Government-Run Indian Hockey Lose Champions Trophy; BCCI Gets The Arsenal!

The world’s apex body for field hockey, FIH, has decided to take away the hosting rights of Champions Trophy from India. According to the FIH, the decision was taken thanks to the issues with the governance of the game in India and the hosting rights for the event that begins from December 2, will now be taken over by another nation.

FIH President Leandro Negre said, “We regret that we have to move the Champions Trophy from India. It is difficult for the teams, the organizers and the fans. But we feel that this is the only way to maintain the integrity of our sport,"

So, why is this piece a part of the cricketing section, you would ask. The answer lies in this incident’s relation with what happened recently with the Sports Ministry in India; they had decided to propose a sports bill in the country that brings all the sports including cricket under the governance of the government. Cricket, incidentally, is one of the very few sports which is autonomously run.

Hockey, on the other hand, is administered by the Indian government. Till 1956, India had won six gold medals in hockey in the Olympics, in the ensuing 24 years, they added only another two, while coming home cropper in the 31 years between 1980 and till date. The situation of hockey has worsened so much that the Indian hockey team failed to qualify for the previous Olympics in Beijing and today, there are two bodies, Hockey India (HI) and Indian Hockey Federation (IHF) who claim to run the sport in the country.

In short, the hockey administration in India is a joke.

While cricket has had its issues with transparency and scheduling, its autonomy has its own set of advantages. This will be the basic premise on which the BCCI will now fight against the aforementioned bill from being given birth. Of course, the BCCI needs to be accountable, but as the hockey incident portrays, it may not be the best idea to bring it under the control of the government.