Moritz Furste, captain of Kalinga lancers, believes the domination of football is affecting the growth of hockey in Germany.
During the trophy unveiling ceremony on Thursday, Furste explained how difficult it is to survive as a hockey player in Germany.
When asked how much it means to win Olympic Gold in 2008 and 2012, the German said: “For players it means the same no matter where you are from. India dreams of it but they don’t get it and we get it, however our country does not have the importance like it is here. That’s why we are here and that is why HIl works here.”
When asked whether it hurts, he explained: “Hurt is maybe a tough word but we definitely don’t get the recognition that we deserve compared to other sports and that’s something that bothers us sometimes.”
He also feels there is not that much opportunity in terms of playing hockey for four time Olympic gold medallists.
“No it is not good, you won’t make much money. Everyone has a proper job besides. We will be working, studying, doing stuff like that to just have a fulfilled life after career. I myself am a sport marketing director in an advertisement company,” he added.
As expected, it is not easy to manage both the job aspect and to play hockey on a regular basis.
“It’s very difficult to manage both. You have to set priorities right and it will be difficult to perform to your 100 percent level. I am on holidays — unpaid holidays,” said Furste.
While in India the focus is on cricket and other sports suffer from it, the same scenario exists with football in Germany. “There is no solution. It has to do with the excitement in Germany about hockey and that is not given because football is above everything and too big and all the money goes into it and makes difficult for our sport to grow,” he said.
The German said all he can do is to keep performing and hope situation changes one day. “You just have to take small steps and keep performing at top level and then maybe one day we get a shot,” he added.
When asked whether starting a league similar to HIl in Germany might help, Furste does not think so.
“We can’t start (a league like HIl) because no one will be interested. No TV will show any games,” he explained.
He hoped other sports might benefit if Hamburg had competed to host the 2024 Olympics, but it is not going to happen either as the German city later pulled out of the running.
“I was really disappointed about it. I think Hamburg missed a great chance for other sports to grow besides football because a lot of money would have been invested in sports and it would have helped,” he explained.