Hockey India has sacked too many coaches in a short span for the national game to get stability
Just when some syrup was starting to marinate the astro-turf, the usual happened. Hockey India sacked head coach Roelant Oltmans, without premise. The reason the high-level performance development committee gave was that team India's “Asia-only” wins were not enough reason to retain a high-spend coach like Oltmans. Though Hockey India is known to be taking arbitrary decisions in appointing and sacking coaches — there have been six replacements in just 10 years — this time the reasoning has found takers. Oltmans entered the Indian firmament as high performance director after India finished 12th at the london Olympics. He got the elevation in 2015 as chief coach after Van Ass had a public spat with then Hockey India president Narinder Batra and was summarily sacked. Over the years, as head of the hockey establishment, Oltmans has had some successes. He has cultivated gumption, worth and winability among the players and also posted wins like a silver medal at the Champions Trophy last year for the first time in over three decades. But in the last two years, India seems to have reached a plateau, even losing to lesser teams like Canada. Oltmans' falling grades started after the team lost to Belgium at the Rio Olympics despite leading in goals for some time. Then he talked of semi-final assurances instead of final spots at world games which did not augur well for him. Besides, there was mounting disquiet among players over his selection mores. Three senior players were part of the panel that sealed Oltmans’ fate. That included Sardar Singh, known to be his favourite.
So, to blame the Hockey India decision entirely would be incorrect. losing to much lesser teams like Canada in World league Games this July, where the team finished sixth out of 10 teams, made Oltmans' position largely untenable. And then came the defeat in Azlan Shah to Malaysia. But Oltmans pointing out that all hockey coaches have to go before their contract ends is also correct. Sacking of six coaches in just 10 years smacks of instability and high-handedness, not to mention a lack of long-term vision of Hockey India. The regularity of the sackings is too mind-boggling to go into the whys of it. Every time a coach is sacked, the axe falls on the game too. And as we all know, Indian Hockey has been struggling to compete with top teams around the world for very many decades despite being an ancient powerhouse of the sport. Given, if any change had to happen this was the time for it, especially when it is the silly season of the game. The new man in, whenever and whoever walks into the dressing room, will have a new brief, style and approach to how India should deal with the stick. And, come to think of it, as far as moral responsibility goes, the administrators have been around for as many years as hockey has failed. No more to be said.