Hockey Nationals 2024: Pressing need to restructure tournament after increased one-sided matches

As teams get ready for the quarterfinals on Wednesday, the rising number of one-sided matches in the Senior Nationals has been a source of concern.

Sundrapandi of Tamil Nadu scored a goal against Andaman & Nicobar during the 14th Senior Men’s National Hockey Tournament in Chennai. | Photo Credit: RAGU R/The Hindu

In the ongoing 14th Hockey India Senior National Men’s Championship here, at the SDAT-Mayor Radhakrishnan Stadium, there have only been a handful of exciting, nail-biting and keenly contested matches.

In the group stages of the tournament, the ones between Jharkhand and Maharashtra (2-2) and Manipur and Bengal (3-1) were perfect examples.

But ahead of the quarterfinals scheduled on Wednesday, the number of one-sided matches has been a huge concern. The contest that triggered the cry for restructuring the Nationals was between Tamil Nadu and Andaman and Nicobar (A&N) in Pool C.

TN needed to beat A&N by a 40-goal margin to enter the knockouts and did so in style, beating it 43-0 and stopping Madhya Pradesh (also in Pool C) from qualifying. 

Former India players and coaches have been vocal about making the Nationals a two-tier system, including Olympian V. Baskaran. He feels that weaker teams such as A&N, Rajasthan, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Himachal and Bihar should play amongst themselves and the top two teams among them should make it to the Nationals, where the stronger teams compete.

Similarly, he said that the bottom two teams from the Nationals should be demoted to the second tier. “This will encourage lower-level teams to believe in winning games rather than conceding huge numbers of goals to opponents,” Baskaran said.

“This will motivate all the states, administrators, players and coaches to prepare competitively. Otherwise, there will be no process to progress in their states.”

However, Haryana’s head coach Sandeep Sangwan didn’t see any merit in the suggestions as the players, he said, who are in the second tier will not be eligible for government jobs. “These things (weaker teams conceding a huge number of goals) have happened earlier also. The process of creating two tiers will not help the second-tier teams’ players to get a government job as the certificates (for such tournaments) will be of no value.

“It’s the high-performance director’s responsibility to ensure weaker teams get better. They have to send coaches and ensure teams like A&N, Telangana and other teams get the support. I don’t think the two-tier formula is feasible,” he said.

While refusing to get into the debate of relegation and promotion, India selector and former India captain Mohd. Riaz said Indian players should have taken part in the current Nationals as that would have had more support from the locals.

“With no Olympics, a few of the Indian players could have been included in this Nationals. That way, it would have ensured more people come to the stadium to watch them play,” he said.

Hockey India should involve all the coaches and players in a discussion to find a lasting solution to the vexed issue of a huge number of one-sided matches in the Group stage of the Senior Nationals in order to make the tournament a more competitive and just one.