MUMBAI: What is the common factor between Hockey India and the All India Football Federation? The principals assigned by the judiciary to administer the two national sports bodies are the same – Justice (Retd.) Anil Dave and former CEC SY Quraishi. It is also no coincidence that the world bodies running hockey and football respectively – FIH and FIFA – have serious issues with the way HI and AIFF are being managed.
In the case of AIFF, the rot runs even deeper. What with both AIFF’s commercial partner Football Sports Development Ltd and AIFF’s state affiliates having filed separate suits Tuesday challenging the CoA in the Supreme Court.
A day later, meeting Wednesday for the first time since the resignation of Narinder Batra from the post of FIH president, the FIH executive board decided to send an FIH delegation to India soon (emphasis ours), in order to assess the current situation of Hockey India, especially in view of the next Hockey Men’s World Cup, which is currently planned to take place in Bhubaneswar and Rourkela from January 13 to 29 next year.Soon means next month. The FIH and AHF joint delegation, which will include the interim FIH president Seif Ahmed of Egypt, will hold talks with the government as well as the CoA.
The communique to the CoA further reads: “FIH and the Asian Hockey Federation are planning to send a delegation to India shortly to discuss the above-mentioned matters — and first and foremost, the staging of the 2023 FIH Hockey Men’s World Cup — directly with the Indian government, the CoA and any other relevant local authorities if required, with an aim to assessing any progress made on these matters.”
The world body’s chief executive Thierry Weil said if they do not get satisfactory response during the meeting, they will be forced to look at alternate options for hosting the World Cup.
“The meeting in India, which we hope to have next month, will be crucial, Weil said. “If, in that meeting, we do not get what we expect in terms of timelines for drafting constitution and conducting elections, then we will need seriously look at other options.”
The FIH, in June itself, had requested the Delhi High Court, which appointed the CoA to run Hockey India, to resolve the existing issues at the earliest.
The strongly-worded communique, the second piece of communication sent by FIH to the CoA in less than a week, suggests that the FIH is losing patience with the HI CoA’s inertia. “In order to ensure that the 2023 FIH Hockey Men’s World Cup can still be played in India as planned, we kindly ask you to provide us with a detailed timeline for the preparation and adoption of the Constitution as well as the holding of the elections to the Executive Board of Hockey India,” Weil wrote.
Weil also expressed his “concerns” about the CoA not replying to the world body’s correspondence on July 17, seeking answers on these issues.
“We would like to reiterate that Elections should take place expeditiously to allow the newly elected Executive Board of Hockey India to have adequate time to properly organize the FIH Hockey Men’s World Cup…,” Weil said in his communication.
“In all honesty, the fact that you have not reacted at all to our letter from last week is giving up concerns as to Hockey India’s ability to host the upcoming FIH Hockey Men’s World Cup which is of paramount importance to us.
“To that extent, should Hockey India Constitution-drafting and elections be delayed any further, that will seriously increase our concerns,” he added.
FIH even said that if India were to keep hold of the hosting rights, they ought to be presented with a detailed timetable by CoA “for the preparation and adoption of the Constitution as well as the holding of the elections to the Executive Board of Hockey India”.
While they haven’t fixed a deadline as such, it’s very likely that if the CoA does not send them a working brief as soon as possible, India could very well lose the chance to host the quadrennial bash.
The FIH has even promised to handhold the CoA during the constitution-making progress. “In the Constitution-making process, please be advised that FIH and the Asian Hockey Federation would be happy to cooperate with the CoA and are willing to provide any assistance required to amend the Constitution in line with the rules laid-down by the Government of India, so that the elections to the Executive Board of Hockey India can be held in accordance with the new Constitution.”
“In light of the above, the priority is to prepare and adopt the Constitution of Hockey India, which will subsequently have to be approved by FIH…”
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