Read More: The Sreejesh Paradox: Why India’s Most Successful Junior Coach Was Passed Over for a Foreign Vision

White guided Belgium U21 women to bronze at the 2025 Junior World Cup. He was part of the Belgium senior staff that took the women from 12th to 3rd in the world. They reached the Paris 2024 semi-finals. Soyez has coached at three Olympics. He won Junior World Cup silver with France in 2013 and spent seven years building Spain into a European force. White is also not an unfamiliar face in India. He coached the Accord Tamil Nadu Dragons in HIL Season 2 before taking up this role.

Hockey India has recruited well. Both appointments carry a clear mandate. Build a pipeline. Develop players who can bridge to the senior team. Prepare for India’s 2036 Olympic bid, with Ahmedabad as the proposed host city. However, the structure for Indian junior hockey today does not match the ambition.

How Does the Calendar Look Today?

In 2026, both junior teams have one confirmed tournament. The Junior Asia Cup in Moqi, China. The Sultan of Johor Cup for the men has not been announced yet. The women’s side has no invitational tournament equivalent. That is the reality facing two coaches who have just arrived with a mandate to build towards 2027.

This is not unusual, it is the pattern. In World Cup years, both teams play four to six tournaments. In non-World Cup years, that drops to one or two. Sometimes just one.

*As of May 2026. 2020 not captured as hockey was impacted by Covid.

The next Junior World Cup is in 2027. Six months remain in 2026 and both programmes have one tournament confirmed. That is not a preparation calendar. That is a holding pattern.

The Investment

Hockey India has not disclosed what Soyez and White are being paid. But Craig Fulton’s salary provides useful context. Fulton is the highest paid foreign coach engaged by any National Sports Federation in India. He earns Euro 24,286 per month. That figure was confirmed through a Rajya Sabha reply in December 2025. Even if they earn one third of Fulton’s salary, that is approximately Rs 8.10 lakh per month per coach. This takes Rs 100 to the euro as a working average.

Foreign coaches earn far more than Indian coaches in hockey. That gap is well documented and goes beyond any single appointment. An Indian coach at the top of the system earns between Rs 2.25 and Rs 2.50 lakh per month. A mid-level Indian coach earns around Rs 1 lakh. If Hockey India had appointed Indian coaches to both junior roles, the combined monthly outlay would likely have been under Rs 5 lakh.

The federation has chosen to go foreign. The credentials of these coaches justify that call. But it makes the question of competitive exposure more pointed. You cannot justify the spend on the coaches without also justifying the spend on giving them something to work with.

This is not an argument against paying Soyez and White well. Both are experienced coaches who should command competitive salaries. The question is simpler. If Hockey India is spending big on coaches, the calendar has to reflect that ambition. One confirmed tournament per programme in 2026 is not a return on that investment. It is a wasted opportunity.

The Structure Gap and What Can Be Done

The senior men’s team has the FIH Pro League. Roughly 16 home and away matches against the world’s best sides every season. The junior teams have nothing close to that. The gap is not just between senior and junior hockey in India. It is between how Indian junior players build competitive experience and how their European counterparts do it.

A Dutch or Belgian junior player at a top club plays 30 to 40 competitive matches in a season before reaching a national camp. European junior players arrive at tournaments match sharp because their club seasons demand it. Indian junior players do not have that. Soyez and White know what a match-ready player looks like. They will notice the difference quickly.

Extend the HIL roster for junior players

Hockey India could ask each HIL franchise to field at least three junior players. The cost would be split between Hockey India and the franchise. Junior players would not command significant salaries unless exceptional. That makes this a low-cost addition for franchises. Junior players get competitive HIL exposure. Soyez and White get players who arrive at national camps having played real hockey, not just practised it.

Build more MoUs on the Australia model

IIndia and Australia already have a framework for bilateral matches at senior and junior level. The current U-18 Australian men’s and women’s teams are in India for matches. The senior sides have also toured each other ahead of major tournaments. Hockey India should now look to build similar arrangements with New Zealand, South Africa, and Argentina. None of these countries have strong domestic structures. Many of their players are based in European club competitions. Guaranteed fixtures serve both sides. Their teams get competitive matches outside Europe. India gets intensity of playing against physical, well-coached opposition.

Revive the Australian Hockey League model

India junior men entered the Australian Hockey League as a team in 2016 and 2017. Hockey One League replaced it and already has an appetite for international involvement. The MoU with Australia makes this a conversation worth having, either as a team entry or as individual players picked up by clubs.

Inter-squad domestic tournaments

Cricket in India runs A, B, and C team tournaments that mix first-choice, development, and junior players. Junior players get quality exposure without international travel. Hockey has national championships domestically, and last year saw national team players take part for the first time. But Soyez and White are not connected to that domestic structure. An India A versus India B format, run by the junior coaches, gives them match-sharp players. It gives fringe players a real pathway.

None of this requires a structural overhaul. It requires Hockey India to be more deliberate with what it already has.

Soyez and White are good appointments. But credentials alone do not build a junior programme. Hockey India has made the announcements. Now it needs to build the structure that gives these coaches a real chance to deliver.

2026 is a big year for Indian hockey. Nations Cup. World Cup. Asian Games. A lot can go right. A lot can go wrong. Subscribe to the Give Me Hockey newsletter and follow every step of it.

The post Why Hiring Tim White and Frederic Soyez is Only a Half-Battle first appeared on Give Me Hockey.

Sreejesh came back with sharper questions. Hockey India offered him a role coaching the development squad. He asked who the players were, what the structure was, what camps were planned, what tournaments they were preparing for. Hockey India has not responded to his latest post on social media website X.

Read More: The Sreejesh Paradox: Why India’s Most Successful Junior Coach Was Passed Over for a Foreign Vision

Hockey India named Sardar Singh as coach of the developmental squad, ideally to prepare the India A side for the Commonwealth Games. He ended up coaching the India A developmental squad at the Asia Cup in May 2022, where they finished third. After that, nothing. No matches, no camps, no updates.

Sardar moved to Hockey 5s in August 2023, then to the U17 side for a Netherlands tour in October 2023, then back to coach the Hockey 5s World Cup in January 2024. The developmental squad has not played since May 2022. Hockey India offered Sreejesh a role in that programme. Is this a functioning structure or one being dusted off because Hockey India needed somewhere to put him?

Sreejesh also shared the numbers. Four teams. Six foreign coaches. Three foreign strength and conditioning coaches. One foreign video analyst. Two visiting foreign goalkeeper coaches. One visiting foreign sports psychologist. His question was simple. Can Indian coaches develop Indian hockey?

Was the Appointment Ever Logical?

Sreejesh’s appointment as coach of India’s junior team was nothing less than a surprise. There is no doubt about his on-field credentials and we are in no way questioning that. However, Sreejesh had just won his second Olympic medal in Paris. He retired immediately after, they retired his jersey number in a ceremony, and within the same breath Hockey India appointed him chief coach of the junior men’s team.

CR Kumar had been coaching the junior men’s side through the Sultan of Johor Cup and Junior World Cup 2023. What did he do wrong? Was there a review, a process, a reason given for the change? Hockey India made none of that public. At no point during this entire sequence did anyone publicly ask what Sreejesh’s coaching credentials were. Was this a coaching appointment or a farewell gift that came with a job attached?

The Mentorship Programme and What It Produced

Read More: Hockey India’s New Coaching Mentorship Program Could Be a Gamechanger

In 2025, Hockey India launched a coaching mentorship programme. The stated goal was to build an Indian coaching pipeline, give experienced domestic coaches exposure to top level methods, and reduce long term dependence on foreign coaches. Eight Indian coaches, all holding FIH Level 3 certification, shadowed Craig Fulton and Harendra Singh during national camps. It was a promising idea on paper.

But the timing raises questions. Sreejesh was the sitting junior men’s chief coach when the programme ran. He holds Level 3. Was he part of it? If he was not included, a coach at national level was left outside a programme designed specifically to develop coaches at that level. If he was included, why has nobody said so? Either way, Hockey India has not connected the programme to the people it was supposed to benefit.

