Hockey stars leave national camp for World Series Hockey

The helplessness on the hockey players’ face was apparent. On one hand, they were happy to be a part of a tournament that promises them financial security. On the other, there was this underlying fear of facing stern disciplinary action from the national federation for blatantly disobeying their orders.

So, even as national team members Sardara Singh, Arjun Halappa, Adrian D’Souza and Prabhjot Singh smilingly shared the dais on Thursday to be unveiled as the captains of four of the eight World Series Hockey (WSH) franchises, they knew of the hassles they would face once they return to the ongoing national camp in Bangalore on Friday.

WSH is a property supported by HI’s rival body, Indian Hockey Federation (IHF), and hence, has strongly been objecting to the players taking part in this event.

The quartet, along with drag-flicker Sandeep Singh, left the camp at the SAI South Centre in Bangalore on Wednesday evening to be present at the WSH announcement in Mumbai without obtaining the required permission from Hockey India. HI is considering this as a breach of the code of conduct set by them, and will now decide whether to take any action against the players.

HI’s development committee chairman Pargat Singh said he will recommend the national body to take strict action against the players. “What they have done is wrong. They weren’t given the permission to leave the camp. Disciplinary action will be taken against them,” he said.

The players, though worried, said they did what they felt was right.

“What can we do? We are here just to play hockey. The federations need to sort out their problem,” said one of them. “We had given them a letter asking for permission but they didn’t reply. Hence, we left.”

It is learnt that even SAI is mulling some kind of action against the players, considering that the players left the SAI campus without informing the officials. Organisers said they had reached an agreement with the International Hockey Federation (FIH), who threatened action against players who participated in WSH without obtaining a no-objection certificate from their national board.

“We met (FIH president Leandro) Negre and he said no action will be taken against players who have signed the contract before March 31, 2011. We had brought all players on board before that,” Nimbus chairman Harish Thawani said.

Meanwhile, the tournament organisers announced the inaugural edition will take place from December 15 to January 22. That means, it will begin four days after the Champions Trophy and conclude a couple of days before the preparatory camp for the Olympic qualifiers.

Many fear the fatigue factor will impact India’s performance in the qualifiers, but former Australian star Brent Livermore dismissed those concerns. “A player needs two days to recover. In fact, it is good that players will be in action throughout that period as they will remain match fit for the qualifiers. It should help India more than having a negative impact,” Livermore, who will captain one of the eight franchises, said.