Will the Mochengladbach bronze-winning effort change the landscape of women’s hockey in India?

Players of Indian Women’s Junior Hockey team which won bronze at Junior Hockey World Cup pose with their medals after their arrival on August 6, 2013 in New Delhi, India. (Getty Images)

The state of women’s hockey in India epitomises a sad tale of apathy, ignorance, lack of interest and cold-shouldered treatment for players.

Indian teams go abroad to play in tournaments or feature in international matches at home, but hardly anybody takes notice as even the media shies away from tracking their progress. No hockey lover is in the know when a national camp is conducted – where and for how many days thanks to scant or no coverage of the sport.

Why just pin the blame on the media for running after what the cricketers do in their life besides playing performing their primary job – playing cricket? What cricketers eat, what they do in their free time, where they shop, who their girlfriends are et al grab the newspaper eyeballs.

But women hockey players are unknown and unnoticed, even if any of our hockey lovers bump into any of our women hockey players at a marketplace, shopping mall or at the railway station or airport, not many would be able to recognise our national women hockey players.

Even sports channels need to pull up their socks – save for Ten Sports and to some extent NEO, no one has shown the desired intent to show live telecast of women’s hockey matches.

Startlingly, Ten Sports has the rights for all FIH events and one wonders why the 7th Junior Women’s World Cup in Monchengladbach was not broadcast live? One is not sure if Ten Sports’ deal with FIH is only for senior events.

DD Sports has to really turn over a new leaf – it’s hard to fathom why they keep showing repeatedly the highlights of past Olympics and other events. They hardly provide any value in terms of providing live coverage of quality events. Maybe, the Sports Ministry could play a role in getting DD Sports provide more coverage of women’s hockey matches.

Hopefully, the bronze-winning effort of the Indian junior women’s hockey team in the 7th World Cup will trigger a change. Let’s hope we get to see more live action of our women’s hockey teams (be it senior or the junior team) in various international events and not just the major events like the Olympics, World Cup, Champions Trophy and Asian Games.

The biggest grouse women’s hockey players in India have is that there are not enough jobs available. Save for Railways, who comprise a huge chunk of the national team, no one is hiring women hockey players.

The Monchengladbach exploits should throw open the door for corporate houses and government institutions to offer job opportunities to our women hockey players.

Given the scenario where a secured Railway job is the only ‘big plus’ for most international women hockey players in India, it is heartening to see the Haryana government announce a cash award of ?5 lakh each of the six players of the state who were part of the bronze medal winning team.

The Orissa government also announced ?1.25 lakh each for four players of their state, not to speak of the ?1 lakh cash award announced by Hockey India for each player.

Even a congratulatory tweet from Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi should be seen in positive light as it can go a long way in encouraging our women hockey players to strive for more glory in future.

May this bronze-winning feat be the beginning of many more to come!

Hopefully, the authorities concerned will do their bit to ensure there are more jobs for women hockey players besides facilitating extensive television coverage of women’s hockey matches. Bring on the change please.