And who were the eight coaches? Hockey India has not published their names. We do not know what level they were coaching at before the programme, what they were coached on, or where they went after. A mentorship programme should have measurable outcomes. Did Hockey India set targets for what these coaches would go on to achieve? Were they tracked? Did they publish it? None of that is in the public domain. A programme with no names, no outcomes, and no accountability is not a pipeline. It is a gesture.

Does that work or do you want to push any of these points further?

The Results Were There

The results were there. Four podiums from five events. A Junior Asia Cup gold. A Junior World Cup bronze on home soil. India finished on the podium in every medal tournament Sreejesh coached. Sreejesh has done great as a coach in the limited time had with the team.

The bronze medal match against Argentina told its own story. India trailed 2-0 with eleven minutes left. They scored four times to win. A team that does that has not just been prepared tactically. They have been prepared physically and mentally to keep going when the game is against them.

This is something the senior men’s team does consistently under Craig Fulton. They stay fresh in Q4 and when they get going, they give opponents no breathing space. If the junior team was already playing the same way, that culture was filtering down from the senior setup. Which raises a fair question. If Fulton’s philosophy was already reaching the junior players, what exactly would a foreign junior coach add that was not already there?

The 2018 Question and What Follows From It

Sreejesh’s words from 2018 stay with me every time I read his name alongside the word coaching. When Marijne was coaching the senior men, Sreejesh pushed back hard against the player-driven approach. He said the coach should show players where to walk, draw the picture first. If he coached his junior team the same way, then Fulton’s preference for a foreign coach starts to make sense. A coach who believes players need to be led rather than empowered is not building the kind of autonomous, decision-making culture modern hockey demands.

Marijne said it himself in 2018. Getting Indian players to unlearn habits from childhood and adopt a different way of playing is hard work.

Whether Sreejesh carried those beliefs into his coaching is something only those inside the camp would know. Hockey has changed rapidly. Players now take more decisions on their own, read situations in real time, and are expected to solve problems without waiting to be told. Did his approach as a coach reflect what he said as a player in 2018? And if it did, did that cost him the job?

The High Performance Director Problem

The HPD job description Hockey India published this week makes the role clear. The HPD sets targets and KPIs for all national teams, oversees coaching development, manages the pipeline from grassroots to senior level, and implements the high performance strategy across all age groups. It is the most important non-coaching role in Indian hockey.

David John held the position from 2016 until he resigned in August 2020. He spent much of his tenure in the dugout alongside the head coach. His reasoning for appointing Marijne as men’s coach in 2017 was that Marijne understood Indian culture after six months with the women’s team. Eight months later, Sreejesh and senior players were complaining that Marijne’s methods did not work for Indian players. That is not a vision. That is improvisation.

Hockey India then appointed Herman Kruis as HPD in January 2024, a contract that ran only until September 2024. Since then, the position has been vacant. A functioning HPD would have assessed whether Sreejesh was the right appointment, ensured he met the required coaching standards, and if the decision was still to go with him, built the support structure around him. Whether Fulton expressed a preference for a foreign coach or not, that is a conversation an HPD should have been part of. Instead, that position sat empty through the entire period in question.

The application deadline for the new HPD was today, May 15, 2026.

Read More: The Federation Is Not the Dressing Room, Part 2: What Hockey India Own Documents Reveal

The Question That Remains

The Sreejesh and Hockey India public dispute has opened a can of worms that goes well beyond one contract. Was the decision to appoint Sreejesh correct in the first place? If yes, then looking at his results, was the decision not to offer him a renewal fair? What happened to the mentorship programme and what did it produce? Why has the HPD position been vacant since September 2024 and what has Indian hockey lost because of it?

And then there is this. Hockey India’s own website lists 337 Level 1 certified coaches, 54 Level 2, 80 FIH Academy Level 1, 57 FIH Academy Level 2, 74 FIH Academy Level 3, and 4 FIH Academy Level 4. Over 600 certified Indian coaches. Where are they? What are they coaching? What support are they getting to reach the next level?

Sreejesh asked whether Indian coaches can develop Indian hockey. The answer is not in the argument between him and Hockey India. It is in those numbers.

Before You Go

If stories like this matter to you, subscribe to Give Me Hockey on Substack.

Indian hockey needs more than score updates and press releases. It needs scrutiny, context, memory, and difficult conversations about where the sport is actually heading.

That is what Give Me Hockey is trying to build through long-form reporting, analysis, and independent coverage focused entirely on hockey.

Correction: An earlier version of this article stated that Sreejesh’s FIH coaching qualifications were not public. Hockey India’s records confirm he holds an FIH Level 3 coaching badge. The article has also been updated to correctly reflect FIH’s Coaching Education Pathway, which has four levels: Level 1, Level 2, Level 3, and High Performance. Both sections have been updated accordingly.

The post The Sreejesh-Hockey India Dispute Is About More Than Just One Coaching Job first appeared on Give Me Hockey.

Two days later, a different Indian side turned up. One that looked deflated, out of ideas, and tired. India faced England and could not score. 0-0.

January 19. Wales. A minnow side. India led 2-0 and looked comfortable. Then Wales scored twice in the 43rd and 45th minutes to level it at 2-2. India eventually won 4-2, with Akashdeep scoring in the 46th minute and Harmanpreet in the 60th. But the warning signs were there.

January 22. The crossover. New Zealand, a team that had won only one of their three group games. India led 3-1 with nine minutes left. Lalit had scored in the 18th minute. Sukhjeet in the 25th. Varun in the 41st. The quarterfinals felt inevitable.

Then Lane scored in the 29th minute. Russell equalled the 44th. Findlay in the 50th. 3-3. Penalties. India were knocked out.

The team that had beaten Spain on day one could not hold a two-goal lead against a side that barely qualified for the crossover round. Nine days. Four matches. The sharpness that was there on January 13 was gone by January 22.

While Indian fans have been calling this pressure or the inability to hold their nerves, there is another aspect that we fail to grasp. Peaking at the right time. And understanding it might be the most important thing Craig Fulton does between now and August 15.

What Peaking Actually Means

Peaking is not something a coach talks a team into. It is something the body goes through. Tudor Bompa, one of the world’s leading sports scientists and author of the coaching manual published by World Rowing’s FISA development programme, defines it precisely. Peaking is a temporary state of training produced when physical and psychological elements are maximised and when technical and tactical preparation are optimal. It is not something that happens by accident. It is planned, sequenced, and timed.

In plain terms: there is a window when a team is at its absolute best. The job of a coach is to make sure that window opens at the right tournament, not three months before it.

The key word in Bompa’s definition is temporary. An athlete or a team cannot sustain peak performance indefinitely. The body does not work that way. What Bompa calls the overcompensation cycle explains why. Hard training breaks the body down. Recovery allows it to rebuild, and crucially, to rebuild higher than before. That rebuilt state is the peak. But if competition demands keep coming before recovery is complete, the body never reaches that higher state. It stays flat, or starts to decline. The team looks the same from the outside. Inside, they have already given their best.

Read More: India’s Big Call: Chase World Cup Glory or Secure Olympic Qualification?

What the Research Shows

James Hillier, former National Coach for England Athletics and now Athletics Director at the Reliance Foundation, puts it directly. “Peaking starts on the first day of training, not a week before competition,” he told Scroll.in. “I have always been a big advocate of less is more in the period before a major competition. A lot of people make the mistake of doing too much before the big competitions. It is a very common mistake.”

Bompa goes further with a specific number that is directly relevant to Indian hockey right now. Studies of elite athletes show that seven to ten competitions are enough to reach a high state of readiness for a major tournament. More than that and the risk of declining performance before the main event increases significantly. The longer the phase of weekly competitions, Bompa writes, the lower the probability of duplicating high results.

Eight Pro League matches. June 14 to June 28. That number is not a coincidence. It sits exactly within the optimal range.

Read More: The Federation Is Not the Dressing Room, Part 2: What Hockey India Own Documents Reveal

FIH Hockey World Cup 2018: When India Got It Wrong

In June 2018, India finished second at the Champions Trophy in Breda, Netherlands. It was one of their best results in years against top international opposition. The momentum felt real. The confidence was genuine.

