Indian Hockey & Sansarpur Hockey

Word “Sansarpur” in Hindi literally means the whole world. But Sansarpur is the name of a tiny village in Jalandhar Distt. The village can boost of its hockey players who are known in the whole world. Therefore anyone who is interested in and lover of hockey knows where to find the location of “Sansarpur” in the map of Punjab, India.

 

 

Sansarpur village, the one time Mecca of Indian hockey presents a remarkable example of a single village having produced a very large number of Olympians, International, National, University and Outstanding hockey players for different out standing teams who have given Indian hockey a prestigious place on the International scene.

 

In view of that centuries ago two real brothers by name of Baba Gursa and Baba Bhagtu along with their nephew Baba Dhyan Singh and two cousins migrated from a village by name of Hussainabad situated near Sarinh Shankar, in the Nakodar Tehsil, and was settled down at the present site later became Sansarpur. The area around was unclaimed claimed, that is, no man’s land. They occupied one on all sides of the village for agricultural purpose. Perhaps the shift was to avoid the floods which plagued the former low lying regions. Of these 5, only Baba Dhyan Singh who was initiated into Sikhism in the year 1699, when the 10th Guru Gobind Singh formed the Khalsa. This ascertains the beginning of the village the start of 18th century. To this day , the oldest houses of the village are situated relatively on higher surface. The houses made by these 5 men are still existing and occupied . These men brought along with them people belonging to other trades, such as blacksmiths barbers, Brahmins and carpenters which constituted the population of the village. The older members of their family pleaded with them to come back to Hussainabad promising them more land. But the brothers choose to stay on in Sansarpur. A surprising fact is that all the players who were to achieve fame later, lived within radius of 50-60 yards from the houses of the founders of the village. Majority players are from one main street . In 1849, Punjab was annexed to India and military cantonment was established on the present site. The agricultural land of Sansarpur lying North of the village was acquired for military purposes leaving half for agricultural purposes. A large piece of leveled land measuring about one kilometer by 500 Meters facing the village was allotted to the British Infantry as parade ground, which, otherwise is ideally suitable for games and sports. Taking advantage of this facility the older generation was keenly interested in this game. (Gulzara Singh , 1993)

 

At present the total area of Sansarpur is 330 acres approx. or 2640 Kanal and 07 Marlas. (Patwari, 1996)

 

There are three roads connected to the Grand Trunk Road which in turn is connected to this renowned village of Sansarpur . The three roads are named as Mall Road, Cantt Road and Military Hospital road. The Cantt road starts its extension after the railway station of Jalandhar cantonment. Sansarpur is 5 km from Jalandhar cantonment railway station.

 

Thus in order to reach this village one has to pass through Sadar Bazaar Jalandhar Cantt in south direction. Sansarpur village starts when the Jalandhar cantonment limit ends. To the east of this village is Khusropur, to the west is a place named Dhina, to the north is a place named Jalandhar cantonment where armed forces maintain the streets with typical cleanliness the bus comes to a halt at a crossroads of what is popularly called the Olympian village. (John, 1994)

 

In 1910, hockey was introduct in the Indian Army. The first organised tournament of hockey was played in Delhi Darbar. Soon it became a favorite and popular game in all the Indian and British units by 1912. Ishar Singh Kullar of Sansarpur represented 36 Sikh, now 4 Sikh participated in the Darbar hockey tournament. Our older generation, started this game in a crude form. The whole length and breath of this parade ground was meant for hockey, which was termed as Khudo-khundi (meaning ball and stick in Punjabi) made of cotton thread, twisted mulberry stick with no hard and fast rules. In 1914 hockey was introduced in the Punjab university and in school . As there was only one high school in Jalandhar Cantt, that is, N.D Victor. The majority of Sansarpur hockey player were taken in the first team. After passing the matriculation examination, most of hockey players of Sansarpur joined the Khalsa College of Amritsar. The following players were the members of Khalsa College hockey team :

1. Gurbaksh Singh Kullar
2. Ajit Singh Kullar
3. Gurmit Singh Kullar
4. Mehar Singh Kullar

They were mere cogs in the giant wheels which churned out Olympians the process which began, in 1926 Thakur Singh Kullar was the first Sansarpur hockey player who represented Sansarpur village in a foreign tour of the Indian Army XI in Newzealand. This Indian Army XI was first Indian hockey team which toured abroad. Hence, it was a very glorious beginning for Sansarpur village. (Gulzara Singh)

 

Sansarpur village as discussed earlier has produced world class hockey players Olympians and International for Indian hockey. A brief account of their representations is presented below or Beside this small mention of hockey players some outstanding player given by this small village can be listed as below :

