Solution to Indian Hockey crisis in sight as hockey fans pledge to watch hockey matches

Wednesday, 13 January 2010 16:46

Written by oniouttapam news

The unprecedented crisis in Indian Hockey may finally come to an end. In an unusual move, millions of fans of Indian Hockey have come out of the woods pledging that they will financially support Hockey India (HI) by watching hockey matches in stadiums and on television.

Chief of HI, Ashok Kumar Mottoo welcomed the decision of the fans to watch hockey matches, "Although no one believed me, I always knew that Indian hockey actually has fans. Till now they were invisible, but I'm glad that they have finally come out in open and pledged to watch hockey matches. I'm sure once these fans start thronging stadiums when hockey matches are played, we will be able to generate revenue just like BCCI."

President of the Indian Hockey Fans Association (IHFA) Mukesh Agrawal admitted that the crisis in Indian hockey arose because they had abandoned watching the game. "Yes, we were hockey fans but just on paper. We wanted Indian Hockey team to win medals at Olympics and World Cup, but unlike fans of Indian Cricket team, we didn't do anything to support the hockey team. We didn't buy tickets to watch live games. We never watched hockey on television. Most of us won't be able to even name any of the  players that make up the national team. Hell, many of us have never watched a live hockey match for full 70 minutes and our exposure to watching hockey is limited to watching SRK's movie Chak De."

Mukesh Agrawal said that as a student of economics he realizes that without the support of fans, Indian hockey is doomed, "If Chak De had flopped, even SRK wouldn't have tweeted about hockey players. We made Chak De a super-hit movie which allowed the producers to pay SRK and the actors who made up the women's hockey team. Now we have to make our hockey team a big hit by actually watching them when they play. Its now up to us to make hockey stars as big as cricket stars. If we start learning more about them, follow their exploits on the field and worship them the way we worship cricketers, sponsors too will rush in and cut deals with hockey players."

Reacting to the news, sponsors of the hockey team, Sahara India issued a press statement. "We are happy to hear the news of the support of hockey fans to the team.  Please love your hockey players as much as you love your Tendulkars and Sehwags. If fans of Indian hockey give us  superstars as popular as Yuvraj Singh or Dhoni, we too will loosen our purse-strings."

Comments (0)

Name

Email

Website

Comment

smaller | bigger

Add Comment