What followed was a compressed, brutal schedule. Asian Games in Jakarta in August. World Cup in Bhubaneswar in November. Three major tournaments in six months, each treated as a must-win, each demanding peak output from the same group of players.

At the FIH Hockey World Cup, India topped their group above Belgium, who went on to win the entire tournament. India and Belgium finished level on points. That is not a team that has lost its way tactically. That is a team performing at a very high level in the group stage. Then they lost to the Netherlands in the quarterfinals and went home.

Apply Bompa’s framework and the picture becomes clear. India had been in high-intensity competitive mode since June. By November, the overcompensation cycle had no room to work. The body was not rebuilding between tournaments. It was just coping. The peak had come and gone months before the World Cup arrived.

FIH Hockey World Cup 2023: The Same Mistake, Different Year

The 2023 FIH Hockey World Cup was on home soil. India had the venues, the crowd, the preparation time. What they also had was an eleven-match block in the two months directly before it.

In late October and early November, India hosted six Pro League matches in Bhubaneswar against New Zealand and Spain. Competitive matches, home crowd, high intensity. Then in late November and early December, India toured Australia for five test matches in Adelaide. They lost four of the five. But look at the scorelines. 5-4, 7-4, 3-4, 5-1, 5-4. These were not comfortable defeats. These were physically brutal, high-scoring, end-to-end matches against the world’s best side. The kind of matches that take something out of you even when you win.

By the time the World Cup arrived in January 2023, India had been in high-intensity competition mode since October. Eleven matches in two months. Bompa’s warning about the declining probability of high results after a long competitive phase was not abstract. India had lived it. You saw it in how they played against England on January 15. You saw it again against New Zealand on January 22.

Tokyo Olympics 2021: When Circumstance Forced the Right Approach

Tokyo 2021 was different for a reason nobody would have chosen. Covid eliminated the competitive calendar entirely. India could not tour. They could not play international matches. They trained in a bio-bubble in Bengaluru, separated from the world, preparing without the competitive rhythm that coaches normally rely on.

And then they beat Great Britain 3-1 in the Olympic quarterfinals. The result which gave hope to India for the first time in decades.

The bio-bubble preparation forced exactly what Bompa’s science recommends. A long build-up without the accumulated fatigue of a heavy competition schedule. The body had time to reach overcompensation. The team arrived at Tokyo not spent from months of back-to-back tournaments but genuinely fresh, with the physical and psychological capacity to produce something special when it mattered most.

It was not planned that way. But it worked that way. And that distinction matters enormously for what comes next.

Paris Olympics 2024: When Fulton Got It Right

Before the Paris Olympics, India’s preparation results were poor by any measure. They lost all five test matches in Australia. At the Four Nations in South Africa, results were mixed. At the Five Nations in late 2023, they did poorly. Every conventional reading of that form said India were not ready.

But Craig Fulton was not chasing results in those tournaments. He was managing load, rotating combinations, testing players under competitive pressure without demanding peak output. The intent was never to win in Australia or South Africa. The intent was to arrive at Paris at the right point on the curve.

In Paris, India beat Australia 3-2 in group stages. A match that still gives goosebumps. India ended up winning bronze at the Paris Olympics, beating Spain 2-1 in the bronze medal match.

That sequence, poor preparation results followed by a major tournament performance, is not a coincidence. It is what deliberate peaking looks like from the outside when you do not understand what the coach is actually doing. Fulton understood the difference between preparation form and tournament readiness. Paris proved it.

An Appeal: If you do not want to miss pieces like this, subscribe to the givemehockey.com mailing list. Every article lands directly in your inbox.

FIH Hockey World Cup 2026: What Fulton May Be Looking To Do

India’s Pro League form across the last two seasons looks alarming on paper. Winless across multiple matches, sitting eighth in the current standings. The instinct is to treat this as a crisis.

The current Pro League winless run needs to be read through the same lens as Paris 2024. Is this genuine decline or deliberate preparation management? The honest answer is that from the outside, it is impossible to know with certainty. What we can say is that the pattern fits. A coach who managed the Paris preparation correctly is capable of doing the same for the World Cup.

The eight Pro League matches in Rotterdam and London, June 14 to June 28, are not results to be won. They are the competition block that Bompa’s research says is exactly the right number to reach peak readiness. The question is whether Fulton uses them to find answers about midfield combinations and penalty corner structures, rather than chasing points in a standings table where India cannot realistically compete for the title.

Sometime after the Paris Olympics, I had a conversation with K Arumugam, one of India’s most respected hockey writers. We were discussing the 2026 World Cup and what Fulton’s preparation might look like. We both came back to the same point. Before Paris, the form was worrying. It did not look like a team ready to win a bronze medal. Then they did. Now, looking at the Pro League results, the pattern looks familiar. Is Fulton doing the same thing again? Is this the Paris preparation repeating itself? That is the question neither of us could answer with certainty. But we both knew it was worth asking.

Read More: Men’s FIH Hockey World Cup 2026 Schedule: Full Fixtures, Groups and India Match Dates

What August 15 Will Tell Us

Peaking at the right moment is not a mystery. It is a decision. A coaching decision made months before the tournament, through every training session, every competition selected, every player rotation, every time a coach chooses to rest rather than push.

India have got this wrong before. FIH Hockey World Cup 2018 showed what happens when you peak too early. 2023 showed what happens when the competitive load runs too long. Tokyo and Paris showed what happens when the approach is right, whether by design or by circumstance.

Fulton has eight matches in June and 48 days after them before the World Cup opens. How he uses both will tell us everything about whether India arrive in Amstelveen at the top of their curve or past it.

The tournament does not care about Pro League standings or preparation results. It only cares about what a team produces on the day that matters. For India, that day is August 15.

This is an opinion piece. The views expressed are those of the author. References: Tudor Bompa, Peaking for the Major Competition, FISA Coaching Development Programme. Ernest Maglischo, The Taper Period, FISA Coaching Development Programme. James Hillier interview, Scroll.in.

The post Peaking at the Right Moment: The One Thing That Will Define India at the 2026 FIH Hockey World Cup first appeared on Give Me Hockey.

In case you missed it, read Part 1 here: The Federation Is Not the Dressing Room: Why Hockey India Needs Professional Administration

Part 2 goes deeper. Because the problem is not just about who sits in the chair. It is about the system that puts them there, keeps them there, and never once asks what they have done with the power. Hockey India’s own documents, its annual reports, its AGM minutes, its court records, tell that story better than any opinion piece can.

Who Is in the Chair and What Do They Bring to It

What does the president of a national sports federation actually need to do? Build commercial partnerships. Drive revenue independence. Set strategic direction. Manage relationships with government, sponsors, and the international federation. These are the demands of the role.

Dilip Tirkey is one of India’s greatest hockey players. 412 caps, three Olympics, Asian Games gold in 1998. After retirement, he moved into politics. Rajya Sabha MP representing Biju Janata Dal, Lok Sabha candidate, Chairman of Odisha Tourism Development Corporation. That is his post-hockey background. He is now president of Hockey India.

Tirkey has vast hockey knowledge. He knows what players need. He understands what the game demands at the highest level. That knowledge genuinely belongs in Indian hockey, in a high performance committee, an athlete welfare board, or in a role where his experience shapes how players are developed and supported. The question is whether that background matches what the president’s role actually demands. Administrative capability, commercial vision, governance experience. What does his track record show in those areas?

Now look at the secretary general’s role. Operational management, financial oversight, legal compliance, day to day governance. Bhola Nath Singh is a wrestling coach from Jharkhand who served as vice president of the Wrestling Federation of India and president of Jharkhand’s wrestling and hockey bodies. He is now the secretary general of Hockey India, the most powerful operational role in Indian hockey. What does his background bring to those specific demands?

These are not personal questions. They are job description questions. And they are questions that the system never asks before putting people in these roles.

Elections That Produce No Vision

Hockey India conducts elections. There is a returning officer. Official documents are published. Nomination forms, bylaws, objection processes, all of it is there. On paper, the process is followed correctly.