Name	Year	Olympics	Asian Games	Medals	Awards
Gurmit Singh Kullar	1932	Los Angeles	——–	Gold
Udham Singh Kullar	1952	Helsinki	——–	Gold	Arjuna Award
	1956	Melbourne	——–	Gold	Distinguished
	1958	————	Tokyo	Silver	Service in BSF
	1960	Rome	——–	Silver
	1964	Tokyo	——–	Gold
Gurdev Singh Kullar	1956	Melbourne	——–	Gold
	1958	————	Tokyo	Silver
	1962	————	Djakarta	Silver
Darshan Singh Kullar	1962	————	Djakarta	Silver
	1964	Tokyo	———	Gold
Balbir Singh Kullar	1964	Tokyo	———-	Gold
( Punjab )	1966	——–	Bangkok	Gold
	1968	Mexico	———	Bronze
Jagjit Singh Kullar	1964	Tokyo	————	Gold
	1966	———–	Bangkok	Gold
	1968	Mexico	————	Bronze	Arjuna Award
Balbir Singh Kullar	1966	———-	Bangkok	Gold	Arjuna Award
( Services )	1968	Mexico	————-	Bronze	V.S. M.
Ajit Pal Singh Kullar	1968	Mexico	————–	Bronze	Padamshree
	1970	———	Bangkok	Silver	Arjuna Award
	1971	Barcelona (World Cup )	———	Bronze
	1972	Munich	————	Bronze
	1973	Amsterdam ( World Cup )	————	Silver
	1974	————-	Tehran	Silver
	1975	Kualalumpur ( World Cup )	———	Gold
Tarsem Singh Kullar	1966	———–	Bangkok	Gold
	1968	Mexico	———-	Bronze
Balbir Singh Kullar ( Jr. )	1958	———-	Tokyo	Silver
Gurjit Singh Kullar	1958	———	Tokyo	Silver

Thakur Singh set the trend by being on the ship to New Zealand. That was indeed a path-breaking trip in every sense of the term and seen from Sansarpur’s point of view , the floodgates has been opened. In the 1932 to Los Angeles Olympics, Gurmit Singh were part of the team which had Dhyan Chand and others. He died last year ( 1993 ) but when Olympics returned to the Los Angeles in 1984, he was the guest of honour, being one of the oldest living Olympians at that time. Udham Singh was a member of the team for the 1952, 1956, 1960 and 1964 Olympics and won three gold and one silver medals. His name is included in Guinnes Book of World Records. This fact can not be denied that India could be able to be the Olympic titles due to players like Udham Singh collaboration. This is just the tip of the Olympian iceberg. About 12 Olympians , one Padamshree, and four Arjuna awardess have emerged from that piece of land. Seldom had Indian gone to the Olympics without atleast one from Sansarpur playing a important part. That culminated in the ultimate truimph for India in hockey wining the world cup at Kualalumpur in 1975 - led by an other Sansarpurian. Ajit Pal Singh, Udham Singh represented India in 1952 , Helsinki Olympics, Udham Singh and Gurdev Singh Played left in and right in ( both schemers ). In the 1958 Asiad it was Udham Singh , Gurdev Singh and Balbir ( Jr. ); at the 1960 Rome Olympics there was Udham Singh , in 1962 Asiad in Djakarta Gurdev Singh led the team which also had Darshan Singh . In the 1964 Olympics at Tokyo there were four from Sansarpur Udham Singh, Darshan Singh (who is settled in England ), Jagjit Singh and Balbir Singh ( Punjab Police ) at the 1966 Asiad , four Sansarpurians were in 11- Balbir Singh ( Punjab Police ), Balbir Singh ( Services ), Jagjit Singh and Tarsem Singh . ( John , 1994 )

 

Mexico city was a record for Sansarpur , with a population of between 4000 and 5000 Believe it or not , Sansarpur was represented at Mexico city by seven of her sons-five doing duty for India , two from Kenya ! The five in the Indian team were Balbir Singh Kullar (Punjab), Balbir Singh Kullar (Services), Jagjit Singh Kullar, Tarsem Singh Kullar and Ajit Pal Singh Kullar . In Kenya squad were Hardev Singh Kullar and Jagjit Singh Kullar . ( Dutta , 1970 )

 

Hardial Singh Kullar was President of Kenyan hockey Federation . He was also member of World hockey Federation . He was regarded as the father figure of Kenya .

 

This village has also given players to the other countries also . The former Captain of the Kenya hockey team , Hardev Singh Kullar , also basically hails from Sansarpur. ( Shukla , 1993 )

 

The foregoing discussion clearly shows that Sansarpur is a real hockey world. Some of the factors responsible for such an environment creating interest in the sport hockey in Sansarpur have been highlighted in the proceeding analysis of facts. There is also a need to look into the factors in depth.

