remier Hockey League (PHL) IV was held from December 20, 2007 to January 11, 2008 at the Sector 42 Stadium in Chandigadh. The PHL was won by Bangalore Hi-fliers, who beat hometown favourites Chandigadh Dynamos in the best-of-three finals.

Immediately after the prize distribution ceremony, there was a spontaneous combustion, and all 7 PHL 'teams' disappeared for the rest of the year. That is but one example of the structural problems of the PHL, which are as follows:

Lack of Independent Teams

The Maratha Warriors coach Clarence Lobo wanted Dhanraj Pillai in his team, but was not allowed to take him by the IHF; the Orissa Steelers wanted creative midfielder Bimal Lakra, but he was allotted to Bangalore Hi-Fliers.

21 junior players (u-19 and u-21) were distributed to the 7 PHL teams by the IHF. 21 foreign players were distributed to the 7 PHL teams by the IHF. All 7 team captains and all 7 team coaches were handpicked by the IHF. Orissa Steelers was coached by Panthania, the assistant to A. K. Bansal, who fell out of favour with the IHF despite winning two PHL titles (Tier II, Tier I). No team in any genuine sports league would accept such restrictions.

While launching PHL back in 2005, the IHF had said that it would select the teams only for the first year, and then hand over the reins to the state associations for subsequent editions of the PHL. That turned out to be a false hope, with the IHF controlling each team's junior, senior and foreign player selection.

Said Chandigadh Dynamos coach N. S. Sodhi: "We got to know about the juniors only few days before the start of the PHL. How can I use an untested junior player, instead of a senior whose game I know?"

Lack of Geographical Spread

The PHL is a single-venue tournament, rather than a multi-city, multi-venue league, where teams play home and away games. To make matters worse, one venue - Chandigadh - has hosted the PHL for 3 of the 4 years.

PHL IV had 7 teams play 26 matches over 22 days at one venue. What is the difference between PHL IV and an invitational tournament of those 7 teams? What makes the PHL a league and not a tournament?

Clash with Established Tournaments

The PHL is by nature a disruptive sports model. Since Indian hockey does not exist in a vacuum, the PHL has to either adjust to, or take the place of competing tournaments.

For instance, since 2005, there have been 4 PHLs but only 2 national hockey championships. It is obvious that the nationals have been ignored with the advent of the PHL.

Similarly, with the Olympic Qualifier coming up, PHL IV had to be squeezed into a 3-week, 22-day, 26-match tournament, so that it can get over before the preparatory camp for the Olympic Qualifier.

This scheduling problem will be faced by the PHL year after year, since there are always a host of local, national or international tournaments taking place during the year.

Non-availability of Top Foreign Players

The PHL can never get the best foreign players. All top European players were busy with the European Hockey League, which was going on at the same time as PHL IV. Many countries have their own national hockey leagues (Australia, Germany, Netherlands, England, Malaysia). Also, the Olympic Qualifier, for which quite a few top countries are preparing, kept out those teams' players.

As a result, 3 Asian countries (Pakistan, South Korea, Malaysia) supplied the bulk of foreign players to PHL IV. Netherlands sent in their junior players.

Foreign players take time to settle down and fit into a different system of play. Eric Jan Iding, a young Dutch player in Chennai Veerans team said: "The foreign players joined the team very late and thus had a problem knowing their specific team's style of play."

Lack of Sponsors

Adidas, which provided the apparel and merchandise for the first three years, is no longer associated with the PHL. And not all the PHL teams have sponsors backing them. Why would corporate houses come forward to sponsor teams that exist for a few weeks each year, and are handpicked by the IHF?

Enough about the structural problems of the PHL. The standings of PHL IV after the league matches (held from December 20 to January 3) were as follows:

Team	P	W	L	ET-W	ET-L	GF	GA	Pts
Chandigadh Dynamos	6	4	1	1	0	11	7	14
Bangalore Hi-fliers	6	4	1	1	0	13	10	14
Orissa Steelers	6	3	1	0	2	12	7	11
Hyderabad Sultans	6	3	2	1	0	11	7	11
Maratha Warriors	6	2	3	0	1	9	8	7
Sher-e-Jalandhar	6	1	4	1	0	5	10	5
Chennai Veerans	6	0	5	0	1	9	21	1

All teams lost at least one match during the league phase, though last-placed Chennai Veerans failed to win even a single match.