What is missing is the most important thing. What does the person standing for election actually want to do? There is no manifesto. No vision document. No public agenda. State federation representatives vote without knowing what they are voting for. They know who is contesting. They do not know why.

In the 2022 elections, one candidate filed nominations for multiple posts. Not one post, multiple. The question that raises is simple. Are you fighting these elections to serve a specific role, with a specific vision for what that role should achieve? Or are you fighting to make sure you are in the room, in some capacity, regardless of which room it is?

What emerged from those elections was not a contest of ideas. It was one group replacing another. And when elections are a contest of factions rather than ideas, nothing changes for the sport. The chair changes hands. The system stays exactly where it was.

Read More: India’s Big Call: Chase World Cup Glory or Secure Olympic Qualification?

Power With No Accountability

As we discussed in Part 1, the secretary general holds the real operational power in most Indian sports federations, not the president. That structure is not unique to Hockey India. But what Part 1 did not go into is the cost of that power having no checks around it.

The numbers tell that story. According to data compiled by sports law experts and reported by The Indian Express in March 2025, approximately 770 lawsuits related to sports and sporting bodies have been filed since 2015, at different stages across courts and central tribunals in India. Of these, 462 are in High Courts and 22 in the Supreme Court. Vidushpat Singhania, managing partner of sports law firm Krida Legal, described it plainly: literally every federation is in dispute. The All India Football Federation alone spent Rs 3 crore fighting legal cases.

Hockey India’s legal and professional fees, Rs 3.23 crore in FY 2023-24 and Rs 1.30 crore in FY 2024-25, are not an outlier. They are a symptom of a system that has no internal mechanism to resolve disputes before they reach courts. No board sets annual goals for the secretary general. KPIs are never measured at the end of the year. No performance review happens against published targets. When one role holds all operational power and answers to no formal accountability structure, courts end up doing the job that governance should be doing. And every rupee spent on legal fees is a rupee not spent on developing the sport.

What Hockey India Documents Actually Show

Hockey India’s 2024-25 annual report runs to 198 pages. It covers every tournament played, every tour conducted, every award given, every coaching course completed, every player who debuted, every player who retired, every camp held. It is a detailed record of activity. What it does not contain is a single forward looking target. No commercial revenue objective. No framework against which the administration will measure itself in the coming year. 198 pages, all looking backwards.

What Are Others Doing

The KNHB in the Netherlands publishes an annual plan alongside its financial accounts. Their 2026 plan sets a 7.5% growth target for the youngest youth segment, a 10% growth target for seniors aged 35 to 45, and a 2.5% reduction target for churn among players aged 16 to 24. Every target has a percentage. Every percentage will be measured and reported the following year. Hockey Australia’s 2025 Strategic Plan fits on one page. Vision, pillars, measurable focus areas, LA 2028 named as a goal with milestones.

England Hockey reported income of £11.4 million with year on year comparison, explained a deficit of £182,000 with a recovery plan, and presented a Channel 4 broadcast deal covering 42 matches that generated 700,000 live views as a commercial outcome.

Hockey India’s AGM in July 2025 tells the same story. Nine agenda items. The majority consumed by political disputes. The Delhi Hockey disaffiliation. The Mahesh Dayal petitions. The Vice President vacancy. Telangana Hockey’s communications. Recovery proceedings against a former president. Not a single agenda item about the future of the sport. No strategic goal for the coming year. Not a mention about commercial target. No membership plan. Nothing.

The KNHB’s November 2025 AGM discussed the annual plan and budget for 2026 with specific percentage targets for every membership segment, reported a club satisfaction survey result of 6.6 out of 10 openly, and committed to an action plan to improve it. A federation voluntarily telling its members it scored 6.6 out of 10 and here is what it will do about it. That is what accountability looks like from the inside.

What All of This Produces

Hockey India called the Hockey India League a success. Three teams did not make it to Season 2. UP Rudras withdrew citing financial concerns. Team Gonasika cited personal reasons. Odisha Warriors pulled out of the women’s league with reports of difficulty paying players. This does not look like success, in any way.

The metric being used is social media impressions. Billions of impressions for the entire tournament. India has 1.4 billion people. YouTube views for matches were sitting in the 30,000 to 50,000 range. This is a tournament with players from across the world. Social media impressions are not a success metric unless it caters to a new target audience. In this ecosystem, it does not mean success.

Read More: From Telegram to Instagram: Indian Hockey Still Has a Visibility Problem

The HIL is Indian hockey’s flagship competition. It should be the clearest demonstration of what the federation can build commercially and administratively. Instead it raises questions that the federation has not answered publicly. This is what happens when there are no KPIs, no accountability framework, and no one measuring outcomes against targets. Brownie points replace real metrics. Activity replaces results.

When the Courts Have to Step In

On April 20, 2026, the Delhi High Court delivered its judgment in CONT.CAS(C) 1119/2025. Justice Purushaindra Kumar Kaurav found Hockey India and its Secretary General Bhola Nath Singh guilty of civil contempt of court.

The case connects to W.P.(C) 613/2025, a writ petition challenging whether Singh is even eligible to hold office under the tenure and age restrictions of the National Sports Development Code of India, 2011. That eligibility case is still pending. What the contempt ruling addressed was something far simpler. The court had issued an interim direction: provide meeting links to an elected Vice President so they could attend Hockey India meetings. A basic administrative instruction.

It was ignored. Not once. Twice.

The court found the disobedience to be conscious, concerted, deliberate, and wilful. An apology was eventually filed, approximately 250 days after the original direction. The court noted it lacked genuine remorse. Sentencing is scheduled for May 4, 2026.

Bhola Nath Singh is named here because the court named him. Not for any other reason. The point is not personal. The point is what this sequence reveals about the system. A court order was issued. It was ignored twice. An apology came 250 days later. The accountability that should have existed inside the federation was so absent that a court had to enforce a basic governance instruction. And even then, it did not come voluntarily.

The Sports Code

The Sports Code exists to prevent exactly this. It mandates tenure limits, age restrictions, athlete representation, transparency standards. The framework is there. What is missing is the will to enforce it from the inside. When that will does not exist, courts end up doing the job that governance should be doing. Nine cases filed against Hockey India in Delhi High Court in 2025 alone. Legal and professional fees of Rs 3.23 crore in FY 2023-24 and Rs 1.30 crore in FY 2024-25. Is this the right use of federations funds?

The Questions Nobody Is Asking Hockey India

Indian hockey on the field is in a good place. The results are real. The talent pipeline is real. None of that is in question.

But at some point, Indian hockey needs to stop and ask some basic questions. What is the actual role of a national sports federation? Is it to conduct elections, organise tournaments, and issue press releases about social media impressions? Or is it to grow the sport, build commercial independence, develop the next generation, and be genuinely accountable to its members?

What does governance actually mean here? Does it mean one role holding all operational power with no board setting goals and no framework measuring outcomes? Or does it mean published targets, annual accountability, and a structure that separates power from accountability?

What are elections for? To decide which group controls the federation? Or to give Indian hockey a leadership with a vision, a mandate, and the professional capability to deliver on it?

These are not complicated questions. Every successful hockey federation in the world has already answered them. The answers are sitting in their annual plans, their AGM minutes, their strategic documents. All of it is public. All of it is available.

The only question left is whether Indian hockey is willing to ask.

This is an opinion piece. The views expressed are those of the author. References: Delhi High Court judgment CONT.CAS(C) 1119/2025 dated April 20, 2026. Delhi High Court case records for Hockey India, 2025. KNHB Annual Plan 2026. Hockey Australia Strategic Plan 2025. England Hockey Annual Report 2024-25 and AGM Minutes March 2025. Hockey India Annual Report 2024-25 and 15th Congress Meeting Minutes July 2025.

An Appeal

Social media algorithms decide what you see and when you see it. Somewhere in that noise, this kind of writing gets buried. If Indian hockey governance matters to you, subscribing on Substack is the easiest way to support the work. Every piece lands directly in your mailbox.

The post The Federation Is Not the Dressing Room, Part 2: What Hockey India Own Documents Reveal first appeared on Give Me Hockey.

