TeaTimeTreats: The Nehru Hockey Story

 

1. Inauguration of the first-ever Nehru hockey tournament by Ms Vijay Laxmi Pandit, Diplomat, Politician, and 8th President of the United Nations General Assembly, in the presence of Mr Kaul of Nehru Hockey Society.

2. A GOAL SCORING ACTION  - Western Railways Balbir Singh Grewal scoring against BSF in one of the Nehru semi-finals as Vinod Kumar looks on.

3. Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi addressing the finalists of the Nehru Under-17 Boys tournament alongside their team officials.

A Nation's Passion: The Nehru Hockey Story

Prof Avinash Singh

Over the last 61 years Nehru hockey tournament has developed a strange affinity with people of various hues and walks. They have been coming to New Delhi's Shivaji Stadium for their addiction to hockey and sheer love of the stick and ball game, which India once taught the world through the likes of Gian Singh, G S Bhangu, and others.

The hordes included the men from the Jain Mandir complex, the commoners from nearby areas, traders from Panchkuian Road, Paharganj, and Karol Bagh. The sport gave them kicks, and their cosy afternoons in light November and early December were well spent. The stadium was a hive of activity; its seats filled with eager ticket-holders (See pictures).

Among the regulars were groups from Old and South Delhi, from West's Patel Nagar and Rajouri Garden. They included punters too!

They came in bunches and added to the roar of crowd to the dashes of Inder Singh, Balbir Grewal Railways (there was always more than one Balbir on field), Haripal Kaushik, Harbinder Singh Chimni, Inam-ur Rehman, Peter Philips and tackles of great Udham Singh, Gurbux Singh, Harmeek Singh, Mukhbain Singh and later dear friends Surjit Singh Randhawa and Baldev Singh Sidhu.

Then there were the followers of brilliant half-liners and defenders Krishnamurti, Ajitpal Singh, Gurmail Singh Rai, V C Bhaskaran, Prem Somaya, Michael Kindo, Aslam Sher Khan, Sujit Kumar, M P Singh, Rajinder Singh, and Pargat Singh. The latter, who is the only Indian to lead at two consecutive Olympics, received the biggest applause from crowds in the late 1980s and 90s. This was when Dhanraj Pillai's era was beginning. 

For many years in the 1970s and 80s, groups came for the fireworks provided by Harcharan Boparai, Kulwant Singh, Zafar Iqbal, Ashok Dhyan Chand, Syed Ali, B P Govinda, Mervyn Fernandes, M P Ganesh, V J Philip, Surinder Singh Sodhi, and Bhajan Singh 'Vespa'.

Sodhi apart, it was diminutive winger Bhajan, known as 'scooter', who provided the maximum thrill. Once the ball was with Bhajan 'Vespa', his darts and sprints on the right flank and passes to Amardeep or Sodhi would literally bring the house down. Harcharan Singh's barefoot runs on the left are still firmly in mind.

Then there was another man on the sidelines whose tearing runs, dashes, and scoots attracted much attention. It was the ball-picker 'Satti'. For years, he was the heart and soul of Nehru Hockey. His one absence from the field, the decibels of prolonged uproars would reverberate in the stadium,m and he would be brought back. Organisers - Shiv Kumar Verma, K G Kakkar and N L Narang - always saw to it that 'Satti' was felicitated by the respective chief guests, invariably successive Presidents of India for well over 15 years and other dignitaries, including Vice Presidents of India and Prime Ministers, both incumbent and would be, besides Central Ministers, Chiefs of Armed Forces and other dignitaries.

The Golden Jubilee finals boasted an impressive lineup, featuring seven Presidents, Vice Presidents, and Prime Ministers – including Lal Bahadur Shastri and Rajiv Gandhi – alongside Indira Gandhi, then Union I&B Minister, and Gen J S Singh, Army Chief, among other distinguished guests.

Regulars included hockey buffs, like Bahadur Singh. A leading timber merchant of Paharganj, he would watch every game carefully. Singh would invite this journalist to cone coffee at Gaylord restaurant, after I had finished my reports, to discuss and dissect every important match threadbare. He was a fan of Inam-ur Rehman, Chimni brothers - Harbinder, HJS, and Harvinder -- often criticised Surinder Singh Bhapa for his handling of one of the Punjab teams and Gundeep Kumar, son of former India custodian Raj Kumar, alongside Amardeep for their wayward shooting. Surinder Sodhi, he always thought, could have done better with his goal-scoring abilities.

Bahadur Singh was an encyclopaedia on umpires like Gian Singh, Satinderpal Walia (a player-turned-umpire and then a coach), R S Sodhi, Kukoo Walia, and R S Bawa. Seeing Raghu Prasad in his early days, he once quipped: "He would go a long way." Raghu today has umpired at many Olympics, four World Cups, and three Asian Games on the lines of Gian Singh sahib. He was a fan of Charles Cornelius under the bar and later Romeo James and Ashok Dewan. He didn't live to see P J Sreejesh shine.

Bahadur Singh always insisted that many nations are playing hockey because late Gian Singh and later Kukoo Walia coached their teams.

Mukesh Tandon, who once played for Delhi State and SBI, would come on a bicycle from Paharganj to practice at Shivaji Stadium, is still a disciplined visitor. He brings his own lunch and partakes it with Kukoo Walia, the Secretary General of the Jawaharlal Nehru Hockey Tournament Society (JNHTS), in his cabin. Walia, alongside ID Kapur, AP Kaushik, and Mahesh Kumar, form the select group that has been keeping the traditions of Nehru hockey alive.

Bhupinder Singh and Rohit Chauhan, both from different IRS batches, are the others who have been contributing their services as vice president and secretary of the Society. So have been Arun Jethi and Gyan Chand!

Former RBI official, turned hockey writer, Sukhdev Singh, is another familiar face at the ground, despite advanced age. Rattan Singh, a former star of Indian Airlines and an international player, is another familiar face. Starting with the under-15 Nehru tournament, he rarely misses a match. The septuagenarian is still very fit. D P Singh is a regular presence at the stadium. One cannot miss Rajesh Bhatia, the man who helps management pick up the player of every match and all the tournaments.

A regular at Shivaji Stadium is Harvinder Singh Bedi, a direct descendant of Guru Nanak. His chacha Baba Anoop Singh, the 16th successor of the Sikh Master, has been the 'Gaddi Nashin' of Gurdwara Chola Sahib, near Dera Baba Nanak.  The place still has the flowing robe that was presented to the Guru by a Sufi faqir. Harvinder comes quietly to matches, would do some shooting with his cell, make some enquiries, and leave. But visit he must!

The contributions of legendary commentators Jasdev Singh, Anupam Ghulati, Gurdev Singh Soin, and Avtar Singh Sethi to Nehru Hockey can never be ignored.

About the author:

Prof Avinash Singh is a former journalist of Hindustan Times, who covered sports for the first 11 years of his career. Having been a Political Correspondent for long, he took to Academics and was Professor, Dean, Director, DG, and Pro-VC with various Govt and private universities before superannuation. He now writes on sports and other pressing national issues for various publications.