In the first semi-final played on January 5, Chandigadh Dynamos defeated Hyderabad Sultans 5-3 after a penalty shoot-out. The two teams were locked 0-0 after regulation time and 1-1 after extra-time.

In the second semi-final, Bangalore Hi-fliers defeated Orissa Steelers 5-4 after a penalty shoot-out. The two teams were locked 2-2 after regulation time and failed to score any silver goals during extra-time.

In the best-of-three finals, Bangalore Hi-flier lost to Chandigadh Dynamos 2-3 (on January 7), but then rebounded to win the next two matches, 4-2 (on January 9) and 2-1 (on January 11) to clinch the title. The deciding final of the PHL was watched by 20,000 fans.

PHL IV had a total prize money of Rs. 76 lakhs. Bangalore Hi-Fliers earned the Rs. 40 lakhs winners' check, while Chandigadh Dynamos took home Rs. 20 lakhs. Both the losing semifinalists, Hyderabad Sultans and Orissa Steelers, won Rs. 5 lakhs each.

Arjun Halappa, who was declared Man of the Tournament, was richer by Rs. 1.5 lakhs, while Dynamos' drag flick specialist Sandeep Singh earned Rs. 1 lakh for being the top-scorer with nine goals.

Hi-Fliers, who got the least number of cards, also won the Fair Play award, and an additional Rs. 1.5 lakhs. Goalkeeper Bharat Chetri of the Bangalore Hi-fliers was the Man-of-the-Match in the third final, and won Rs. 15,000. Bharat was also the Man-of-the-Match in their semi-final victory over the Steelers.

The 7 team captains in the PHL were: Dileep Tirkey (Orissa Steelers), Kanwalpreet Singh (Sher-e-Jalandhar), Rajpal Singh (Chandigadh Dynamos), Adam Sinclair (Chennai Veerans), Viren Rasquinha (Maratha Warriors), Tushar Khandekar (Bangalore Hi-Fliers) and Sardara Singh (Hyderabad Sultans).

Photograph by V. Sudershan of The Hindu

ecently-appointed Technical Advisor of Indian hockey, Australian Ric Charlesworth, will be using Chandigadh as his home base. To begin with, Charlesworth was an interested viewer in the fourth edition of the high-profile PHL, which was held at Chandigadh. Strangely, he was not invited to the national team's camp that was going on in Chandigadh on the sidelines of PHL IV.

Says Charlesworth, "I know there are certain forces in the country which are not so positive. They need to change. They need to acknowledge that India did not reach the semifinals of any world-level tournament for the last THIRTY years."

Charlesworth said he came to India heeding the advice given to him by former India coach and New Zealand captain John Wright. "In New Zealand, John told me, 'If you lose patience in India, you will lose the battle'. I am hoping to be positive and patient."

Charlesworth's record as a player and coach is unmatched by any Indian player, past or present - as coach, he guided the Australian women's hockey team to two Olympic gold, two World Cup titles and the Commonwealth Games gold. As a player, he was part of the Australian Olympic squad five times.

Says Manish Kumar of The Indian Express: "Charlesworth is the only hockey professional in the true sense, who makes a living out of hockey (television commentary, lectures, coaching, consultant, author). Charlesworth retired in 1986, and since then has been involved in coaching. Compared to him, Sommaya had hung up his boots in the late 1980s, and has not coached at the top level in any sport. The same applies to Carvalho, who was not coaching a major team in the domestic circuit till 2005, after his Mahindra team was disbanded. You cannot take hard decisions based on emotion and past attachment."

Said The Hindustan Times: "Ric Charlesworth's first media interaction as technical advisor to Indian hockey was, in many ways, a refreshing deviation from the usual official rigmarole - a Powerpoint presentation to highlight his ideas, a quote from legendary athlete Herb Elliot to reinforce his vision, and some plain speaking to give a realistic assessment of Indian hockey.

During his media presentation, Charlesworth said: "In the 1960s, Australia could never beat India or Pakistan. In just 10 years, the national team did not have a single player who had ever lost to these two teams. What is important is to learn from the opportunities you get."

Charlesworth revealed that India has not made the semi-finals of a major world-level tournament since 1975. In those 32 years, Australia reached the semi-finals on 15 occasions and Pakistan 8 times!

