in India seems to have any sort of interest in hockey. Therefore, what is the point in having such a game as national sports? Nevertheless I feel Cricket is the National Game and Hockey is just in paper.
By,
Tarun Avtar Arya,
