10-29-2006, 08:16 AM
(This post was last modified: 10-29-2006, 08:18 AM by Bharatvarsh.)
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->It's so easy to forget ...
By Sundeep Misra
Indianhockey.com writer
August 30, Monday, 1999
There are moments when I feel ashamed of the times that I live in. July 29th was one of those days. The sports pages of the newspapers shocked me. Not even one daily had any write-up on Dhyan Chand. July 29th was Indiaâs and probably the worldâs most brilliant hockey playerâs birthday.
Not long ago we had celebrated the birthday of Donald Bradman, an Australian. Indian sports writers who pride themselves on the thickness of their passports rather than the quality of their writing wrote words singing praises for Don Bradman. No way am I saying that Bradman wasnât a great cricketer. He was the greatest. So was Dhyan Chand. But will Australian sports writers ever sit down and write 500 words in praise of the worldâs greatest hockey player ever. No they wonât. Not because they donât who Dhyan Chand was but for them celebration begins at home.
Dhyan Chand is an icon in Indian hockey. Right up there among the best that this country has produced. People who have seen him talk about his magic. I learnt about Dhyan Chand from my grandfather. So many nights together on the terrace, he told me about the magic in Dhyan Chandâs stick. For so many nights, did I dream about Dhyan Chand dribbling away, the ball stuck to the stick as if glue had been applied.
It was this magic that mesmerised Adolf Hitler during the Olympic Games of 1936. Hitler even offered Dhyan Chand a high-ranking position in the German army and asked him to stay back. But Dhyan Chand was not of the nineties .. a simple man, all he wanted was to play hockey and return to his hometown Jhansi.
Dhyan Chand played in the 1928-32-36 Olympic Games. After the 8-1 drubbing of Germany in the 1936 Berlin Olympics, Dhyan Chand became a world famous player. In India, whenever he played a match in any part of the country, fans came in thousands.
After years of ignoring him the government finally decided to install a statute at the National Stadium. But like all other statutes, this too was fast losing its greenish metallic colour. The way we are losing our way in world hockey.
If a country forgets itâs heroes, forgets the very players who brought so much of fame and a sense of pride to our sports, it is but natural that the game will flounder too.
It is high time we realise what nationalism means! What commitment means! Those were the very qualities that Dhyan Chand had. Of course, these words have no meaning in Indian sport, especially among our present day sportsmen and sports officials. Nation comes last. The cash comes first.
But even the players are not to be blamed. What can you do in a country where even the Indian Hockey Federation didnât remember that July 29th was the birthday of the greatest hockey player that we have produced ?
If we have to be champions, we have to learn to respect the past. Learn to respect the people who with their achievements built a future for us.
Learn to respect players of the talent and brilliance of Dhyan Chand.
http://www.indianhockey.com/html/dhyan.htm<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Dhyan Chand died in 1979 a broken man in poverty, he was so bitter that he wouldn't even allow his kids to play hockey. Very few Indians today remember this man who is still considered the Wayne Gretzky of field Hockey.
Can you ever imagine if Canada will ever forget Gretzky or if US will forget Michael Jorden or Brazil will forget Pele or Argentina will forget Maradona?
But we Indian's have forgotten one of the greatest sports heroes our country produced, no wonder Indian hockey is in such a state today, back in the day no one could match us, the Brits used to be afraid to play against us for shame of losing to a colony of theirs, Dhyan Chand's team smashed Hitlers race pride along with Jesse Owen's in the 1936 Olympics but more Indian's know about the latter than the former. His team also beat USA 24-1 creating a record which still stands unbroken, his brother Roop Singh scored 10 goals in the match and created a record for himself which still stands.
A truly sad state of affairs.
By Sundeep Misra
Indianhockey.com writer
August 30, Monday, 1999
There are moments when I feel ashamed of the times that I live in. July 29th was one of those days. The sports pages of the newspapers shocked me. Not even one daily had any write-up on Dhyan Chand. July 29th was Indiaâs and probably the worldâs most brilliant hockey playerâs birthday.
Not long ago we had celebrated the birthday of Donald Bradman, an Australian. Indian sports writers who pride themselves on the thickness of their passports rather than the quality of their writing wrote words singing praises for Don Bradman. No way am I saying that Bradman wasnât a great cricketer. He was the greatest. So was Dhyan Chand. But will Australian sports writers ever sit down and write 500 words in praise of the worldâs greatest hockey player ever. No they wonât. Not because they donât who Dhyan Chand was but for them celebration begins at home.
Dhyan Chand is an icon in Indian hockey. Right up there among the best that this country has produced. People who have seen him talk about his magic. I learnt about Dhyan Chand from my grandfather. So many nights together on the terrace, he told me about the magic in Dhyan Chandâs stick. For so many nights, did I dream about Dhyan Chand dribbling away, the ball stuck to the stick as if glue had been applied.
It was this magic that mesmerised Adolf Hitler during the Olympic Games of 1936. Hitler even offered Dhyan Chand a high-ranking position in the German army and asked him to stay back. But Dhyan Chand was not of the nineties .. a simple man, all he wanted was to play hockey and return to his hometown Jhansi.
Dhyan Chand played in the 1928-32-36 Olympic Games. After the 8-1 drubbing of Germany in the 1936 Berlin Olympics, Dhyan Chand became a world famous player. In India, whenever he played a match in any part of the country, fans came in thousands.
After years of ignoring him the government finally decided to install a statute at the National Stadium. But like all other statutes, this too was fast losing its greenish metallic colour. The way we are losing our way in world hockey.
If a country forgets itâs heroes, forgets the very players who brought so much of fame and a sense of pride to our sports, it is but natural that the game will flounder too.
It is high time we realise what nationalism means! What commitment means! Those were the very qualities that Dhyan Chand had. Of course, these words have no meaning in Indian sport, especially among our present day sportsmen and sports officials. Nation comes last. The cash comes first.
But even the players are not to be blamed. What can you do in a country where even the Indian Hockey Federation didnât remember that July 29th was the birthday of the greatest hockey player that we have produced ?
If we have to be champions, we have to learn to respect the past. Learn to respect the people who with their achievements built a future for us.
Learn to respect players of the talent and brilliance of Dhyan Chand.
http://www.indianhockey.com/html/dhyan.htm<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Dhyan Chand died in 1979 a broken man in poverty, he was so bitter that he wouldn't even allow his kids to play hockey. Very few Indians today remember this man who is still considered the Wayne Gretzky of field Hockey.
Can you ever imagine if Canada will ever forget Gretzky or if US will forget Michael Jorden or Brazil will forget Pele or Argentina will forget Maradona?
But we Indian's have forgotten one of the greatest sports heroes our country produced, no wonder Indian hockey is in such a state today, back in the day no one could match us, the Brits used to be afraid to play against us for shame of losing to a colony of theirs, Dhyan Chand's team smashed Hitlers race pride along with Jesse Owen's in the 1936 Olympics but more Indian's know about the latter than the former. His team also beat USA 24-1 creating a record which still stands unbroken, his brother Roop Singh scored 10 goals in the match and created a record for himself which still stands.
A truly sad state of affairs.