Dubai: "Everything is going for cricket and nothing for hockey or any other sport in India," said India's former hockey captain and Olympian Dhanraj Pillay.
Talking about the impact of the kind of money generated by the Board of Control for Cricket in India's (BCCI) for the Indian Premier League (IPL), Pillay said: "Everyone concentrates only on promoting cricket. Mileage, publicity, sponsorship, name it and everything goes towards cricket, leaving barely half a per cent for other sports. Although I do feel proud as a sportsman that cricketers have benefited, the government should take care of other sports and ensure that they too get support."
Pillay is here to play in the Seiko Hockey tournament organised by the Lusitanians hockey club.
Detailing the inequalities being meted out to hockey as compared to cricket, he noted, "While cricketers these days get match fees, when we represent our country we get a mere $30 for expenses. Cricketers stay in five-star hotels, while hockey, football players as well as other athletes are put up in the stadium itself! Sports is a career today and if the game is not made attractive enough no one will take it up."
Gold medals
The former skipper blamed the Indian hockey federation for not marketing the game.
"The federation lacks marketing skills, so much so that they don't even have a public relations manager. No one will come to support hockey unless the federation approaches them," he said.
According to him, it was the BCCI that approached industrialists like Mukesh Ambani, Vijay Mallya and Bollywood stars like Pretty Sinha and Shah Rukh Khan to invest in cricket.
"No one will invest money in a sport unless they are benefited in some way. The BCCI showed them how they can be benefited and made them invest in cricket. The hockey federation too should also have gone to the corporates. Given the fact that hockey is the only sport that has won eight gold medals for the country in the Olympics, there is a soft corner for hockey but the federation has not bothered to capitalise on it," he revealed.
Spectator-friendly
"Chakde India, the popular Bollywood flick based on the game of hockey, went on to benefit all other sports except hockey. The Indian hockey federation did nothing to use this film to popularise the game," he pointed out.
Unable to hide his disgust, he added, "Now when the Indian cricket team does well, people sing the Chakde India song.
"Our federation did nothing to use this inspiring popular song for the game's benefit."
Pillay also feels that hockey should have been made more spectator- friendly. "The federation should have introduced floodlight hockey so that people are able to watch the game after they are back from work. Moreover, there are only about 30 astroturf grounds throughout India with most of them not in a playable condition," he said.
