India 20 – Sri Lanka 0 Who is accountable?

It’s true that, on their day, underdogs can forge victory over champions. But the decline of Sri Lankan hockey since the glory days of the 50s was spot-lighted by defeats of embarrassing simplicity at last month’s Asia cup Tournament in Chennai.

Sri Lanka returned with the distinction of being marginally better than the worst team in their pool (Thailand) and Singapore who also recorded zero points in their pool. History will record that, of the 5 games they played, Sri Lanka lost all except a victory over rank-outsiders Thailand.

This performance will be particularly hard to swallow for people who remember the golden age not to mention those who were once part of a winning team.

In 1959, Ceylon toured India whose invincibility was undeniable. Even more than now they were the powerhouse of the international stage. Ceylon played 5 matches during a cold Punjab winter oblivious that they were chosen as strong opposition for India’s Olympic preparations.

Ceylon was lauded as a formidable force despite failing to qualify for the 1960 Olympics and recorded only narrow defeats against India’s Goliath. They returned having earned their first ranking of 5th in the World.

In the subsequent decades, the sport has nose-dived culminating in the 20 – 0 defeat by India which followed a 12 – 2 thrashing by South Korea.

Raised expectations were shattered against Bangladesh who won 3 – 2. After the only win against Thailand, they were crushed by China 10 – 2.

They ended the competition beating Singapore 6 – 0 in a play-off to decide 9th and 10th position from the 11 teams that entered.

In March 2006, the former Minister of Sports, Jeevan Kumaranatunge installed an interim* committee to head the S.L.H.F after a farcical election process failed to agree any appointments.

(*INTERIM: Oxford English dictionary definition. From the Latin; Meanwhile. Relating to less than a full year’s business activity. Temporary).

In 18 months of interim helmsmanship, business has been conducted secretly and a legally required AGM has not been assembled.
To much disappointment, several amply qualified nominees for the top posts within the S.L.H.A. were overlooked in favour of a man whose motives and actions were found so questionable by his opponent when contesting the original election that he brought legal actions regarding breaches of constitutional regulations. The Minister’s appointment of Sumith Edirisinghe as President was, nevertheless, finalised even while these actions were pending.

Other, sensible choice nominees took no further part and withdrew voluntarily citing general incompetence and financial mismanagement as reasons.

And still it remains for anyone to release a qualified briefing on where it all went wrong in Chennai and what plans, if any, they have to improve the truly lamentable situation off the pitch.

Gamini Jayasinghe is the current secretary of the SLHF’s interim committee.

He says, “The tournament in Chennai was so the Sri Lanka team could experience playing among Asia’s best. The players can then take their experiences back to their associations to pass on what they have learned.”

Regularly playing superior opposition has boded well for other struggling teams like Brunei and Macau but the theory behind this trusted method has eluded the S.L.H.F who have adopted a reversed approach.

Hong Kong, Singapore, Macau and Chinese Taipei have already responded to recent invitations and have agreed in principle to tour Sri Lanka early next year but more accomplished opponents would provide a sterner test and provide fans with the chance to witness top class hockey. Inviting Asia’s worst can serve no purpose.

In the light of these bold plans that remain to be realised – secretary Jayasinghe is confident that Sri Lanka hockey is in a strong position.

“In five years we will be the best team in Asia”.

This optimism is difficult to understand when considering the unorthodox selection process. The pool of players from which the Chennai squad was selected was invited to trials by the interim committee when the coaches from the hockey associations would be infinitely better qualified to provide the nation with the best possible team.

The trials took place in mid-July leaving only six weeks to fine-tune a team for a major competition.

Another immediate problem is the absence of an up-to-standard playing surface in Colombo. The City’s only facility was due for reconditioning in January 2007 but this urgent work has been shelved until January 2008.

Perhaps the biggest bone of contention is the long-absent AGM but such a meeting has now been scheduled for January 2008 and will coincide with the launch of a new website.

A defence offered by Mr Jayasinghe on how S.L.H.F. business is conducted was to compare the regime to its counterpart in cricket. Whilst they may have the same style of temporary governance, the big difference is that the eyes of the nation are scrutinising cricket’s every move.

If the cricket team returned from India having suffered the biggest defeat in their history, their interim committee would be churlish to ignore the 20m people keen to discover how this travesty evolved. In hockey the fan base is negligible by comparison and the absence of accountability after the catastrophic performance in Chennai is unfortunate but expected.