Days after winning Asiad gold, Walsh resigns
Hockey coach blames ‘ sporting bureaucracy’ for move, but says he may reconsider decision
Indian hockey coach Terry Walsh on Tuesday put in his papers, weeks after guiding the team to a gold at the Asian Games. On a day of high drama, Walsh cited “difficulty adjusting to the decision- making style of the sporting bureaucracy in India” as the reason behind his move, suggesting his differences with Hockey India and the Sports Authority of India.
After a series of meetings with HI and SAI though, he is believed to have “agreed to reconsider his decision”.
“There is fatigue factor but I feel I just need to move away from the contents of what presently exists in my contractual arrangements. We are now looking at the possibility of how that can be reset,” Walsh was quoted as saying. “We are right now in a position of renegotiations and see how it may or may not turn out. Let’s see what happens. We have got a month to solve that.”
Walsh is slated to meet sports minister Sarbananda Sonowal on Wednesday and a “compromise formula” is believed to be on the way to enable the Australian to stay on till 2016 — the period of his contract.
While all is not well within the set- up, those in the know indicate that the day’s development could well be part of HI’s “pressure tactics” following days of tussle with SAI. The bodies have been at loggerheads in the last few months, with issues pertaining to logistics, venues of national camps and even salaries of overseas coaches.
Confusion prevailed as SAI maintained that it had never received any complaint from Walsh, while HI blamed the former for Australian’s move. SAI director general Jiji Thomson was categorical when he said, “We do not deal with Walsh on a day- today basis. So, the sporting bureaucracy could be HI.”
It is no secret that almost all foreign coaches have found it “difficult” to work under HI president Narinder Batra, who believes in calling the shots.
In a closed door meeting with the national players on Monday night, Walsh had said, “I have decided to leave. It is very difficult to work in an environment when I do not even have a say in deciding camp dates, venues or even a small thing like announcing the final team to the players.
“There is a lot of interference from the authorities ( both HI and SAI) and it is not a conducive environment to make progress.”
Said high performance director Roelant Oltmans, “Of course, we ( me and Walsh) face some serious problems. Sometimes, we can cope but it is not easy.
“The camps are too long, the rest periods too short. It is hard to take decisions and the authorities haven’t been very easy either.”
Asked to elaborate on who the authorities were, he said, “It is always three parties — the coaches, SAI and HI. We all need to work in the same direction to work on the solutions.”
Besides, there have always been issues pertaining to logistics and sometimes, even team selection. Walsh, it is learnt, was also peeved in the sudden manner he was asked to join the ongoing camp on October 14 and hold trials the very next day. It was not part of his original schedule.
The Australian had decided on a two- week rest for the players after the Asiad — the team were supposed to gather in Delhi on October 19.
“This is not how professional teams are managed and run. During the first four days of the camp, the players were given a very light schedule which included no hockey training, since we could not break away from their schedules,” said a member of the support staff. “In short, the players and the coaches should have been home during this period.”
However, as things stand, Wednesday’s meeting will hold the key to Walsh’s future. The Australian is expected to give his nod to continue and indicated as much to the national campers in a late night meeting too.