The revival of Indian Hockey

Hockey in India had gone through various phases. From the single dominant country prior to the 1950s, India went almost out of the picture in the early years of this millennium. The last decade marked the ultimate lows of the sport marked by incidents such as protests of the Indian Hockey Players against the board, failing to even qualify for the Olympics, open fight between two organizations, the Indian Hockey Federation and Hockey India, to have the control over the sport and ultimately leading to the International Olympic committee’s intervention. But things might be on the verge of changing. As the Hockey India took over the responsibility of governing the sport, it quickly sprang into action, setting up the IPL-style Hockey India League (HIL).
 

Though there were previous attempts to organize a franchisee hockey league in India (even before the success of IPL) such as the ESPN Star-IHF owned Premier Hockey League (PHL) and the Nimbus-IHF owned World Series Hockey (WSH), the Hockey India League quickly grabbed attention with its success of finding corporate sponsorship with the likes of Star Sports India, Hero Honda and many others.
 

Taking cue from the success of IPL, the teams and the players were auctioned. To everyone’s surprise, it was the not the foreign players who earned more, but the Indian Hockey player, Sardar Singh sold for $78000 to the hockey team Delhi Waveriders. The inaugural season in 2013 drew moderate crowds and not much fanfare, the crowds and revenues were on the rise for the 2014 season which is presently underway.
 

With the addition of Bhubaneswar based Kalinga Warriors this season, the total teams competing for the championship has risen up to 6. Though the defending champions Ranchi Rhinos are still very much in the hunt for the cup, it is the Waves-group owned Hockey team Delhi Waveriders, who are favorites to win the cup this year after missing out in the finals of last season.
 

But not all is good with Hockey India League. One major disappointing factor is that all the franchisees are concentrated on the Northern part of India. The southernmost franchisee itself is Bhubaneswar. Though the fact remains that the city teams of Chennai and Bangalore were originally planned, but went unsold in the auction, it is the responsibility of the Hockey India to take the sport to all corners of the country. The Hockey India League may not have been a huge success as its cricketing counterpart, but if managed properly, it could make Hockey a mainstream sport again in this country.
 

Summary: Hockey, the ancient sport that was a part and parcel of India has stood up and taken a rebirth with complete governance by IHF and corporate sponsorship with increase in drive to HIL.