The magic of the Nehru Hockey Tournament

The victorious ONGC team with the Nehru Senior Hockey Tournament Trophy in the Capital in 2011.

The venue for these tournaments is invariably the Shivaji stadium in Delhi. However, when the tournament started, the Lady Harding ground as it was then known, was not fully constructed. It was just a grass field surrounded by open ended stone stands. The tournaments were conducted in the initial years with tin fences all around the grass ground. For some years the organisers managed the tournament with such temporary arrangements. In the initial years the prices of the tickets were moderate – Rs. 1, 2, 3 and 5 but still, the revenue from ticket sales was in the region of Rs. 40,000-50,000.

The foundation stone of the renovated stadium was laid on 13 July 1968 and it was renamed as the Shivaji stadium. Often in later years this stadium was not available – at one point renovation work had to be carried out for the 1982 Asian Games, or as in 1997, the Astroturf was not fit for play. However, whatever the difficulties, the tournament is always held on schedule, even outside Delhi if required.

Whenever the Shivaji stadium has not been available, the organisers have shown great adaptability and held the competition at various venues, like the Karnail Singh stadium, the National stadium and even in Gurgaon, Chandigarh and Bhopal. The golden jubilee Nehru hockey tournament is being played at a new look ultra-modern Shivaji stadium. Last season, the finals of four tournaments organized by JNHTS were played under floodlights.

Creditably, the Nehru Hockey tournament has, over the years, discovered several stars of Indian hockey. The brilliant right winger Balbir Singh of Western Railway was first spotted in the 1965 Nehru tournament, playing for Bombay XI. His sheer speed and unpredictability earned him a berth in the Indian team. Hockey lovers remember him for his exquisite acute angle winning goal against Pakistan in the 1966 Bangkok Asian Games final.

Similarly Michael Kindo, considered one of the hardest tacklers in Indian hockey, was discovered playing for Indian Navy in the 1967 Nehru hockey tournament. Northern Railway’s brilliant inside left Inder Singh got selected for the 1968 Mexico Olympics on the basis of his dazzling performances in the Nehru hockey tournament from 1964 to 1967. Northern Railway were champions in the inaugural tournament in 1964 and joint champions with Indian Navy again in 1967.

The languid and graceful centre half Ajitpal Singh first came into the limelight when he represented Combined Universities in the 1967 Nehru hockey tournament. The brilliant Ashok Kumar and Govinda who dazzled in the 1970s, also came into prominence playing for Indian Airlines in the 1970 Nehru hockey tournament.

The mesmerizing left winger Chand Singh of Northern Railway and the dashing Harcharan Singh of ASC Centre, rivals for the same position in the Indian team, both came into prominence during the 1969 Nehru hockey tournament. For many years the late Shivaji Pawar of Corps of Signals was a regular goal-getter in the Nehru tournament. His consistency was finally rewarded when he was selected for the Indian team, which won the 1975 World Cup in Kuala Lumpur.

In recent times, midfielder Gurbaj Singh, who made his international debut in the 2006 Doha Asian Games, first impressed playing for Indian Airlines (now merged into Air India) in the 2004 and 2005 Nehru hockey tournaments. Similarly, defenders Diwakar Ram and Dhananjay Mahadik came into prominence playing for ONGC and Army XI respectively in the Nehru hockey tournament.

It is lamentable that as the Nehru hockey tournament is about to celebrate its golden jubilee, the great crowd-pulling teams of the 1970s like Northern Railway and Sikh Regimental Centre have declined to participate, while BSF and Punjab Police have stopped forming powerful hockey teams and sending them to this tournament.

Former international umpire Kukoo Walia is now the dynamic secretary of the JNHTS. He has used several innovations to re-vitalise this historic tournament. The semi finals and final of the 2012 Nehru hockey tournament were held under floodlights for the first time, a trend-setter for future tournaments. A year ago the JNHTS started their own website. In the golden jubilee year there is live streaming of matches.

Since last year, free gifts are given to winners of a lucky dip held after each match. Kukoo Walia and his team of organisers are using various devices to get the crowds back to the Shivaji stadium and that is their biggest challenge in the years ahead.