The strike by the Indian hockey hopefuls brings to the fore once again that vested interests have taken over sports, where officials are in for the perks rather than to serve.
SPORT and money have come to be inextricably linked in these permissive times. While the passing of the amateur era might have helped lend a more competitive edge to most sports, the resulting domination of Mammon has certainly diminished the spirit of gamesmanship.
Both individual and team sports are now more and more driven by match fees, sponsorship, and monetary awards for winning, with the result that the sheer joy and excitement of participating no longer counts for much with most players.
The crass commercialisation of sport was brought home last week to most Indians when the national hockey team went on strike, refusing to train ahead of next month’s World Cup, scheduled to be held in New Delhi.
Earlier, in January, the hockey probables gathered in Pune, Maha-rashtra, to attend the coaching camp. Soon they served notice on Hockey India, the administrative body of the game, making it clear that they would not train unless they were paid the backlog of their fees for 2009 and assured of higher compensation for the current year.
Officials controlling Hockey India were flummoxed. Initially, they took the ultimatum lightly, pleading that donning national colours was a bigger honour than a few lakhs of rupees.
Source : http://thestar.com.my/columnists/story.asp?col=indiadiary&file=/2010/1/18/columnists/indiadiary/5483483&sec=India%20Diary
SPORT and money have come to be inextricably linked in these permissive times. While the passing of the amateur era might have helped lend a more competitive edge to most sports, the resulting domination of Mammon has certainly diminished the spirit of gamesmanship.
Both individual and team sports are now more and more driven by match fees, sponsorship, and monetary awards for winning, with the result that the sheer joy and excitement of participating no longer counts for much with most players.
The crass commercialisation of sport was brought home last week to most Indians when the national hockey team went on strike, refusing to train ahead of next month’s World Cup, scheduled to be held in New Delhi.
Earlier, in January, the hockey probables gathered in Pune, Maha-rashtra, to attend the coaching camp. Soon they served notice on Hockey India, the administrative body of the game, making it clear that they would not train unless they were paid the backlog of their fees for 2009 and assured of higher compensation for the current year.
Officials controlling Hockey India were flummoxed. Initially, they took the ultimatum lightly, pleading that donning national colours was a bigger honour than a few lakhs of rupees.
Source : http://thestar.com.my/columnists/story.asp?col=indiadiary&file=/2010/1/18/columnists/indiadiary/5483483&sec=India%20Diary
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