Charlesworth pointed out that India played only 17 internationals in 2007, down from 65 matches back in 1984. "You need to play at least 30-40 games a year to be internationally competitive", he said.

The former Australian captain said his job will be divided into three phases - discovery, recommendation and execution. Charlesworth will examine the structure and processes that drive hockey in India, and how that process may need to be "refined or even rebuilt".

"India is essential for hockey's survival and I am sure the required change will occur soon," said Charlesworth in closing.

Charlesworth, who will oversee the Indian men's, women's and junior programs, has an uphill task ahead of him. Note that for the 2007 Women's Player of the Year award, no Indian was nominated. For the 2007 Women's Junior Player of the Year award, no Indian was nominated. For the 2007 Men's Junior Player of the Year award, no Indian was nominated. Indian men's team has yet to qualify for the 2008 Olympics. Indian women's team has yet to qualify for the 2008 Olympics.

For world hockey's Renaissance Man Ric Charlesworth, the year 2008 will present the biggest challenge of his long and eventful career.

Article by Vivek Mukherjee of The Times of India

quiet development took place in West Bengal, away from the spotlight, which just might have a significant impact on the fortunes of Indian hockey.

On December 24, J. B. Roy, younger brother of Sahara Group chairman, Subroto Roy, was elected as the 18th president of Bengal Hockey Association (BHA). He replaced Dinesh Bajpai, who resigned from the post for personal reasons.

Although Bengal hockey functionaries insist that Roy’s election is a step towards improving the state of the oldest hockey association in the country (which celebrates 100 years of its existence in 2008), the bigger picture is hard to ignore. J. B. Roy, Deputy Managing Worker of Sahara India Parivar, heads the group's media operations.

Said Gurbux Singh, secretary of BHA, "The Sahara Group, despite having a major interest in cricket, has for long been a supporter of hockey. Roy's election in the centenary year of BHA will definitely revive the game in the state that has produced 27 gold, one silver and five bronze medalists in the Olympics."

A heavyweight corporate honcho entering Indian hockey as president of a state hockey unit is bound to create a buzz. Over the last decade or so, there has been sporadic talk of some corporate captains (Anil Ambani, Ratan Tata) aspiring for the presidentship of the IHF.

Will the younger Roy throw his hat in the ring in the next IHF elections and challenge K. P. S. Gill? This question today hangs in the realms of speculation, but tomorrow it could just become a reality.

The verdict of the last IHF election (held in 2005) is pending in a Delhi court following protests by a group within the IHF that has been gunning for Gill's ouster. In such a situation, Roy becomes an attractive proposition against Gill.

Besides Indian hockey, Sahara had been involved with International Hockey Federation (FIH) as the title sponsor of the world hockey rankings. For the FIH, reviving Indian hockey has become a full time project. It's also a known fact that the FIH doesn’t share the best of relations with the IHF.

In such a situation, a change of regime at the top in the IHF could find support with the international federation. In fact, just before the Doha Asian Games, FIH president Els Van Breda Vriesman came to India to renew the deal with Sahara, which however did not work out.

If the IHF election court case is settled in the near future, the next elections will be due in 2009. In 2010 India will host the World Cup, in which the FIH, for the first time, is to play a far bigger role than the host association.

Given this background, Roy's election as the chief of BHA acquires an interesting dimension. Only time will tell if there is bigger plan in operation to reign over the IHF.

ublic sector defence electronics major Bharat Electronics Ltd. (BEL) screened the Shah Rukh Khan starrer Chak de! India to celebrate the spirit of unity and teamwork. In the movie, a ragtag women’s hockey team turns out a World Cup winner, thanks to the inspirational coach Kabir Khan.

"The idea behind the screening, organised for Bengaluru employees and their families on December 29 and 30, 2007, was to inspire and stimulate the employees," a company release said. "Chak de! India's theme interweaves patriotism, national interest, team spirit, hard work and discipline. BEL's management felt that the film provides a good recipe for success, which can be adopted in the workplace."

While management experts have sat up and taken note of the message in the film, BEL is perhaps the first PSU to take a leaf out of it. "These are challenging times, and the company is trying to adapt to the changing times", said a company spokesman.

According to BEL's personnel officer, Ms. Archana Kumari, "The BEL unit in Bangalore has around 1,500 women employees. I am sure that all of them who watched the film would have been motivated to raise the bar."