Hockey India’s current president Dilip Tirkey, a former India captain with 412 international caps and one of India’s finest defenders of his generation, is the president of Hockey India. He brings legitimacy, a clean image, and genuine love for the sport. What he has not brought, at least not visibly, is the kind of administrative and commercial capability that the federation actually needs.

Compare his tenure to that of Narinder Batra. Batra had serious controversies. The IOC eventually banned him. But whatever Batra’s failings as a person, he transformed what Hockey India was in the world. He silenced the retired-player commentary that had dogged Indian hockey for years, the kind where former stars would publicly second-guess every selection and every tour.

Under his watch Hockey India’s political standing in world hockey rose sharply. He became FIH president. India had a seat at the table in global hockey decisions in a way it had never had before. Batra understood how to work a system, how to build influence, how to make Hockey India a name that mattered in global sport. That is a specific skill and it has nothing to do with how many goals you scored.

A great player and a great administrator are two entirely different people. Confusing the two is a governance failure, not a compliment.

The Hockey India League Problem

The Hockey India League is the most visible test of the current administration’s capability. Bringing the league back after years away deserved every bit of celebration it got. The HIL in its original avatar was genuinely exciting and helped build a generation of Indian hockey fans. But bringing something back and building something sustainable are two very different things.

The questions that any competent sports administrator would ask from day one are: what does this league cost per season, what does it earn, what is the broadcast deal worth at the federation level, what is the franchise model and does it create self-sustaining stakeholders, and what does the five year vision look like? This is not a complicated question. They are basic business questions. And from everything that has been visible publicly, Hockey India has not answered them in any meaningful way.

Hockey India League 2.0 runs more on enthusiasm and government support rather than commercial discipline. It feels like the federation was more interested in the optics of bringing the league back than in understanding why it failed the first time.

Hockey India, like most Indian sports federations, remains heavily dependent on government funding. The Sports Authority of India, the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, state governments like Odisha that have invested heavily in the sport. Private revenue, the kind that makes a federation genuinely independent and sustainable, has not grown the way it should have under the current leadership. Running a federation is ultimately a business. And a business requires revenue that does not come from government handouts.

The Real Power and the Real Problem

There is another dimension to this that rarely gets discussed openly. In most federations, the president is not actually the person running day to day operations. The secretary general is. And when a federation has a ceremonial president who brings a famous name but limited administrative experience, the real power shifts entirely to the secretary general and the professional staff. This is not unique to Hockey India. The BCCI has operated similarly for years, with presidents serving largely ceremonial roles while the operational machinery runs through the secretary and the professional layer.

The problem is not that this structure exists. The problem is when the administrative layer running things is not accountable in the way it should be. When a senior Hockey India official publicly defends a coaching decision by citing his own background in a completely different sport as his qualification, that is not a governance structure working well. That is a governance structure that does not understand the difference between process and results. The federation’s job is to create conditions where the right people are in the right roles, coaches are appointed on merit, and decisions are made based on evidence. When administrative ego starts driving technical decisions, players and coaches pay the price.

What the Best Federations Actually Do

Look at the federations running the most successful hockey programmes in the world. The Netherlands, Australia, Belgium. In each case, former players are present in the system, but in technical roles. High performance directors, coaching pathway heads, selection committee members, athlete welfare advisors. Their experience is used where it is actually relevant: understanding what a player needs, what a training environment should look like, what it means to perform under pressure.

Professional sports administrators run the commercial and administrative machinery in each of these federations. The KNHB in the Netherlands is led by president Erik Klein Nagelvoort, a former international umpire and long-time partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers who owns a data marketing company. Hockey Australia’s CEO David Pryles came from Softball Australia, appointed specifically because the federation wanted someone with a proven commercial background. These are deliberate choices. People with backgrounds in sports business, broadcast negotiation, stakeholder management, financial planning. Not people who earned the role because of what they did on the pitch.

Belgium’s remarkable rise as a hockey nation is instructive here. It was not driven by a former Red Lion sitting in an administrative chair. It was driven by systematic investment in professional coaching structures, data analytics, and long term planning. That is an institutional capability, not a playing credential.

The National Sports Development Code of India, 2011, already mandates athlete representation on executive committees. That is the right structure. Athlete voice in the room matters. Players should have a seat at the table, input on selection philosophy, player welfare policies, and development pathways. But athlete voice in the room is very different from athlete at the head of the table by default, without the skills the role actually demands.

Read More: From Telegram to Instagram: Indian Hockey Still Has a Visibility Problem

Right Person, Right Role

This is not an argument against former players in administration. It is an argument for putting the right people in the right roles. A former player who has also built genuine administrative and commercial skills is exactly the kind of person you want running a federation. But the playing career alone is not the qualification. It has never been the qualification.

Hockey in India today is standing at an important juncture. The World Cup is coming. The Asian Games follow. LA 2028 is on the horizon. The HIL needs to become financially self-sufficient or it will remain a vanity project. The women’s team is rebuilding. The men’s team is trying to rediscover consistent form. All of this requires a federation that is run with commercial discipline, strategic clarity, and genuine accountability. And right now, that is exactly what is missing.

A great player does not automatically become a great administrator. The skills are almost entirely non-overlapping. What Indian hockey needs at the helm of its federation is not the most decorated name in the room. It is the most capable one.

The question of whether Hockey India currently has that capability, and what the federation’s own documents reveal about how it is actually being run, is something we will look at in detail in Part 2.

An Appeal

Today, theSocial media algorithms decide what you see and when you see it. Somewhere in that noise, this kind of writing gets buried. If you want to support the work, subscribing on Substack is the easiest way. Every piece lands directly in your mailbox.

Please Subscribe to Give Me Hockey Substack

The post The Federation Is Not the Dressing Room: Why Hockey India Needs Professional Administration first appeared on Give Me Hockey.

The Indian women’s team just concluded a four-match official Test series against Argentina, the world’s second ranked side. Argentina won the first two games. India, however, won the third. The fourth ended goalless and India won the shootout 3-2. Overall, a decent series and useful preparation ahead of the World Cup later this year. And yet, most Indian hockey fans found out about all of it from one Instagram post. Because that is all there was. No broadcast, no live stream, no match clips, no training videos. In other words, five days of official international hockey against one of the best sides in the world, and the only thing fans could access was a scoreline.

Importantly, this is not a new problem. It is not specific to this tour. In fact, it is how hockey has operated for decades. As a result, it is one of the biggest reasons the sport keeps struggling to grow.

Hockey’s oldest problem

The first question Indian hockey fans ask whenever a tournament is announced is not who is playing or what the stakes are. It is always the same question. Will it be broadcast? Will it be streamed? Fans have been asking this question for forty or fifty years. Unfortunately, the answer has been unreliable for just as long.

For example, domestic tournaments in India, official competitions with ranking implications and national selection consequences, are on Hockey India’s YouTube channel. That is the ceiling for domestic coverage. There is no television deal, no major platform, and minimal reach. Furthermore, the Hockey India League, India’s flagship domestic tournament with international players, was getting an average of 7000 views on YouTube during some games. In a country of 1.4 billion people, that is not a viewership problem. That is a distribution failure.

Similarly, the European Hockey League recently concluded. Unless you are inside the European hockey ecosystem, you could not watch it. A fan who wanted to pay for access found it priced in Euros, thousands of rupees for a few games. In other words, hockey is turning away willing, paying customers and then wondering why the sport does not grow.

Read More: The Mystery of Hockey: Massive Fandom, Stagnant Revenue

Consequently, hockey globally lives in silos. Indian fans cannot access European hockey. European fans have no awareness of Asian hockey. Every federation operates in its own ecosystem. The result is a sport that is fragmented when it should be unified, invisible when it should be growing.

The Argentina tour is the latest example

The India women’s tour of Argentina is a precise illustration of this problem. A 23-member squad flew from Bengaluru to Buenos Aires, one of the longest journeys an Indian sports team can make. Captain Salima Tete could not travel due to illness. As a result, younger players stepped up. Coach Sjoerd Marijne said he wanted to use the tour to play different combinations and see individual and team performances against the number two ranked side in the world.

Showcase themselves. See performances. Those were the coach’s words. And yet, the only evidence that any of it happened is one Instagram post with a scoreline.

