Indian hockey’s poor administration – Just weeks after guiding India to its historic gold medal at the Asian Games, Oz coach Terry Walsh has resigned as chief hockey coach.
After the highs at Incheon, Indian Hockey has gone to a terrible low! Just weeks after guiding India to its historic gold medal at the Asian Games, Oz coach Terry Walsh has resigned as chief hockey coach.
According to an email sent by Hockey India president Narinder Batra, Walsh forwarded his resignation to the Sports Authority of India (SAI) with whom he was contracted. The crux of the matter behind Walsh’s walk away is the payment issues with the same.
In a letter dated October 19, Terry Walsh wrote, “I am finding considerable difficulty adjusting to the decision making style of the sporting bureaucracy in India which I believe, in the long term, is not in the best interests of Indian hockey or its players. In addition to my difficulties with not being able to professionally operate within these bureaucratic confines I am not willing to continue with the constant time away from my family in Australia. My current commitment places too much stress on my personal life.”
All was going absolutely inch perfect for Indian hockey with the latest feat coming from the young turks who clinced the Sultan Johor Cup beating Great Britain 2-1 in the Finals. More was promised from Indian hockey as the Men In Blue will be also participating in the Rio Olympics and more so, with the upcoming FIH Champions Trophy on the horizon, Terry Walsh was in full swing to prepare the gold medal winners.
Sports Minister Sarbananda Sonowal has promised action into this incident but it’s too late for it. Such apathy in the Indian hockey federation shows how in freefall our administrators are running the business. Even with our boys doing all the ‘business’ on the field, the men who run the action, are not such trustworthy at all!
Hockey India’s High Performance Director Roelant Oltmans hoped that things would be sorted out between Walsh and his employer so as to pave the way for the Australian’s stay till 2016 Olympics.
In a statement to the press he said, “I am sad about it because we have really grouped together well in the past one year. There was real improvement in the performance of the team. I would like Terry to continue but he has his personal reasons to do what he has done and in the end you have to respect that. We started certain processes and that should continue. I am still hopeful that negotiations will lead to Terry’s stay till Rio,” the legendary Dutchman added.
But Walsh’s contract officially expires on November 19 this year, but his surprised resignation raises eyebrows in and around Indian Hockey administrators.