Mr Hariharan, a Deputy Manager at BEL, said that there was much to learn about man-management, strategy, motivation, determination, leadership skills and team-building from the film. "In Chak De India, the coach, Kabir Khan, shows how raw talent can be nurtured," he said.

Manjula, another BEL employee, felt that she could relate to many instances shown in the film.

"Chak De India shows you how to transcend petty feelings and work as a team. Its message is relevant for all types of workers, be it of private sector or public sector," she said.

n international women's hockey tournament is a rarity in India. The Lal Bahadur Shastri Hockey Society came forward to organise a 4-nation women's hockey tournament at the Shivaji Stadium in Delhi, from December 1 to 5.

The participating countries were host India, Italy, Malaysia and Azerbaijan. It was the first time that a private body in India had conducted an international women's hockey tournament.

The organising committee was handicapped by a severe financial crunch and absence of sponsorship. The players were housed at a 2-star hotel in the city. Instead of 5-star accomodation which is the FIH norm, the players spent their nights on sofas and even on the floor of the hotel.

Chairman of the Lal Bahadur Hockey Society, Kamal Chaudhary, said: "With such conditions, no international team would want to come and play; our thanks go to the players who are taking the trouble to participate in the tournament. It is a miracle that we are even staging it."

The captain of the Italian team, Stella Girotti, said: "The rooms are very small and feel too cold at night. It's not comfortable at all."

FIH-appointed tournament director, Sylvie Petitjean from France, also admitted that the accommodation was a serious problem.

Bollywood star Salman Khan was present at the inauguration to add glamour to the tournament.

India reached the final of the tournament, with the following match results:

Date	Result	Goal Scorers (India)
Dec 1	drew with Malaysia 1-1	Saba Anjum (65 m)
Dec 2	beat Italy 2-1	Saba Anjum (48 m), PC Suman Bala (53 m)
Dec 4	drew with Azerbaijan 1-1	Ritu Rani (61 m)

In the final played on December 5, a 52nd-minute goal by Saba Anjum helped India beat Azerbaijan 1-0 and win the inaugural Lal Bahadur Shastri women's hockey tournament.

Italy beat Malaysia by an extra-time goal to take the third place. Saba Anjum was adjudged the 'Player of the Tournament'.

Azerbaijan was coached by former Pakistan captain Tahir Zaman. Azerbaijan, ranked 15th in the World (two rungs below India's 13th-placed ranking), had half-a-dozen players of South Korean origin in its ranks.

The Indian team was as follow:

Players: Marita Tirkey, Suman Bala, Kirandeep Kaur, Rosalind Ralte, Mamta Kharab (captain), Ritu Rani, Saba Anjum, Ranjita Devi, A Manorama Devi, Subhadra Pradhan, Deepika Murthy, Binita Toppo, Nilima Kujur, Gagandeep Kaur, Mukta P. Barla, Th. Anuradha Devi, Yendala Saundarya, S. Ranjita

Officials: Chief Coach: G. S. Bhangu, Assistant Coach: N. S. Saini, Coach: Y. S. Chauhan, Goalkeeping Coach: A. B. Subbaiah

Photograph courtesy Premier Hockey League

HL IV got over on January 11, 2008. Seven teams participated in PHL IV - Orissa Steelers, Sher-e-Jalandhar, Chandigadh Dynamos, Chennai Veerans, Maratha Warriors, Bangalore Hi-Fliers and Hyderabad Sultans. Bangalore Hi-fliers beat Chandigadh Dynamos in the best-of-three finals to win their second PHL title in 4 years.

The Photograph of the Month for January 2008 shows the Chak de! India Girls supporting their favourite PHL teams.

he sport of hockey is coming up in a big way in North India, as can be seen by the examples below:

Haryana

A new sports stadium in Sirsa district will have an artificial turf hockey field. A spokesman for the Haryana Government said that the proposal for an Astroturf field had been approved by the state government. A large number of hockey players from Sirsa had given outstanding performances at international events, he said.

The above is part of a scheme to set up gymnasiums in 14 villages of Sirsa district, with two villages of each block of the district getting these sports facilities.

Punjab

Pargat Singh, who is Director of Sports, Government of Punjab, said his department is working on laying around 40 Six-a-Side synthetic turfs.

