Triumph and Trauma of a Coach
M. K. Kaushik with K. Arumugam
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Drunkard And The Clerk
| A. B. Subbaiah was quoted
as saying, "We were promised Rs. 80,000 per year by the IHF. We got only Rs.
20,000. After training every day, we go around scouting for sponsors to get
ourselves a kit for Bangkok."
So Subbaiah was also in the eye of the storm. After Gill left, Jyothi asked if we could drop at least Subbaiah from the team. I again insisted that to me, it was not a question of either Ballal or Subbaiah, I needed them both. |
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enior
players in our camp had a strong grouse against the IHF. "Why does the IHF
not pay us?" was their constant refrain. Especially hard hit were the
senior players from Indian Airlines, who suffered the most monetarily. Had they
undertaken flight duty instead of attending camps, they would have earned
handsome perks.
I being a former player understood their point of view. Many times I requested Jyothikumaran to talk to them. Jyothi would say, "Let them win, and they can claim anything."
At one stage, I felt their frustration at not getting any monetary reward for their services was distracting their focus. This was often the sole subject being discussed in our informal meetings.
With Gill having come down from Delhi to Bangalore after the Outlook article, and with the Ashish Ballal issue now behind us, we coaches waited for Gill to come to the ground. I had some pressure from the players who wanted to meet Gill and have an informal discussion with him. The players were hell-bent on reminding him of the quarterly remuneration promised by Gill before the 1998 India-Pakistan test series.
Gill did not see any wisdom in our invitation. He plainly refused to meet them and left the ground. The wait of the players turned futile. The dejected players said, "Our president does not care for us, he seems to be a very busy man."
Minimum courtesy and etiquette required the president who had come all the way from Delhi to Bangalore to meet the team. The fact remains that after the Indian team was selected, Gill did not meet the team at all.
There was another controversy that was generated by the Outlook article. A. B. Subbaiah was quoted as saying, "We were promised Rs. 80,000 per year by the IHF. We got only Rs. 20,000. After training every day, we go around scouting for sponsors to get ourselves a kit before we leave for Bangkok."
So Subbaiah was also in the eye of the storm. After Gill left, Jyothi asked if we could drop at least Subbaiah from the team. I again repeated my reasons. To me, it was not a question of either Ballal or Subbaiah, I needed them both. I did not want to be in a situation where I would be left with no alternate choice.
Seeing the solidarity of us three coaches - Negi, Merwyn and myself - Jyothi did not prolong the discussion. But I noticed disappointment writ large on his face.
The Drunkard and the Clerk - Part II