Indian Hockey & Sansarpur Hockey

Sl.No		Sub  Factors	Agree	%	Disagree	%	Undecided	%
	6.1	Lack of facilities	11	22 %	39	78 %	-	-
	6.2	Lack of exposure to game	50	100 %	-	-	-	-
	6.3	Immigration	50	100 %	-	-	-	-
	6.4	Change of attitude of  Sansarpuri’s towards sports	49	98 %	01	2 %	-	-
	6.5	Not much encouragement’s from the parents	48	96 %	02	4 %	-	-
	6.6	Any other	-	-	-	-	-	-

       Among the factors responsible for decline of Sansarpur hockey, 6.2 lack of exposure to game and 6.3 immigration of hockey players from Sansarpur were agreed up only by all the respondents where as change of attitude of Sansarpuri’s towards sports particularly hockey not getting the encouragement from parents were also agreed up on as factors responsible for decline of Sansarpur hockey by all but one and two respondents ( 98%, 96% ) respectively.  However, only 11 of the respondents ( i.e. 22% ) consider lack of facilities as a factor contributing to decline of Sansarpur hockey.

      It is significant that no factor other than those listed was mentioned by any of the respondents.  It shows that 6.1-6.5 could be the only reasons for decline of Sansarpur hockey.  However, many respondents made special remarks to elaborate upon one or more of the above mentioned ( 6.1-6.5 ) reasons.  Some of these comments are given below:

      In the opinion of Udham Singh Kullar main causes of decline of hockey in Sansarpur are:

      Disruption of the tournament system which prevailed in his younger days and provided opportunities to budding players to show their skills.  Now a days, very few such tournaments are organised and their is need to provide more playing opportunities to village youngsters feels Udham Singh Kullar.

      Udham Singh Kullar also feels that in his younger days as there was a constant flow of players from Sansarpur to national team and these senior players used to maintain a constant touch with the village by regularly visiting the village, playing in village games, providing training and motivation to youngsters. Now a days, the flow has ebbed on one hand and on the other hand a few players who do succeed a national/international level, maintain little interest in Sansarpur hockey there by depriving the younger generation of the great hockey traditions of the village

      Darshan Singh Kullar feels that though there are general causes for decline of Sansarpur hockey, which are also interrdated, the chief causes are:

( a ) Lack of facilities, especially inavailability of the ground for a very long period.  Darshan Singh Kullar says, when cantonment took over the old ground of the village in mideighties, there was no place for village folk to play hockey in the village.  It was only after a lapse of almost 10 years, that army provided an alternate ground to village for hockey though the old ground  of which Darshan Singh Kullar had fond memories is still not available for playing hockey.  These 10 years, during which Sansarpuris have no proper place to practice hockey, in view of Darshan Singh Kullar, were instrumental in setting a decline in Sansarpuri’s hockey standard.

( b ) Changing scenario of Indian sport also had its impact on Sansarpur,s hockey according to Darshan Singh Kullar.  He feels that somehow hockey lost the position of being the prime sport of the country.  Other sports namely cricket, tennis etc. Received more recognition at national level, Sohal the attitude of Sansarpur parents also changed, and the encouragement his generation received from their parents, new generation surely missed that.  Village people became materialistic over the years and started migrating in search of greener pastures.  Even those who earned their livelihood and prestige on the basis of hockey, after retiring from hockey preferred to settle abroad and the new could not get the benefit of their guidance.

      Among the reasons for decline of hockey in Sansarpur Balbir Singh Kullar  feels that lack of locally available facilities, migration of people from Sansarpur for greener pastures abroad and decline in prestige of the game of hockey at national level are the chief causes responsible for decline of hockey in Sansarpur.  To elaborate the above points, he mentioned that for long Sansarpuris were not having a hockey ground of their own to practice.  It is only recently that they have been provided by two hockey grounds by the army.  He said the great hockey players of yesteryears like Gurdev Singh Kullar, Darshan Singh Kullar and Gurjit Singh Kullar etc., who could have been the role model for youngsters have settled abroad and youngsters among the present generation are also preferring to take any job out side in comparison to playing serious hockey.  As they feel that a career in hockey does not offer much by way of a good living.  They find no glamour in hockey and even if they are sport minded they opt cricket instead.  Here, he feels that govt. Policies and media’s roll has also been questionable.  Govt. has not provided enough incentives for hockey players and media has given more exposure other games sidelining the national game of hockey.

      Darshan Singh Sethi emphasised that lack of commitment among modern players as the most important reason.  He stated that during his youth, they not only cared for their hockey but they themselves used to take initiatives in related matters.  They were themselves looking after the field, they were organising matches among different teams from and outside the village. They used to go on foot or on bicycles to other villages to fix matches with the teams there and inform the players.  They were interested in the game and had no selfish motives.  They were open to suggestions and had great regards for elders opinions on hockey matters.  Where as youngsters now simply do not listen to their seniors.

      In the words of Jarnail Singh Kullar, many senior players migrated to foreign countries, depriving Sansarpur youngsters of their guidance.  This was a major factor in the decline of hockey standards in Sansarpur as senior players used to act as a link between an active players and budding youngsters who were to replace active players.  Some of the great names who migrated to foreign countries were: Darshan Singh Kullar,  Gurdev Singh Kullar, Gurjit Singh Kullar all migrated to England and Mohinderpal Singh Aassi, Pritpal Singh Kullar and Avtar Singh migrated to Canada.

