We have lost the match. We were no match for Australians... well to all I am talking about HOCKEY here...I love the game and I am not ashamed of it. The whole 90 minutes were gripping and I heard the crowd cheering whenever ball was with the Indian players and I wondered is this why they are still on the field?
I seriously wonder why these men are running, sweating trying to work the ball to the goal post. They were no match for Australians but their game is also no match for the politics that their ‘karta Dharta’s’ play! And now they have a got a great sponsor HERO HONDA, which is running a campaign called ‘fir dil do hockey ko’ ...the campaign is supposed to bring the goodwill back with the game that has lost its shine in the country long ago.
What disappointed me today was not that we lost the match miserably but the miserable advertisement of this campaign. The ad is advertising only Hero Honda bikes where the ‘hockey’ in it is not even for five seconds! Another thing is that we can see a Hero Honda bike actually parked in the studio where the channel telecasts it’s after match analysis...ahh well my ultimate realization struck me again...that they are using HOCKEY as a tool to advertise themselves. Looking at the crowd today in the New Delhi national stadium I did not feel that HOCKEY has lost any hearts!
Another amazing blunder that occurred today, the commentator of the match said proudly that India was so PROUD of their win against Pakistan that they almost declared a national holiday yesterday!...hmnn I don’t expect him to know that yesterday was Holi and it is a national holiday... I think he needs some ultimate realization to strike him!
Anyhow Holi reminds me of a colour red in the form of blood that we ask from our hockey players. The finance and the politics around them are sucking their blood.
I am going to watch every match that India plays in this world cup and the commonwealth and so on but I will not be disappointed if they lose, because They not only have to face the opposite team but the battles within.
Today the Arjun Hallapa and Rajpal Singh(if you know that they are our hockey players and the later one is the CAPTAIN) goal was utmost representation of the SKILLED hockey that we play. When we are in the circle we are a dangerous team...
Whether they are TIGERS, PEACKOKS OR HOCKEY ; I think we don’t like anything that is declared as NATIONAL. Hockey haven’t lost any hearts...it will revive, survive and live longer than any other game!
Get together people...if we cannot contribute to New Delhi ticket box at least contribute to TRP’s
Live on TEN Sports
Great observation there Neha, especially the second last para that says "Whether they are TIGERS, PEACKOKS OR HOCKEY ; I think we don’t like anything that is declared as NATIONAL."
ReplyDeleteI seriously have no comments to make... But one thing's for sure... though I am not a sports fanatic (That includes Cricket), I will surely make an attempt to watch the Hockey World Cup matches whenever India's playing... Thats the least I CAN DO.....
I think you are a bit too hard on Hero Honda. Whats wrong if they put their advertises. they are the sponsors of this World Cup. Whats wrong if they use hockey as a tool, it is a win win situation whr hockey is being promoted as well as hero honda. if they show their bikes and scooters in the ads, why not. they are not donating money and one should not expect them to promote hockey w/o promoting their own products. it just does not work and next time hockey wont have any sponsors then. we should change our attitude of getting everything for free just for something declared as 'national'. if hockey gets popularity as cricket, then do you think any of the players or hockey India are going to do something for free for hero honda.
ReplyDeleteI think it is very lame of us that we are crying out asking everyone to watch our 'national sport'. I just don't understand why it is still our national sport? A national sport should be the one most of the citizens like and follow , not the other way that we have a declared national sport and then we ask people to like it. so lame..
Pranav
even i am dissapointed by the fact that we have to convince people to watch the sport but Hockey is an indian sport...it was the desi sport before and if we check our history the glory that hockey has brought us, Cricket is nowhere around...it is declared as national bacause its OUR game and we still have indian hockey federation.....the problem is our hockey players mind their own business after 90 mins of play...they dont appear in media and neither they appear in any of the advertisements....we dont see enough of them as we are bombarded with sehwag'a and dhoni's....and we want now sehwag to beg us to watch hockey because he is going to watch hockey!!!!!! thats pathetic...i know hero honda is advertising themselves...but their tagline 'FIR DIL DO HOCKEY KO' MEANs HOCKEY HAS LOST HEARTS AND HERO HONDA WILL BRING THEM ONN...WELL LOOKING AT PACKED STADIUM YESTERDAY I DID NOT FEEL SO....ITS A GREAT GAME and i dont find anything that will kill it other than our ignorance and politics...you have to do lame things when they are absolutely necessary...and lets see if hero honda survives till 14th march as a sponsor...its again in our hands..if we watch the game our players will earn atleast some DIGNITY on their part...another thing ...i dont find any hockey player in those advertisements...if they have taken up hockey as a tool then they should atleast make some use of it ...
ReplyDeleteI don't understand what is so DESI about hockey and the reason to get so emotional about it. It was introduced in India by British. Yes, we had a golden era of Indian Hockey, and yes, Hockey was damn popular that time. but I guess the popularity was due to our team's performance. and it has been since referred as National Sport/Game. What do you mean by 'declared'? who declared it?
ReplyDeletewhy do you want to CONVINCE people to watch Hockey? People have their choice and likes, those who want to watch hockey will watch it, those who love cricket will watch cricket and those who love Football, F1 , Tennis, Polo or WWE they will watch what they like. really, you want to convince people about what they like! so democratic!
and yea, it is not that our hockey players mind their own business after 90 mins, frankly if offered everyone will jump for the ad shoots, but if offered. and those who feature in ads are those who are popular (as far as sportsmen are concerned). Popularity is something you earn. If Hockey players earn that popularity, no doubt they will be offered ads and big money.
Pranav
but whats wrong in appealing people to watch the sport and make it revive.....thats what we are doing with tigers when they are on the verge of extinction and thats what we are doing with mother earth when it is under pressure of global warming...we run a campaign and make people aware..the national game concept might be outdated but it still remains a sport that is dying a slow death...hockey in india is popular in terms of injustice...i know in democracy we can not convince somebody to do something...its an appeal and not an order...but isnt that democracy means everyone should get their fair chance...popularity is earned completely agreed but they earn it because they get that scope...let them not enjoy the same status as cricketers thats practicaly imposible...but they are also the players of the national team..they deserve some assurance and some suport from everybody there is nothing wrong in that...and ofcourse it should be voluntary...the way we glorify our failure to get into olympics and not being the top ten team...shows that we expect them to do well and win..its not a lighter issue..if we expect we should also give something back to them...and to tell you more hockey has done something great for my BLOG...first time such debate and coversation...thanks to hockey and you..keep posting..
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