Moreover, sending a squad that far involves significant cost. Flights, accommodation, support staff, logistics. That cost, however, creates an opportunity. India vs Argentina, world number 9 vs world number 2, official international hockey. That is content worth having. A broadcast, even a basic one, converts that investment into something fans can see, something that builds the audience hockey needs. Without it, the investment produces nothing beyond the result on a scorecard.

To put it in context, FIH itself acknowledged a few years ago that international travel had become too expensive. That is exactly why they restructured the Pro League from a home and away system to mini tournaments, bringing teams together in one place rather than flying squads back and forth across the world. The commercial logic was simple. If the return does not justify the cost, change the model. Similarly, the Argentina tour is asking the same question differently. If you are spending money to go somewhere, make it count.

Fans were there. The content was not.

When India plays Argentina in official Test matches, fans notice. Social media fills up with people asking for scores, tagging Hockey India, looking for updates. That organic interest is free marketing. Fans are already engaged, already searching, already willing to watch. All they need is something to watch.

For instance, a live stream converts that curiosity into a viewing habit. A match clip gives fans something to share. A training video builds connection between the team and its supporters. None of this requires a television deal or a production budget. A phone, a YouTube account, and a decision to press record. That’s it, nothing else. Filmmakers shoot movies on iPhones today, why can’t we do the same for sports events?

Instead, fans who went looking for content from the Argentina tour found nothing. Not a goal clip. Not a post match reaction from captain Navneet Kaur or other players. Neither a moment from any of the younger players who stepped up in Salima Tete’s absence. Ultimately, five days of international hockey and the only thing published was a final score.

The World Cup is four months away

This tour was World Cup preparation. Marijne said so. And the World Cup will be broadcast globally. Therefore, fans across India and across the world will be watching.

But broadcast momentum matters. Fans who have followed the team through its preparation, who have seen the combinations being tried, who know which younger players are pushing for a place, those fans arrive at the tournament already invested. On the other hand, a build-up with no visibility produces a fanbase that tunes in cold. Hockey cannot afford cold audiences at a World Cup or on any other day.

What needs to change

The ask is not complicated. If you are sending a squad abroad for official Test matches, make those matches visible. Not necessarily on television. Not on a paid platform. Simply go live on YouTube. Post match clips on Instagram. Share a training video. Show fans that something is happening and give them a reason to follow.

Above all, visibility is not a nice to have. It is the foundation on which sponsorship, broadcast deals, grassroots growth and long term sustainability are built. A sport that cannot be watched cannot grow. And a sport that does not grow will always be chasing money instead of attracting it.

The World Cup is coming. India vs Argentina, official Test matches, world number 9 vs world number 2, was exactly the kind of series that builds excitement for what is ahead. Fans wanted to watch. The content existed. Someone just needed to share it.

The post From Telegram to Instagram: Indian Hockey Still Has a Visibility Problem first appeared on Give Me Hockey.

Coach Craig Fulton has been clear. One squad, both tournaments, no discussion. The women’s team coach Sjoerd Marijne has the same view. But the Ministry is sticking to their guns about sending two teams.

But before getting into that, here is the basic calendar reality. The World Cup runs from August 15 to 30 in Belgium and the Netherlands. The Asian Games follows from September 19 to October 4 in Japan. That is a 20-day gap at best. Now, with that context, let us get to the real question.

The Ministry has a point. But only up to a point.

The Ministry’s concern is not coming from nowhere. The government has been serious about multi-sport events for a while now. India is hosting the 2030 Commonwealth Games and the government has placed a bid to host the 2036 Olympics. Performing well at the Asian Games fits into that larger picture.

And if you want to understand why the Ministry is almost paranoid about Olympic qualification, go back to 2008. India failed to qualify for the Olympics for the first time ever. It shook Indian hockey completely. Hockey India was born out of that mess.

So yes, there is a reason behind what they are doing. But their logic falls apart the moment you look at who India is actually playing at the Asian Games.

The competition at the Asian Games

India is ranked 8th in the world. The next Asian team in FIH rankings is Pakistan, 13th. Malaysia are placed 15th while Japan are 16th. Korea have dropped all the way to 21st. This is the competition India is supposedly so worried about that they need to send their best players.

India’s performance against Asian teams has been great over the last decade. Asian Games gold in 2014, bronze in 2018, gold again at the Hangzhou Asian Games, which was originally scheduled for 2022 but played in 2023 due to Covid, where they beat Singapore 16-1 and Pakistan 10-2 in the group stage and Japan 5-1 in the final. Asian Champions Trophy wins in 2011, 2016, 2018, 2023 and 2024. Asia Cup wins in 2017 and 2025.

Yes, 2018 was a problem. Malaysia knocked India out in the semi-final and India had to take the bronze. But here is what people forget about 2018. India went there with a full-strength squad as defending champions and still lost to Malaysia. So if the argument is that the Asian Games is risky without the A team, then 2018 actually tells you the opposite. A full-strength India can also slip up. At that point it is about performance and confidence, not who you are playing against.

Pakistan, Japan and Malaysia are all going to the World Cup and the Asian Games. Nobody is talking about any of these federations splitting their squads. Givemehockey.com has reached out to the Malaysian, Japanese and Pakistani hockey federations on this specific question and is waiting for their response. But based on what is publicly available, none of them are planning two separate teams. So India sends a B team to the World Cup while everyone else turns up with their best players. How does that make sense?

And even if India were to miss direct Olympic qualification through the Asian Games, the road to the Olympics does not end. You can qualify through the Pro League. You have Olympic qualifying tournaments available. The Indian women’s team showed not long ago that qualification through alternate routes is very much possible. Missing the Asian Games gold is not the end of the world. But sending a weakened team to the World Cup and getting embarrassed? That has a different kind of cost.

Does India actually have a B team? No.

This is the real question. And the honest answer is no.

Let us go position by position.

Goalkeeping is the one area of genuine depth. Krishan Bahadur Pathak, Suraj Karkera, Mohith and Pawan have all been in and around the squad. India has options here and this is the one position where the two-team argument holds up.

On defence, India does have a reasonable number of players. Jarmanpreet Singh, Amit Rohidas, Sanjay, Sumit, Nilam Sanjeep Xess, Varun Kumar, Yashdeep Siwach and Amandeep Lakra have all been part of squads in recent times. The numbers are there. But the quality of defending, even in the Pro League, has not been consistently convincing. Sending a second-string defence to a World Cup is a serious risk.

For penalty corners, the options beyond Harmanpreet Singh are Jugraj Singh, Amit Rohidas, Sanjay, Nilam Sanjeep Xess, Varun Kumar and Amandeep Lakra, who had a decent Hockey India League season. But none of them have come close to Harmanpreet’s level. Every time an alternative drag flicker has been tried, the results have not been convincing enough to challenge Harmanpreet’s place. So if he goes to the Asian Games, who is leading the PC attack at the World Cup? That is not a hypothetical risk. That is a guaranteed weakness going into the biggest tournament in hockey.

Read More: Abhishek, who shoots before other think

In midfield, India has Vivek Sagar Prasad, Nilakanta Sharma, Raj Kumar Pal, Moirangthem Rabichandra Singh, Rajinder Singh, Vishnu Kant Singh and Mohammed Raheel Mouseen all available. On paper, that looks like depth. But here is the problem. Even with Hardik Singh in the squad, India’s midfield has been quite ordinary of late. The Pro League performances have been a concern. If you rest Hardik and ask these players to run the show against England, Pakistan or Australia at a World Cup, that is a completely different ask. These are good players. They are not Hardik Singh.

For forwards, Mandeep Singh is the most experienced option beyond the first-choice pair. Abhishek and Sukhjeet are the key goal threats and everyone knows it. Dilpreet Singh, Araijeet Singh Hundal, Aditya Arjun Lalage, Angad Bir Singh and others have been part of squads and played supporting roles. But they have not led the Indian attack. Araijeet Singh Hundal has scored three international goals. Uttam Singh has two. These are players still finding their footing at senior level, not players you build a World Cup campaign around.