 

In the evenings , parents in Sansarpur , it is said , hate the sight of boys within the four walls of the home . Mothers turn them out ( hockey stick in hand ) to the village ground . When the return , they get their milk in tall metal glasses , but not before they told their mothers all they did on the field . ( Dutta , 1970 )

 

Gurmit Singh says : “ We played for fun and be enjoyed the game . We were much fitter in those days than the players today. Our mothers wanted us out of the house in the evening and playing . ( Dhaliwal , 1988 )

 

The credit, the fountain head or the source of such famous meritorious people lies in the heart of the “Mothers” of Sansarpur Hockey Players. They have been the mainspr-ing, fly wheel of the family machine Mother a greatest gift of God was a good psycholog-ist Sansarpurian Mother knew the varying moods of all the family members . They had unshakable adherence in their sons strength and talent whenever a child in the family was just big enough to walk was handed a stick to play hockey . it seemed that in the womb of mother itself the embryo got the inspiration to play and was strengthed as gradually he grew. Mother with love and strict attitude in a way encouraged her children to play first and eat later. Playing hockey was so important in the family of sansarpuri that it was found that Mother refused to give her son any food and meals, if they refused to play . Such strong inspiration did bear fruits . This real force natured the overgrowing popular tree to its optimum life . It was the fore sight and intelligence of the mother to see the hidden treasure to preserve it , to uncover it at the same tone by wiping superficial dust lying over it , to make it valuable by making hockey or incorporating it as a part of her children’s character like a part and parcel of life . Thus at the same time developing their skill, inspiring and polishing the diamonds and gems of India to glitter and spread light in the outside world .

 

The mother of Sansarpurian hockey players was some what similar to the mother of Shivaji , who inspired their son by telling stories of great men mother of hockey players families inspired her sons by “stick” and “affection”.The mother had strong “hope like the glimmering taper’s light Adams and cheers the way”. She knew that “there is nothing truly valuable which can be obtained without pains and labour” and also she believed that “the virtue lies in the struggle and not the prize”. The mother was a stone pillar of a family on which all children could learn about and get encourage-ment.

 

As we all know that “great men are meteors that consumes themselves to light the earth”, it can be very correctly be applied in the case of the great mother of Sansarpur Hockey players families who had great faith that “the smallest effort on her part would not be lost , each rain drop make some flowers to blossom”. And indeed her efforts did bring the most freshening, beautiful and full of vitality flowers to the whole world . It was due their such efforts that they are being remembered to this day also , thus one has rightly said that

 

“Strong Towers decay

 

But a great memory and name shall never pass away”.

 

The mothers of Sansarpurian hockey players families are to be congratulated for uncovering the deep mines and exposing the hidden wealth treasure of the country .

 

It is a belief among the people of Punjab that there seems to be some hockey spirit in the soil of this village . It is a well known story that a sport commentator on a visit to a village reached down and picked up a hand full of mud. He is reported, to have tasted it and wondered aloud : what is so extraordinary about this piece of earth , to have produced so many exceptionally great players . The incident , long forgotten in my mind , sounddenly surfaced , when a colleague of mine echoed the same query if could well be a gift from the gods above something they breathed in our blood. But the credit must be given to the forefathers who established hockey traditions in the tiny village and whose legendary exploits inspired the coming generations to follow their foot steps .

 

The village people themselves had innate urge to serve their country . They were filled with strong feelings of devotion and loyalty towards their village land . The Sansarpurians considered their village hockey ground as their sacred mother. This feelings is evident even today and throbbing in the hearts of young talented hockey players of Sansarpur. As a result of such strong affections has helped to upkeep the prestige of Sansarpur as the nursery of Indian hockey .

 

People of Sansarpur even today have intense zeal and respect towards hockey game as it is one means of their livelihood . It seems that as if “Hockey” is the heart soul of Sansarpur. The village people themselves make efforts to clean their own vacant ground through their own hands sickles . They themselves prepare clean hockey ground with bricks and thus even the most ugly barren ground is made quite presentable for the young men to play hockey .

 

