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Mar202009
Hockey or Cricket
Gone are the days,when we used to spend full 90 minutes infornt of the TV set gulled to every pass made by Dhanraj Pillai,Prabjot Singh and likes.Gone are those golden moment between twenties and fifties when India dominated the Hockey world.The Golden Era of hockey in India was the period from 1928 - 1956 when India won 6 consecutive gold medals in the Olympics. And today,leave playing in the main Olympic draw,we even fail to come out with flying colours in the qualifying matches.
Today we can afford to miss a hockey match for Cricket.Cricket is held in high esteem and people have started to worship cricket and cricketers. We have high profile cricket tournaments like the IPL,ICL to name a few,lucrative sponsorships for cricket and cricketers not hockey or any other sport.
India is a country of a billion people and I’m really surprised to find to why we have failed to raise a quality high breed of hockey players who can complete with any champion team on earth. What would you call – lack of awareness about this sport,inadequate sponsorships,infrastructure or lack of interest.Today’s generation seems to be less interested playing Hockey as not much glamour or incentives is associated with this sport. For a sportsman, playing for the country is the ultimate thirst. But,It’s also necessary to note that to domesticate this sport you need to give out proper honorarium cum incentives to the players.
Parents today encourage their wards to take up cricket but no hockey or any other sports as they see a mist infornt of hockey.
So,how do we improve the sport and encourage the youth to take up the hockey stick.
1. Better infrastructure
2. Appropriate sponsorships and incentives
3. And importantly,proper respect and honour for the players.
The Government must increase their budget for the promotion of hockey and come out with attractive offers to attract and retain hockey players. Hockey associations should be provided with all the necessary resources to help this sport propel. Today, BCCI is the richest cricket body in the world and hats off to their blueprints for popularizing cricket in India.
I’m happy with the fact that people still love and play Hockey.But,may I tell you that there is drastic decline in the popularity associated with this sport. So,if urgent steps are not initiated at the earliest,the day is not so far when Cricket will overwrite Hockey as the National Sport of India.
The views expressed in this post are those of the writer and are not necessarily endorsed by Mutiny.in
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Nikhil
001
1:35 am
You are just stating the obvious. Nothing new in the post.
Also make sure you run a spelling and grammar checker on your article. The formatting is also messed up. I expect better from Mutiny.
Dave
002
8:27 am
Hockey is 70 minutes long, not 90 minutes
memendezjkls
003
6:59 pm
great comment dude, I think you are right
Eternal Truth
004
2:06 am
Misingtani,
I am glad you brought up this point. I haven’t come across much debate on this issue. I think the popularity of cricket has cannabalized the popularity of almost all the other sports in India. The positive outcome is that now there is lot of money in cricket and we are seeing its positive impact. But then at the same time, all the other sports are getting deprived of money and attention that they could have potentially got otherwise.
Misingtani
005
10:13 am
@Nikil and Dave
It’s the job of the editors to rectify all the grammatical errors before posting it online.Not my job. I not one English Geek like you guys.Don’t blame me. I suck bigtime. Whatever,if you guys have problem then iam off.
Barry from Wanniassa
006
5:57 am
@Misingtani
Dave’s comments have nothing to do with grammar, but facts.
The decline in hockey in India can be put down to one KPS Gill.
Tgonm
007
3:28 am
If it is goalless in 70 minutes, than it is 20 minutes of more play, so a hockey match can be a 90 minutes of play!
I don’t have much idea about cricket. I find many people wasting time watching it, but it is very boring. I don’t know how can people like it. Cricket seems to be for killing time for those who have lots of time.
Football is what people should play.
Dave
008
12:09 pm
Soccer is boring and is not a test of courage. cricket and hockey rock. Other good sports are AFL, Rugby League and Gridiron.
parmeet
009
9:46 pm
thanks buddy
it helped me for my homework