So if you rest Abhishek and Sukhjeet for the Asian Games and ask this group to carry the World Cup attack, India will struggle. And that does not just affect the result. It puts Craig Fulton’s credibility directly on the line. More than that, it tells the world exactly how seriously India takes the World Cup. Not very, apparently.

FIH needs India. And they know it.

Here is something that does not get talked about enough. FIH depends heavily on India when it comes to revenue. They have bent over backwards in the past to make sure India is part of big tournaments. Sending a B team to the World Cup hurts FIH commercially at a time when they are not exactly flush. FIH will not be happy about this and their unhappiness tends to show up in ways that matter to Indian hockey eventually.

The real issue: does the Ministry trust their own coach?

This is the question nobody is asking out loud. The Ministry is paying Craig Fulton’s salary. SAI is funding this entire programme. And when Fulton says one squad, I will manage it, the Ministry overrules him. That is not a scheduling debate. That is the Ministry saying we do not trust you.

You are either backing your coach or you are not. There is no middle ground here.

Fulton said something back in early 2025 that is worth going back to. He said B game won’t cut it at a World Cup. Coach was not talking about tactics. He was talking about the level of commitment and preparation that a World Cup demands from every single player. He saw this calendar coming and he was already warning people.

And while we are on this topic, let us talk about what winning 16-0 against Uzbekistan or 16-1 against Singapore actually does for Indian hockey. The answer is nothing. It does not test your defence. It does not sharpen your penalty corners under pressure. Neither it tells you whether Jugraj Singh can hold his nerve when India needs a goal in a knockout match. All it does is make a good headline. If India genuinely cannot back themselves to beat a struggling Malaysia or Japan with even a slightly rotated squad, that is a much bigger problem than the calendar. That problem is called confidence. And it lives inside the team, not in the opposition.

What Fulton should actually do

Keep the core the same. Harmanpreet, Hardik, Abhishek, Sukhjeet, Manpreet, Mandeep, Jarmanpreet. These players stay in both squads. Change the players around them based on fitness and workload. The rest of the squad already know each other from months of training camps. The wavelength between them will not be an issue.

Also, acting like 20 days between tournaments is some kind of impossible ask is absurd. The Hockey India League just ran for nearly a month. Players were competing back-to-back throughout. These are professional athletes. They train for such scenarios. Twenty days is a rest, not a crisis.

There is also a scenario the Ministry has not thought through. What if India goes out of the World Cup in the group stage or the quarters? Then the same players have even more time to rest before the Asian Games. The exhaustion scenario only happens if India goes deep. And if India goes deep into the World Cup, that is the best possible thing that could happen for Indian hockey right now, Asian Games or not.

One big squad, 22 to 24 players. Core stays the same. Rotate around them. Go for both tournaments. That is not complicated. It is just good planning.

The bigger picture

India last won the World Cup in 1975. Every fan wants to see India perform at the World Cup, not treat it as a warm-up for a continental tournament they will almost certainly win anyway. Sending a B team to the World Cup is not a strategy. It is a message. It says India is choosing safety over ambition.

And quietly, this whole debate has pointed at something Indian hockey has been avoiding for a while. Despite two seasons of the Hockey India League and serious investment in the programme, India still does not have match-winners beyond the core group that everyone can name off the top of their head. The Under-19 team has done well. But the jump from Under-19 to senior level has always been where India loses players. That conversation needs to happen. But that is another article.

For now, the answer is simple. Trust the coach. Keep the squad together. Send one team to both tournaments.

Fulton knows what he is doing. Let him do it.

—

Note: Givemehockey.com has reached out to the Malaysian, Japanese and Pakistani hockey federations regarding their squad plans for this tournament window. This piece will be updated when responses are received.

The post India’s Big Call: Chase World Cup Glory or Secure Olympic Qualification? first appeared on Give Me Hockey.

In a world where nearly all new hockey venues are built with blue pitches, the Dutch have stayed loyal to the traditional green surface. Most top-tier events now take place on blue, but the Netherlands haven’t budged. Watching those games last week raised a question that’s worth asking again: Is blue turf really better than green?

What do FIH rules say about hockey turf color?

The color of the turf depends on the event and the category of the surface. Back in 2024, an FIH spokesperson told The Times of India that turf certification follows a simple logic. “For a turf to be certified as Category 1, it must be blue. Category 2 turfs, which meet the same performance standards, can be either blue or green and are also eligible for international matches. For the FIH Hockey Pro League, we use both categories, as not all countries have blue turf facilities,” the spokesperson said.

That’s why Pro League matches can be played on either surface. The World Cup and Olympics are different, as only Category 1 is allowed for those events, and right now that means blue turf only.

So while blue has become the norm for marquee tournaments, green remains fully legal and is still part of the international circuit.

Read More: Hockey India League: Is HIL 2.0 Repeating Old Mistakes?

Why was the blue hockey turf introduced in the first place?

The blue turf made its debut at the 2012 London Olympics. The reason was simple: television.

Hockey is fast, and broadcasters had long complained about visibility, especially in congested areas like the circle. Fans also struggled to track the white ball during live broadcasts. Blue provided stronger contrast. Against a bright blue backdrop, the white ball stood out clearly. Players, umpires, photographers, and spectators all found it easier to follow the action.

The switch also helped standardize hockey’s global look. With uniform colors and clearer broadcasts, the game gained a stronger TV identity. And for a while, it worked. The London Olympics drew attention. Hockey stood out, and blue became the new normal.

Read More: Hockey India League: Is HIL 2.0 Repeating Old Mistakes?

My view

Watching the recent Pro League matches from the Netherlands, it was clear the green turf still holds its charm. It looked more natural and easier on the eyes. The ball can be seen clearly

As an Indian hockey fan, I’ve often noticed something odd. India’s blue jerseys sometimes blend into the blue turf. At a glance, it can be hard to distinguish players from the background.

Maybe that’s just recency bias. But the visibility felt sharper compared to what we usually see on blue turf.

From a visual standpoint, green feels more grounded. It matches the essence of a “field” game. Maybe the novelty of blue has worn off. Or maybe it was never that necessary in the first place.

The FIH introduced blue turf to meet the needs of broadcasters. But with sharper cameras, improved streaming, and better coverage today, it might be time to revisit that decision. Green turf hasn’t lost its appeal. In fact, it might be more relevant than ever.

Let fans decide what actually looks better now. What worked in 2012 doesn’t have to be the rule forever.

Like what you’re reading? Get more like this in your inbox. No spam. Just hockey.
Subscribe to the Give Me Hockey newsletter

Follow Give Me Hockey on all social platforms to stay in the loop.

The post Back to Green: Why Traditional Hockey Turf Still Has Charm first appeared on Give Me Hockey.

When Vinayak Padmadeo’s report in The Tribune came out detailing issues in the Hockey India League, it was evident that the federation hadn’t learned from HIL 1.0.

Back in 2022, this website had published an article on the sustainability challenges faced during HIL 1.0. The issues were many ranging from high operational costs to a decline in revenue streams. Unsurprisingly, franchisees began pulling out just after a couple of seasons. The league folded after the 2016–2017 season.

Read More: Hockey India League- The Past, and The Expected Future (2022 article)

So, when Hockey India announced plans to revive the league, fans were hopeful that old problems would be addressed. But as the league progresses, it seems the same issues are making a comeback.

Team Gonasika Pulling Out

According to The Tribune, Team Gonasika has folded and pulled out of the Hockey India League, citing high operating costs. This also came as a surprise to the federation, who were unaware of the challenges faced by the team.

Hockey India secretary Bhola Nath Singh told The Tribune: “We were surprised why the team, whose owners were very prompt in paying their franchise fee and the way they worked, chose to pull out. We are talking to a few interested parties and will announce a replacement team soon.”

While Gonasika pulling out is a surprise, it’s also worth noting that they were a last-minute addition after another party withdrew before the player auctions. This just shows how challenging it is to run an HIL team.

Unpaid Salaries

Another issue currently impacting the league is unpaid salaries. Two franchisees, Shrachi Rarh Bengal Tigers and Odisha Warriors, still owe money to their players.

