To Hell With Hockey

The Autobiography of Aslam Sher Khan
By Matin Khan, Allied Publishers, 1982

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Fight With the IHF

There were two options in front of me - to go down on my knees, or to wipe away the tears and fight it out. I chose the latter.

On August 1, 1977, Delhi Doordarshan telecast an interview with me in which I accused the IHF and the government of neglect towards the game.

The interview sent shockwaves in the IHF and the Ministry. The fight had begun.

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The Janata Party swept to power in the 1977 General Elections. Among those who held the ruling reins was Sikandar Bakht, a one-time hockey player of Delhi, who was made the Chairman of the SNIPES Board.

Perhaps Sikandar saw me as an improved version of his own hockey credentials, or maybe he felt I was pro-Youth Congress, pro-Ghufran Azam, pro-Sanjay Gandhi, pro-Indira Gandhi, and so anti-Janata Party. The sniping soon started against Aslam Sher Khan. I became an unwanted player in Indian hockey again. I was ostracised.

I was not invited for the preparatory camp in Patiala for the 1978 World Cup in Buenos Aires. Two juniors - Zafar Iqbal and Mehboob - who stayed with me in the house allotted by Indian Airlines, left for the Patiala camp. I felt terribly frustrated, and the feeling of dark, melancholic self-pity gnawed into my being. I fell ill from depressive psychosis.

I met Dr. Lanka Sivaji for treatment. The doctor, who is also a personal friend, was brutally frank. "There is nothing wrong with you, Mian," he said. "Some people have illness in their head, some in their heart. Stop groveling in self-pity. If you cannot fight your own self, you cannot fight for your cause. I will not prescribe medicine since you really do not need any."

Two Indian Airlines players - Ashok and Aslam - were left out of the Patiala camp. However, the Central Education Ministry stepped in and recommended that more players, including Ashok and myself, be invited for the camp.

At Patiala, three senior players - Surjeet Singh, Baldev Singh and Virender Singh, walked out of the camp alleging discrimination. In an interview given to a Kolkata sports magazine, Surjeet was even quoted to have said, "Sikhs are Indians too."

It was then that I went to meet Sikandar Bakht, along with K. P. Roy and Inam-ur-Rehman of Indian Airlines. Sikandar asked me why I had not reported for the camp.

My reply was simple. I had attended many trials, and many camps, and been selected for many national teams, only to twiddle my thumbs on the sidelines. It was humiliating to me. I wanted an assurance that I would be played, so that I could concentrate on the game during the six months remaining for the World Cup.

At this reply, Sikandar Bakht lost his shirt, or kurta to be precise. He said he would set all of us right. "Theek kar doonga," he kept repeating. "I will see how you will play for India again."

"We'll see," I replied in anger, and walked out of Nirman Bhavan.

There were two options in front of me - to go down on my knees, or to wipe away the tears and fight it out. I chose the latter.

On August 1, 1977, Delhi Doordarshan telecast an interview with me in which I accused the IHF of neglect towards the game and towards hockey players. I mentioned that the government, by its silence, was an accomplice to this neglect.

The interview sent shockwaves in the IHF and the Ministry. The fight had begun. The IHF refused permission for me and Ashok to go with the Indian Airlines team for the JFK Memorial Tournament in Washington.

I brought this to the attention of Mahesh Sarin, the Managing Director of Indian Airlines. Mahesh rang up the Indian Airlines sports authorities and gave them a piece of his mind. Most people in the airlines did not like Mahesh Sarin. He was a man's man, who had the guts to act like a man.

The Indian Airlines Sports Control Board made frantic calls to IHF President M. A. M. Ramaswamy for our clearance for the Washington trip. R. K. Goel, the secretary of the Sports Control Board, took Ashok and me to Chennai to meet him.

Ashok was his usual docile self. Ramaswamy berated me for my statements against the IHF. I asked him what was wrong in calling a spade a spade. After haranguing us, Ramaswamy finally gave us the necessary permission.

On my return from Washington, I used every available platform to denounce the IHF for its high-handed and parochial behaviour. The media lent me excellent cooperation.

Bishen Singh Bedi even exhorted me to form a players association. When I started a campaign for a hockey players union, there were no takers. No one was willing to ruin their chances for selection by taking on Ramaswamy and the IHF. It was like banging my head against a wall.

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At Ashok's Wedding, along with Dada Dhyan Chand

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