The Sansarpur youth who spend their boyhood playing hockey on their grassless Sansarpur ground, prefer to join the Army or Police rather than stick to their village homes and devote themselves to farming . However , wherever they go, they must play hockey, and today, in a sense , no big tournament in the country is complete without the presence of Sansarpur hockey men in action. The famous Army teams of the Sikh Regimental Centre , the Bengal engineer Group , Roorkee and the Border Security Force have a fair distribution of players from Sansarpur . And which tournament worth the name will not want to include these teams in the list of entries. I have heard of the theory that the proximity of the village of Sansarpur to Jalandhar Cantonment in fact they have a common border has something to do with the excellence of the village men the country included interest , in hockey . The soldiers, who were the first to spread the game in the lone and respect for hockey among the younger generation of the village . Moreover , people who retired from the services carried on to create interest for hockey, teach fundamentals to the children and advance the technique of the game. When foreign hockey teams visit Jalandhar , the organisers of the big match , as a rule, also stage a side show in the shape of a game between sides of small Sikh boys , some of them barely as tall as hockey stick ! The youngsters, their hair in neat buns , do not fail to impress the visitors . The boys are from the village of Sansarpur , a name which every Indian hockey fan should know . Talk to anyone from Sansarpur and the first thing he will claim is that seldom has a hockey team left the shores of India without a Sansarpur in it . It is something like a point of honour with them . A reply to the above question one can very well visualise from the given below a statement of Dutta in article, Sansarpur : Punjab’s Hockey Nursery , 1970 , there might be something in the soil or water of Sansarpur that is precisely the way a Punjabi would express the idea whatever be the reason , the is the Sansarpur had has it in him to make good at the game of hockey. The story is told of Harbinder Singh India’s most successful centre forward after Balbir Singh ( sr. ), that , he was a footballer, till his father , an Army man posted to Jalandhar cantonment. The father brought the family to live at Sansarpur , Amar Singh’s house , and Harbinder was put to school close by . The inevitable conversion followed , and hockey via the hard Sansarpur hockey ground , gained a player of dash and verve .( Dutta , 1970 )

 

There is not a single hockey buff in the country who has not heard of the contribution of the wonder village Sansarpur , a synonymous with the game of hockey. Sansarpur , like Holder’s hill in Barbadoe , which has produced several top ranking west Indies cricketers and the equally well-known Berbice in Guyana, has produced a galaxy of stars . ( Indian Express , 1991 )

 

Sansarpur and hockey are inseparable, if not synonymous. The tiny hamlet of about 5000 population lying 6km of Jalandhar city has unique distinction of producing posse of Olympians and Internationals. The first Indian hockey team to leave Indian shores led by legendary Dhyan Chand , for New Zealand series had a solitary son of, this village, Thakur Singh . Then flow from this village never stopped in the decades to come. So much so a team without Sansarpurian was unthinkable till late 80s . The village never went unrepresented in Olympics till 76, save 1936 . The suzernaity reached an unsurmountable high during Mexico Olympics, 68. The Indian and Kenyan team had 7 of it. Udham Singh a Sansarpur stalwart, now 71, narrowly missed being immortalised in the annals of hockey history as player to wear nation’s colours four Olympics , on trot at that . But, alas , to Charles worth , fate willed otherwise , for the Australians it was boycott ( Moscow Olympics 80 ) and for Udham an injury on the eve of 48 Olympics . ( Arumugam 1994 )

 

But there was a big difference that Udham Singh had won four medals ( 3 gold & 1 silver ) and Charlesworth only one silver medal in the Olympic games . Sansarpur, which had been the cradle of Indian hockey , having produced such hockey greats as the late Gurmit Singh , Udham Singh and Ajit Pal Singh and a host of others is again reviving hockey and creating a sort of ‘hockey pool’ from which future Olympics would be drawn to don the national colours . This tiny helmet has done so much for the growth and development of Indian hockey that no other place in India enjoys the same status as Sansarpur . It looked as Olympians grew in its fields . But as the fortunes of Indian hockey declined , so did the fortunes of Sansarpur, which started facing a drought of Olympians crop . (Virdi, 1994)

 

The village of Sansarpur, is no different, at least at a cursory glance, from any other village in Punjab . Take a closer look and one will find two hockey fields , created out of beaten clay . This is poignant sign of what this village means to Punjab sports in particular , and the country as a whole . There are few parallels of Sansarpur anywhere on the world map . This village has been the breeding ground of world class hockey players for the past five decades, players who have wielded there magic sticks to bring glory and gold to the country. But time , and circumstances , have treated this gold mine of talent harshly , most of their troubles originating from apathy of those in power and now the living legends of the village fight to keep the sport a live in the region hoping against hope that some will appreciate their efforts and rescue them . (Ghose, 1994)

 

An otherwise unassuming village, Sansarpur encompasses the school, college and post -doctoral set - up of Indian hockey . Its major business has been producing hockey Olympians . There are so many of them that it could have the highest number of Olympians per square foot , anywhere in the world . Surprisingly desolate state of the ground is an expanse of mud , and mud , alone. It has been rolled in to a rather playable condition divided in to small grounds by chalk , two bricks about a couple of feet from each other makes up for a non existent goal posts . Here , children of all hues crowd into that small place , playing hockey . The ball definitely seen better days as it struggles to retain its shape . The hockey sticks Children play with would be immediate candidates for the hockey museum . The sticks of children are goods two inches taller than him . For somebody born in Sansarpur , hockey can only be part of system , the tradition , which had taken the sleepy village to great heights in the game . One wonders, if the hockey stars really came from this village. ( John , 1994 )

Filed under: Sansarpur Village