This concern isn’t new. It was also raised during HIL 1.0. In the 2015 season, players and support staff from Ranchi Rays and Uttar Pradesh Wizards (owned by Sahara Group) weren’t paid. The dues back then amounted to INR 2–3 crores.

While the amounts due for the this season haven’t been disclosed, Odisha Warriors, winners of the women’s crown, reportedly owe a significant sum to their players. Hockey India has written to both franchisees, asking them to clear the payments.

Such behavior from franchisees, especially in the first season, doesn’t inspire much confidence.

Read More: FIH Pro League European Leg: Indian women’s team and complete schedule

Reduction in Squad Size

In another report published in The Tribune in April, the Hockey India League Governing Council decided to reduce the squad size from 24 to 20. On the field, this limits player rotation and increases the workload on core players.

But more importantly, it hints at the financial strain the franchisees are under.

Trimming squads also hurts the development of young players, teams are likely to leave them out first. Hockey India focuses a lot on younger players. With this news of squad trimming, development of young players will take a hit.

Hockey India placed a lot of emphasis on building a sustainable model for HIL. But with unpaid salaries, squad cuts, and teams folding, it’s worth asking ,were there any learnings at all from HIL 1.0?

The Root Cause: Lack of Revenue

Despite all the ambition, HIL is clearly struggling on the financial front. Revenue is the oxygen of any league. Right now, HIL seems to be gasping.

TV Revenue

Consider this: the IPL’s media rights for 2023–27 are worth over ₹48,000 crore. The English Premier League earns over £5 billion from broadcast deals. These leagues thrive because of strong TV partnerships. These not only bring in revenue but also boost fan engagement.

There’s no information about who HIL approached or what those discussions led to. But the fact is, HIL partnered with Doordarshan—a government-owned broadcaster. Government-owned entities like Doordarshan don’t offer many opportunities to make money. Not to mention the broadcast quality.

Since the first game, fans have been questioning the production quality. Franchisees too have expressed similar concerns.

HIL 1.0 had tied up with Star Sports, who literally built the Kabaddi fan base in India. Yet, HIL couldn’t capitalize on that. And now with Doordarshan, things aren’t improving. Hockey India’s report mentioned 40 million viewers, but the revenue seems to be negligible.

Ticket Revenue

Another obvious source of revenue is ticket sales. But the Governing Council decided to offer free entry for matches. There’s no clear explanation. Maybe it was to boost local turnout.

Still, it eliminated a basic revenue stream. Even modestly priced tickets could have helped cover costs and improve the match-day experience. Free entry doesn’t scream confidence. It screams desperation.

Sponsorship & Brand Engagement

HIL has just six partners. Hero is the title sponsor for three years. Apart from Hero, the league has Big FM as the Radio Partner, Bisleri as the Hydration Partner, and Apollo Hospitals as the Medical Partner.

Sony Sports Network and Doordarshan (Prasar Bharati) broadcast the league as official partners. Prasar Bharati’s Waves is also the streaming partner.

There’s very little public information about the value of these deals or brand investment. That alone raises questions about how much money is really coming into the league.

Trouble Ahead if Lessons Aren’t Learned

It’s not time to hit the panic button just yet. But the warning signs are clear.

Franchisees have pulled out teams, delayed salaries, reduced squad sizes, and struggled to generate revenue, clear signs that the structure needs strengthening.. If Hockey India doesn’t act with urgency, take cues from the past, and work toward a more commercially sustainable model, there’s a real risk that HIL 2.0 could face the same fate as its earlier version.

The post Hockey India League: Is HIL 2.0 Repeating Old Mistakes? first appeared on Give Me Hockey.

“Some regions were definitely stronger than others. Punjab, for instance, stood out with the highest number of international players, which gave them an edge. At the same time, there was a healthy balance of talent across the top four teams. Beyond that, however, the depth and overall quality did dip a bit..”

Fulton’s comment brings to light a persistent challenge in Indian hockey — talent is concentrated in specific regions, while the rest struggles to match up. With 30 teams participating, the question is: how do we raise the overall standard of Indian hockey?

India is currently in a great position on the global stage. The team is dominant in Asia and considered a top-tier nation internationally. With a bronze medal from Tokyo 2020 and rising consistency, the momentum is real. But if India wants to take the next step — Olympic gold, consistent podium finishes, or even dominating world hockey — it needs bench strength.

As Fulton said in a media interaction with Hockey India:

“We’ve been speaking about creating depth for a while now. The next 18 months are crucial in building a squad with sufficient bench strength.”

Read More: The Numbers Game: Highlights from 15th Senior Men’s Nationals

The Need for a Long-Term Vision

Bridging the gap between Division A and lower divisions won’t happen overnight. It demands a structured, long-term approach focused on the next 5–10 years — not just quick fixes. This vision must include a clear pathway to identify, nurture, and elevate talent across all levels and regions.

Countries that were once seen as outsiders in global sport — like Belgium in hockey, Japan in rugby, and the Netherlands in football — transformed their fortunes through long-term thinking and system-level changes. Their strategies provide powerful examples India can learn from.

Let’s break down these approaches:

Belgium’s Blueprint: Centralized Talent Pipeline

Belgium’s rise in world hockey began with a centralized effort to nurture young talent. Regional federations conducted junior competitions, and invited standout players — as young as 12 or 13 to national camps focused purely on development.

These camps emphasized skill-building, coaching consistency, and physical preparation — all under the direct supervision of the national federation. Over time, this produced a core of highly trained players who would go on to win Olympic gold and a World Cup.

India can replicate this by creating a national-level development program that draws from all corners of the country, not just traditional strongholds. A centralized pipeline ensures promising players from Division B and C states also get access to world-class training and exposure.

Japan’s Playbook: Regional High-Performance Centers

While centralized camps are effective, they can only accommodate a limited number of athletes. To scale development nationwide, Japan built regional High-Performance Centers (HPCs) — hubs that combine elite coaching, modern facilities, and sports science support.

India can adopt a similar model. By establishing 5–6 regional HPCs, especially in areas with underrepresented teams, Hockey India can give more players access to structured development. These centers can focus specifically on uplifting the level of Divisions B and C — with clear benchmarks, video analysis, strength training, and nutrition support.

This also reduces the burden on central academies and ensures talent doesn’t overlook due geography or infrastructure gaps.

The England Approach: Supporting Players Beyond the Game

In India, many young players see hockey as a path to a better life, often through jobs under sports quota. But the truth is, not everyone makes it to the top level.

England’s football academies have tackled this challenge well. Clubs like Chelsea and Southampton ensure their young players continue with education and learn life skills alongside training. The idea is to prepare them for life — whether they succeed in sport.

India can take a similar approach within its High-Performance Centers, especially for players from Divisions B and C. By offering education, skill-building, and career support, the system becomes more secure, inclusive, and future-ready- which in turn increases commitment from players, knowing they have a future beyond sport.

Netherlands’ Model: Coaching the Coach

A long-term vision isn’t just about players — it starts with coaches. In the Netherlands, a unified coaching philosophy is taught through nationwide programs like the KNVB Academy in football. Coaches are trained not just on tactics, but on values, methodology, and how to develop young players systematically.

India’s current domestic coaching philosophy varies regions to regions and coaches to coaches. Many coaches bring their own styles, often emphasizing individual flair over structure or fitness. To truly raise the standard, India needs a “Coach the Coach” initiative — where coaches from every division are trained in a shared hockey philosophy, equipped with modern tools and systems.

A unified coaching approach means that coaches across the country will train players — no matter their background — under the same tactical and physical framework, making it easier for players to transition into higher levels.

Looking Ahead: The Time to Start is Now

India has big sporting ambitions — bidding for the 2030 Commonwealth Games and potentially hosting the 2036 Olympics. By the time these events arrive, we will have a completely new generation of players.

But if we want to stand on the podium at home, we need to act today. That means bridging the gap between top-tier and lower-tier hockey, developing talent across all regions, and investing in the systems that support both players and coaches.

Because the next great Indian hockey player shouldn’t only come from Punjab or Odisha — they should be able to come from anywhere.

The post Bridging the Gap: How India Can Create Depth Beyond Its Top Hockey Teams first appeared on Give Me Hockey.