PHL- Re-birth, Re-engineered, Re-energized!

IPL, wow, what a nice way for me to be a Mumbai supporter.
"My MI", screams the gmail status of one of my friends. So on and so forth.

You know what I tell these people. PHL was first. PHL arrived in 2005. It gave you Maratha Warriors. A bunch of home grown Mumbai + Maharashtra lads who slogged their bloody asses on the field for glory. And that time, not one of you freaking so-called Mumbai fans even cared. Today, when Mr.Ambani spends XXX Million $, suddenly the Mumbaikar in you has risen? The irony, most of the players palying for MI are not even from Maharshtra. Infact, loyalty is a big Zilch. How much of Mumbai-giri did you see in those 11 players. Ok, leave Sachin, but the rest? How much?

I know how much of a Mumbai-kar Girish Pimpale, Viren Rasqhuinha, Dhananjay Mahadik or Adrian D'souza is!!! But did anyone really stand up and support those guys? Did Maratha Warriors not appeal to you, just because it did not have scantily clad cheerleaders? Or was it because there was no Preity Zinta hugging and kissing Viren/Adrian after a game.

But today I have a dream. A dream to see Indian Hockey touch new heights. There is a light at the end of the tunnel. Only if the new hockey management can see the light. I can see it. I can feel the vibes. I can hell, even visualize the PHL next year. It is gonna rock your world guys!!!

Picture this:
Maratha Warriors: Home Stadium: Mumbai
Chandigarh Dynamos: Home Stadium: Chandigarh
Bangalore Lions: Home Stadium: Bangalore
Hyderabad Sultans: Home Stadium: Hyderabad
Chennai Veerans: Home Stadium: Chennai
Sher-E-Jalandhar: Home Stadium: Jalandhar
Orissa Steelers: Home Stadium: Rourkela

Friends, you know what is one major difference between Hockey and any other sport in India. Even cricket is part of the other sports comparison. The passionate fans that hockey has will never be found in any sport in India. Hockey is special to India, just how Kashmir is special to us. Hockey has been through hell, but I still know people who love the game the same way they did since day 1. There are fans who follow each and every hockey tournament and even the players. Sometimes, the fans know more about my brother than I do. But that is hockey. It has a place in every Indians heart. It is not just our national sport, it had etched a place in history for us. Indian hockey supporters have seen the team free fall into a vaccum, but as I look at it, there is a change coming. A change in regime may actually trigger a turn around for the better. I am sure, if we auction the 7 teams above, let alone the Indian corporate people, NRI's (who are wonderful Hockey fans) from USA, Canada, Britain who are passionate hockey fans will want a piece of the pie.

Ok, So we have 7 teams. These 7 teams have good stadiums. With a couple of them worth of holding an internation match also. Most of the stadiums have facility to play a day-night game. Wont it be as interesting as IPL? Wont that so-called junoon burn inside you. Infact, hockey is more aggressive, more entertaining. It can even leave you breathless. Action from one end of the field to another. WOW! It has already got me excited. :)

So all we need now is the right direction. Even though hockey should get credit for the ICL or IPL invention, we dont care. What we care about is the well-being of the sport. People should be able to recognise hockey with players like Gurbaj Singh, Sandeep Singh, Adrian D'souza, Bimal Lakra. But a sad reality is, hockey still is Dhanraj Pillai.

Ironically he played his last game for India, almost 4 years ago in August. But thanks to the wonderful print/video media, DP is still hockey to all Indians.

Looking forward to write more in how to make PHL a better and robust product.