Phir Dil Do Hockey Ko!!!
The Hockey Team has qualified for the London Olympics by demolishing France 8-1. After they missed out on a berth in the last Olympics this was a brilliant display by them and hopefully they will win us a medal this time:)
Reason: minor correction
Congrats team India ,hope they do all of us proud in London .
Dil se kuch nahi hoga maamu, show them the money.
SAHARA pays sponsorship of Rs.3.5 crores for every cricket match and Only Rs.8 crore for the entire year to Hockey (Men's, Women's & Junior's team).
Oh, hockey was long since abandoned as the national sport, not by the official way, but by us fans who lived and breathed cricket. Sahara just happens to be the big name in the large list of "cricket fans".
I don't think it's just about the money. Compare the performance of any sport in India, including Hockey, with Cricket since the 80s when people actually started following first via radio and then through television. While cricket has consistently done well, hockey has gone backwards. There was a phase around 2002-2004 when Indian hockey had started to gain some popularity. It was because we were playing good hockey and winning for eg. Asia Cup, a solid performance in the Champions Trophy. But soon afterwards, we started losing and losing badly. 2008 we missed out on the Olympics berth. 2010 we played poorly in the WC held in India.
Also important is the fact that Indian hockey is one of the worst run organisation in India. There is no continuity in selection.
I think whenever the Indian hockey team is playing, people support it. I can definitely talk about a lot of youth. But the fact is Indian hockey gives more reasons to curse than to cheer.
I also think that during the golden period of Indian Hockey, most of us were not born.
Then they went down in their performances drastically.
At the same time cricket saw a phenomenal rise with India winning the WC in 1983. So our generation is fed on cricket.
But I still follow the Indian Hockey team :)
Please go a bit more back to history. We never lost a match since 1930s and ruled this game for more than 35 years! What happened suddenly in 80s then? We started giving so much attention to Cricket that we forgot all other sports. Recently, our world-champion Kabaddi team was seen struggling to get an auto to get back home from airport when they came back from their winning journey!
Agree DS, but the question is that why did Hockey decline? Why was not money pumped to our national sport while Cricket used to get more than required money. Everyone knows that India is the only country which is spending so much money on Cricket ignoring other sports and moreover, every cricket player here becomes a model/actor/host/sainger aur na jaane kya kya
@ Animesh
I am a big fan of Hockey, let me make that very clear. During the 2004 Olympics which were held in Athens (not sure), I would watch all Indian Hockey matches on DD which would start at 1.30 am!!!
The mention of Indian Cricket team in the description was just to soothe some nerves, I have always supported Hockey. The fact that they made it to the Olympics after the debacle of last year was very good news for me :)
Coming to cricket, Leo explained it pretty well. One thing I can add, I had a chat with one of my cricket crazy friends yesterday and we talked about how India will still get into the finals. I have such die hard fans as my friends. The Indian team is loosing which is not sad as it happens in any sport but the way they are loosing is disheartening.
I too follow it. I didn't watch the Athens matches though. I watch India's hockey matches if I get kabza on the remote, and before, I used to watch the now non functioning tournament of the Premier Hockey League as well. Its just that hockey is so less popularized as our national sport that others seem to get the priority.
Your own preferance shows up in the photo, you have chosen a cricket ball over a hockey ball!!! 90% of indians do the same!!
This seems harsh, but that's reality!
I have updated the topic and removed the mention of our Cricket team!
I was just happy that we qualified for the Olympics and wanted to share it here.
People mistook it that because the Cricket team is playing badly so I have switched sports!!!
Good you changed , though it wasn't necessary .
Chalo, maine kuchh to accha kiya forum pe aaj 
But, I still feel that Hockey team or for that matter, any other team is not getting what they deserved. Today we are taling about Hockey because they won. We did not remember them till yesterday when they needed monney to survive and facilities for training.
Holmes, nothing personal mate
I am asking a generic question. You can see how people are behaving after the team has won
phir dil do hockey dekh ke ek hi gaana yaad aata hai- "hum mein hai hero!!!"
Cheers to India!!!!!
Congrats Team India for qualifying to play Olympics.....
Maybe it should be, "Phir dil do Indian National Hockey Team Ko" rather than "hockey" ko.
I support and watch national team matches, both cricket and hockey, and even football if I can get the remote wrenched away from parents. Watching them play and cheering is heartfelt. Uncomparable.
IPL, WSH, erstwhile CCL etc are once a way entertainment tournaments, nothing more. Whereas they do help in a way to discover talented cricketers, they also have a side-effect of wreaking havoc on that national team.
Maybe so, DS. but its not worth "cheering" for, or watching "addictively" I feel.
Who is going to Win WSH ? Thoughts
Who is going to Win WSH ? Thoughts
I hope with renewed sponsorship and WSH there will be hockey followership. As a cricketer i don t mind watching good hockey.
Pathetic display - 3 straight losses. Now wonder hockey can't compete with cricket.
What is the use winning the other two? Indian hockey team always does that - winning inconsequential matches. I actually sat down to see the Germany match and very disappointing ! Newspapers said second match also was pathetic. I have never heard of Newzealand hockey team before. Only first match my clients in Netherland told me India played well.
I quite find the balance :P When hockey team won the qualifiers a few months back, that time, cricket was in a rut. When hockey is in a rut, Indian cricket team is winning. Ppl can only cheer one sport to winning, is it? :D
Hockey team has emulated the cricket team's feats in England. White wash in olympics.
Not yet TF... 11th/12th place playoff remains.. v/s South Africa on Saturday.
@DS, I'll take solace in that fact if India DRUB South Africa on Saturday.. maybe by a big margin. If they lose, I'll not find much solace.
The clean sweep finally complete. Lost 6 pout of 6 matches finishing last.
Is it the hall of shame? Or has there been more terrible time in Hockey in India at Olympics?
Yes that itself is a big achievement considering the fact that once we used to be champions.
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