Hockey Trumps Cricket in This Indian City

Despite the cold, a few boys assemble in a small ground on the outskirts of Rampur, with dreams of becoming India’s next hockey star. But beneath the hope lurk discontentment and anger over treatment of what is called India’s national sport in common parlance. Shahbaz Ali Khan, 26, cites an example. “In the quarter-finals of the Hockey World Cup against India, the Netherlands goalkeeper won the man of the match. You know what was the prize? Rs 50,000, or just 600 euros for a stellar performance in the World Cup. Ye haal hai hockey ka? (Is this the state of hockey?)”

Amid all the anger, hockey is still Rampur’s favourite field sport. It’s not rare to find roads being blocked because of an ongoing hockey tournament—quite like what cricket does in other towns and small cities. The reasons are many: The long and illustrious association with Indian hockey, tutelage of the erstwhile nawabs, and the sleepy town’s general obsession to find distractions to kill time. However, the biggest role in keeping alive this pre-independence sport has been undertaken by local hockey clubs—some managed by wealthy committees, others by families invested in the sport for generations.

Shahbaz Ali Khan’s journey into the sport began when he was six at Rohilla Tigers, the club managed for three generations by his family. It is one of the major ones in town, along with the Young Man Hockey Club, Champions Club, Neeta Club and Students Club, among others. “I began tagging along with my father to the club grounds when I was five or six,” he says. “It’s not wrong to say that the sport runs in our blood.” His family organises an annual competition named after their grandfather, Mustafa Ali Khan, attended by teams from neighbouring cities and towns like Meerut, Nainital, Shahjahanabad, Moradabad, Kanpur, Lucknow, etc. “All four of my father’s siblings got jobs by shining at state- and national-level hockey.” His father, Istafa Ali Khan, is an income tax officer, while his uncles work for departments like the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), the Indian army, and the World Health Organisation (WHO).

His father thinks of jobs as a primary reason for people to get into hockey. “Recognised players of our generation didn’t have a tough time finding jobs,” says says Istafa Ali Khan, a former state-level player and the vice-president of Rohilla Tigers. “There were textile companies, colleges, government departments and organisations that wanted hockey players to represent them. But as jobs began to thin, so did people’s interest.”

Running a club is not easy, often inviting political interference, scrutiny and daily hassles. Khan’s club survives on funds collected from his large family and some wealthy alumni returning the favour. “Even then, we often struggle to repair our grounds or sew the torn turf. Then, you need to buy equipment, limestone, balls and shoes for the poorer kids. During tournaments, we need to pay for travelling, lodging and food expenses of up to a dozen teams.”

These clubs often recruit children by luring them with free hockey kits, then training them along with others their age, and later, monitoring them to gauge the field position they might be suited for: Forward, defence or midfielder. Mohd Saiam used to play as the centre-half at the Young Man Hockey Club, before shifting his base to Delhi for better exposure. “I didn’t like the ugly politics here. Boys from a club can’t play at other grounds due to petty differences. They’re not even invited for tournaments. On top of that, a local politician is trying to usurp club grounds and convert them into marriage halls.”

It’s not as if there isn’t a bright side. Most people in Rampur seem to support budding sportsmen. “Most of my relationships and friendships were made at Young Man,” says Saiam. “Even some school teachers gave me extra marks and attendance after finding out I was a hockey player." However, there have been times when people haven’t reacted positively to Saiam’s choice of career. “Many people tell me that I am spoiling my life by going into a dying sport. My parents were not supportive in the beginning as they knew how common injuries are in the sport.” Saiam also feels injuries in hockey are much more frequent and dangerous than cricket.

Ibadur Rehman’s career at Students Club ended due to a injury too. He now works as a physical instructor and helps others with their career-threatening injuries. According to him, hockey needs good coaches, proper equipment, and more publicity from media. “I often used to play with torn shoes, getting them stitched multiple times from a neighbourhood cobbler. You can’t concentrate on the game if you have to worry about money.” As a coach, he found a renewed interest in the game after Hockey India League and the recent Hockey World Cup in the country. “When they have some options professionally, youngsters will come back. My students listen intently and hone their skills by watching YouTube videos, motivated by idols like Lalit Kumar, Hardeep Singh and Sandeep Singh.”

Imran ur Rehman, 50, is the joint secretary at Hameedur Rehman Academy (named after his grandfather), and has also been associated with Students Club. Now a manager at the Food Corporation of India, he has served as the hockey captain at Aligarh Muslim University, later representing Uttar Pradesh several times. “The land for our century-old club was given by Nawab Raza Ali Khan himself,” he says.

At the academy, Rehman has taught more than 70 kids, often promising them admission in good colleges through sports quotas. “To attract them, I’d tell them that there is less competition in hockey than cricket. Free equipment was another incentive,” he says. A major reason for the decline of hockey, he says, has been the state government's preference of kids from their own sports hostels over those from clubs. “Each club had their own grounds, committees and ways to teach. The competition among them produced a lot of good talent. Sports hostels weren’t that successful in replicating that.”

Rehman thinks the only way to revive hockey in India by supporting clubs in small towns and cities like Rampur, Shahjahanpur, Meerut and Bhopal. “It was the hockey clubs that took India to the top in the sport. If these clubs die, so will the hope to regain the lost status.”

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