      Sansarpur was not a very prosperous village and to Sansarpuri’s were used to hard physical labour by working in fields and doing other manual work at their homes.  This physical labour not only was instrumental in keeping them physically fit and strong, but was also effective in inculcating in their correct work ethics and positive mental attitude.  All this used to go moulding them into great hockey players.  But now the lifestyle has changed children now a days do not have to go through the same physical drill and thus are not as physical strong as used to be.  Moreover economic prosperity enables them to lead a luxurious life and they are no more as hardworking.  As hockey is a demanding game, they are unable to put in  enough hardwork and the quality of their hockey suffers.

      Sansarpur hockey traditions could not be kept alive because of large scale migration of original Sansarpur habitants to other parts of the country.  Many great hockey playing families of Sansarpur are now settled in various other parts of the country after selling their ancestral homes.  The new settlers who occupied their homes now are those who have come from other places and have no knowledge of Sansarpur hockey tradition.  As a result of this demographic change of population in Sansarpur, the village atmosphere, which used to be conducive to hockey playing, has changed and hockey no more enjoys the same prestige in the village.  Evenku families who used to dominate Sansarpur hockey, have started migrating from the village.

      Hockey used to be helpful for Sansarpuri’s in getting employment in army and other such organisations.  At that time, Sansarpuri’s were looking for any job jobs even at lower levels in these organisations were acceptable to them.  Now the economic prosperity and education among village folks have changed this attitude.  They are looking for good positions only in these organisations.  As higher positions are rare and  only hockey playing ability does not fetch one such a position, hockey has lost some of its charm as a license to get the job for Sansarpuri’s.

Karnail Singh Kullar considers lack of exposure to the game as most among Sansarpuri’s.  He feels that he learnt his hockey by playing in village tournaments, while todays youngsters have no such opportunity to have their skills.

      Rajinder Singh Kullar says that we used to put our hearts in the game.  Even daily practice was taken very seriously.  Everyday, after the complete practice session, Udham Singh Kullar used to ask us to take 3-4 rounds of the field, running with full speed and all of us always obeyed his orders.  Modern players play for the perks like getting Colour or job, where we used to play for the love of the game.

      In those days, we used to play bare foot and with used hockey sticks as we had little resources at our disposal.  When ever we heared that a game of hockey was being organised in the village, we used to make all efforts in making the field match fit and were not hesitant to do any job in this connection.  After working hard throughout the day, even if we were not selected to play the game, we never used to mind that, as for us the top priority was to make the game a success.  Now, although the younger generation has all the facilities available to them, they do not possess the will power and zeal of players  like Udham Singh Kullar and Darshan Singh Kullar.

      Modern senior players do not encourage their juniors as our seniors used to encourage us.  Even player like Udham Singh Kullar used to play with their juniors and gave them encouragement and guidance.  Now, senior players consider it below their dignity to play with juniors.  Now juniors do not have anybody to look upto.  They rarely get opportunity to watch a good game leave alone practicing with great players.

      Kullar family, who were the back bone of Sansarpur hockey in its hey days, have largely migrated from the village.  This has further led to the decline of Sansarpur hockey.

      He feels that every Sansarpuri should have a firm determination to play hockey  for the country.  This should be other motto.  If we do Sohal, surely Sansarpur would produce many more players for Indian hockey team.

      In 1990, Sansarpuris lost their traditional hockey ground, the then incharge of the ground built a canal there for army training.  This was a facility, which Sansarpuri’s were availing since the times of Britishers.  The loss of ground deprived Sansarpuris of a great facilities and this is a major factor in decline of Sansarpur hockey.  Later in 1994, Lt. Gen. H.B.Kalha provided Sansarpuri with two grounds, a little away from the traditional ground.  Now- a- days, Sansarpuri’s practice on these new grounds.  But for 4 years, they were without a place where they could practice.

      In the words of Pritam Singh Kullar, in earlier days good hockey players were given jobs in army, which were considered coveted in those days.  Now army jobs have lost that prestige and due to the risk involved in the job and hard service conditions, these jobs are not in much demand, on one hand and on other hand lesser hockey players are now being absorbed by army.  Thus, there is a dearth of lucrative jobs for hockey players.  Children from well-to-do families are therefore not being attracted by hockey and children from middle or lower middle classes are not able to sustain themselves in the game as playing hockey demands a good diet and hockey equipment has also become very costly.

      No job  guarantee and risk of injuries and uncertain future are the main factors which discourage youngsters to adopt the game.

      Some comments regarding the decline of Sansarpur hockey are given below:

( a ) Quality of talent available in the village has gone down.

( b ) Interest in the game is also on the vain.

( c ) Sons of hockey players, who could have got the benefit of advice from parents started   opting for other games.  My own son play tennis.

( d ) Equipment has become costly.

      In the words of Parkash Singh Kullar, not having a ground of our own for a considerable period of time.  He feels that guidance for senior players was not available to younger generation for about 10-15 years.

Filed under: Factors