World Cup victory in 1975 (Picture by Hockey India, olympics.com)
The theme of Durga Puja for BAF is 80s & 90s. So, when the creative EC was literally pestering me for a write up, I thought what could be more appropriate to write about than Indian hockey and it’s journey from 1980 until now. Since a vast majority of the present BAF members were born in the 80s & 90s, this would give them a glimpse of how Indian Hockey revived itself from a trough and shaped its upward trajectory to claim its present place in the world.
We are already aware of the golden history of Indian hockey which started in 1928 with Amsterdam Olympics. After five continuous golds from 1928 to 1956, the winning streak was halted by none other than arch-rival-Pakistan in 1960 at Rome Olympics where India lost to a solitary goal. Nevertheless, until 1980, India still managed to achieve some success with two more golds, two bronze medals and its maiden world cup victory in 1975 at Kuala Lumpur.
Thereafter, started the downfall of the Indian Hockey team as the surface of the game was changed from grass to astroturf. India being a nation with other priorities succumbed to European imperialism in the field of hockey. The grass-root players had neither access to infrastructure of astroturf nor did they have the nutrition to stand out against powerful physical hockey needed to succeed on those surfaces. Thus, skill was replaced with pace and technique was replaced with strength required in penalty corner conversions.
There were a few players in Md. Shahid, Pargat Singh & Dhanraj Pillay who stood out, but the overall team could not stand up to the new demands of the game & generally started and continued to figure in the lower half of the table, hovering around the 6th-12th position in the medal tally. It reached a nadir when the team even failed to qualify for the Beijing Olympics, 2008.
When things were looking bleak with no sponsors available to invest, Mr. Naveen Patnaik, the then Orissa Chief Minister was a god-sent messiah for Hockey India. His love for the game originated from his younger days in Doon school. The Government of Orissa under Patnaik´s leadership provided Hockey India with much needed boost by building two world-class stadiums in Rourkela and Bhubaneshwar, with robust camps and state-of-the-art facilities, for players.
The results started pouring in at Tokyo Olympics, 2021 with India winning its 1st medal after a gap of 41 years. It repeated the commendable feat in 2024 at Paris. Although the team won bronze, however with a bit of luck, the colour of the medal could have easily changed. With renewed enthusiasm and vigour, Indian Hockey is now featuring in the top half of world hockey rankings, with very little difference in margins from the top team. Hopefully, with luck on its side, the Indian Hockey team would be able to reclaim its past glory soon.
While cricket showcases the aspirations of upper middle class of the society, Hockey is the true representation of the masses. Players come from very humble backgrounds. When such players achieve success at competitive world levels, it indicates that India as a country is now ready to compete with the world and achieve success at global events.
Asia Cup victory in 2025 (Picture by socialbuzz.in)