Indian hockey team is playing one of the most important tournaments of the game. In 2008, at the Beijing Olympics Indian men failed to make it to the tournament and that was the first time since 1928 that the India hockey team was not competing in the Olympics.
This time India has everything to play for, most of the players in the team believes that it is a make or break situation for Indian hockey. They say that if they can qualify they can revive the game or else it’s going to be late.
The matches are being played at Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium in New Delhi and in during the time when it’s perfect for a spectator to come and watch the game. The first match in whom India defeated Singapore 15-1 there were empty stands to be seen. The policemen and security guards outnumbered the spectators hands down!
The ticket price is set for Rs. 300 and Rs. 500 and maybe that is one of the main reasons for the fans to avoid coming in the stadium and watch their National Game. Hero Motors have come up with a slogan ‘fir dil do hockey ko’ to inspire the fans to get involved in the game, but it doesn’t seems to work.
Indian hockey needs the support of the people as they have openly admitted that the home advantage will come into play when there are people present in the stadium, otherwise it would look like any other stadium in the world.
After the Singapore thrashing it was expected that more fans will come to watch the next match as it was also a Sunday. It never happened though; the numbers did increase but not substantially.
It’s sad to see that people do not want to come to a hockey match, they have all the reasons to be out there and cheering for their team and the sport that has given them maximum glory, they have won 8 Olympics gold and no team in the world is close to their record.
The organizers can also be blamed for the low turnout. They could have done better with the pricing of the tickets. Most of the people earn 300 rupees in a day, is it not unfair to expect them to spend their day’s earning on the match.
Passes are only delivered to those people who can afford the tickets. Student’s might have a free entry, but which parent will let their son or daughter to go out and watch a match that ends at 9.30 in the night all by themselves.
If India scoring 15 goals cannot make spectators come and watch the game played in their own backyard, then only God knows where this game is going.
Indian Sports News
