looking upon the sorry state of affairs our national game finds it self in today,one cannot help but draw comparisons between hockey and the most celebrated sport in india cricket.while lack of sponsorship/patronage,archaic procedures followed by the Indian hockey federation,lack of adequate sports infrastructure & trainers have often been touted as the major reasons for the downfall of the game, a small but significant factor which has contributed to its downfall has been , the style of presentation and commentary adapted by the game.the reason why cricket a much slower paced game than hockey was able to grab eyeballs both in terms of viewership & spectatorship was due to the metamorphosis it underwent once satellite TV brought the game live to the drawing rooms.adopting the “super bowl” style , the ICC & the BCCI(since the IPL)have capitalized on the love for the game by uniquely packaging the game for the viewing audience. Gifted commentators such as Richie benaud,harsha bhogle,geffory boycott etc have livened up proceedings on the field through a mixture of wit & humour.all popular sport events in the world ranging from soccer,baseball to formula one have this important ingredient. Prematch & post match proceedings too help in building up the tempo for an ensuing game & increasing the anticipation of the audience.
One aspect that struck me while watching the hockey worldcup , was the lack of any enthusiasm on the part of the show Hostess Mayanti Langer or the eminent guests Cedric D’Souza(Former Indian hockey coach dumped by the Indian Hockey Federation during the 2002 World Cup) and Jagbir Singh (an Olympian who in 2008, refused to take up the job of a national coach) during the pre-match, half-match and post-match analysis .In an effort to replicate the magic of mandira bedi to cricket analysis, the IHF, recruited Mayanti Langer of zee news to analyse and report on a teams prospects , gameplan etc…its on this count that the effort failed.the hostess kept on brazenly referring to her notes in between to look up names of the players playing in the eleven and the guests looked as if they were about to dose off.the intensity which a world cup match would command was missing.in addition to this fact, another aspect was the nature of commentary during the course of the match….the commentators didn’t seem to be familiar with the names & profiles of the players playing on both the sides…for someone new watching the game, there is a need to familiarize the viewers with the rules, the terms such as “drag-fick”; “penalty corner”etc .on this count too the commentators failed.for popularizing the game ,it is necessary for the governing body to spell out the rules, constantly highlight star players & emerging talents & pack in the zing & glamour quotient where ever necessary.the success of cricket is a living testimony to that. Success or failure of any team can attributed to a large number of factors such as the ones I have mentioned above,which are beyond those issues highlighted by the media.addressing these concerns would in an indirect manner,have a bearing on increasing the morale of the players to play better. If hockey were to regain its lost ground and become a popular sport, it is high time that the FIH & IHF wake up to these ground realities rather than using short term measures such as bringing in virender sehwag & rajvardan singh rathore to vouch for hockey.
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