Speaking to Stick2Hockey.com, the ace hockey player said: "This is just a logical extension of our proposal to promote hockey at the grassroot level. We have nearly 40 hockey pockets in the state where currently young boys and girls have been encouraged to take up the game. With the type of budgets at our disposal, we will never be able to lay full-length turfs in these areas. As a result, these players have to move to big towns like Jalandhar, Amritsar or Ludhiana to get the access to turf grounds. So we thought, why not lay shorter turfs at these pockets so that our wards can get to play on the turfs quite often, and also near their localities."

Uttar Pradesh

The Uttar Pradesh government has awarded a special grant of Rs. 1 lakh to 150 government secondary schools for sports infrastructure. The selected list of schools includes 82 girls institutes as well.

The Government Order specifies hockey, cricket, football, volleyball, badminton and basketball for the purchase of equipment and related accessories.

Hockey occupies the pride of place - each school has been directed to buy 50 sticks, 12 hockey balls, two hockey nets and a goal post.

arnataka Ranji Trophy coach, Vijay Bhardwaj, along with his brother Sanjay Rao, have formed a company called Swantha Software Solutions in Bangalore. One of the key products they sell is a match analysis software 'Dragflick'.

"The Indian Hockey Federation has bought the software. Our executive director and the person who developed it, A. Prasanna, is now an analyst with the Indian hockey team," said Sanjay Rao, the founder and CEO of the company.

Dragflick is designed for coaches as well as players to analyse their strengths and weaknesses, and strategise with the help of complete statistics and appropriate video clippings of the match.

Said national player Sandeep Singh, "We started using it during the Champions Challenge in Boom, Belgium, and then during the Asia Cup in Chennai, and it helped us a lot. My weaknesses, my strengths plus how the team plays during a penalty corner, the oppositions' tactics - all became easily accessible with this software."

Indian coach Joaquim Carvalho said that the software had reduced his work by at least half, and that Prasanna's mastery of video technology also helped in match situations.

How 'Dragflick' works:

• Records match sessions on video
• Analyses variables during match, like player positions during a penalty corner; strengths and weaknesses of a player, loopholes in the offence or defence
• Moves and positions of each player on record
• Post-match analysis and quick brainstorming
  
  

Prem Shanker Shukla from Bhopal is this edition's Visitor of the Month. Shukla wrote the following to BharatiyaHockey.org:

"I am a senior hockey coach at the Sports Authority of India, Bhopal. To popularise hockey, I have written more than 250 poems on hockey, in 3 different languages - English, Hindi and Punjabi - covering all aspects of this beautiful game.

I have compiled the poems into a book, 'Poetic Hockey' that was published in English in 2007. The book is getting popular with hockey administrators, veterans and players."

Statistics by B. G. Joshi (with inputs from Dil Bahra and Ijaz Chaudhary of London)

he January edition of Fun with Numbers lists the doctors and engineers who have played hockey for their countries, and have won at least one major FIH or continental title. The list includes one women's hockey player, from Argentina.

Doctors

Country	Player	Gold Medal
Argentina	Ayelen Stepnik (w)	World Cup (2002) Champions Trophy (2001)
Australia	Ric Charlesworth	World Cup (1986 - Top scorer with 7 goals) Champions Trophy (1983-Captain, 85)
Germany	Carsten Fischer	Olympics (1992) Champions Trophy (1986, 87, 88, 91, 92, 95)
	Michael Green	Champions Trophy (1997,2001)
	Bjorn Michael	Champions Trophy (1997,2001)
	Christopher Eimer	Champions Trophy (1997,2001)
Great Britain	Richard Dodds	Olympics (1988), Captain
Netherlands	Tom van't Hek	World Cup (1990)
	Marc Benninga	European Nations Cup (1983, 87)
Pakistan	Tariq Aziz	Olympics (1968), Captain

Engineers

Country	Player	Gold Medal Won
India	Raghubir Singh Bhola	Olympics (1956)
Netherlands	Ronald Brouwver	Champions Trophy (2002, 03, 06)
Pakistan	Qazi Mohib-ur-Rehman	Asian Games (1990)

Other professionals who won hockey tournaments include Dr. Atif Bashir of Pakistan (Azlan Shah Cup in 1999 and 2000) and civil engineer Zafar Iqbal of India (Dubai Emirates Cup in 1986).