Ten days, six games and 34 goals later, the FIH Pro League closed its door in India for the year 2022. And Bhubaneswar was buzzing through those six matchdays. The 15,000-capacity stadium looked nearly sold-out for all the India games and there was a buzz in the air that brought hockey back to life again.
New Zealand, under the watchful eyes of coach Greg Nicol, entertained us with their expansive style of hockey. On the other hand, Max Caldas and his Spanish Red Sticks gave us a glimpse of what to expect from them at the World Cup in two months’ time, where they are in the same group as hosts India.
In the end, after witnessing some scintillating hockey, and maybe a little basketball, India lead the FIH Pro League on goal difference. New Zealand gained two points from their four games while Spain was tied on eight points with India.
While most things were smooth sailing, the crowd was visibly disappointed on two occasions during the week. Both were due to penalty corners being awarded after defenders last touched the ball before letting it sail over the baseline.
As per the official rulebook, updated in January 2022, “The FIH Rules Committee continues to be concerned that some Rules are not applied consistently. Rule 7.4.c: ball intentionally played over the backline by a defender 7 and no goal is scored. If it is clear that the action is intentional, umpires should not hesitate to award a penalty corner.”
With defenders finding it tough to clear off their lines, and tackling becoming difficult, the interpretation of what is a deliberate hit or not becomes important.
This rule has been a hot topic of discussion among fans for quite some time. Max Caldas, coach of the Spanish team and Graham Reid, coach of the Indian team had some interesting views on the same.
“There’s not much I can say. While the corners that were awarded today were fair and square, it’s about us adapting to the rule change,” said Caldas after the shoot-out loss to India on Sunday. “Though sometimes I wish they would ask us more about why these things have to be changed. Another question is why do we change things when we don’t need to. I was never asked about them, in fact I spoke to Graham (Reid) before the game as well. He wasn’t asked about them either.”
It is interesting to note that the coaches too are discussing these fronts. Reid was also on the same page.
“We need to work it out. It’s already difficult when you are defending but when you add something extra to do, it makes it even worse. We need to practise this, change some of our techniques. But it is hard because you have spent your whole life playing a certain way, tackling a certain way and now the rules change. We just need to make sure that doesn’t happen,” the Australian added.
Coach Reid also discussed the team’s disciplinary woes on the pitch. India collected seven green cards and three yellow cards in their four games. “It is something we’ve addressed quite a lot. Maybe in Australia we can work on it and correct it,” he added.
Talking about Australia and the road ahead, Reid mentioned that they were looking at a test tournament in Rourkela as preparation for the World Cup.
He also shared some worrying news about Vivek Sagar Prasad, who for quite some time has become a mainstay in the Indian midfield.
“Vivek is recovering from a broken foot. He broke it four or five weeks ago and he’s trying to get back. He will certainly miss the tour to Australia. We will assess him once we are back but it’s an injury which we’ll have to be careful about,” the head coach said.
Team India will next play a five-match test series against the reigning Commonwealth Games champions Australia from November 26 to December 2 during their tour Down Under.
Yashodhan Nakhare is a freelance hockey reporter, who runs @The_StickFlick.
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