Graham Reid got here to India fearing he’d ‘lose the job in three months’. As an alternative, he stayed on because the chief coach for longer than any of his predecessors. And through this four-year interval, the Australian learnt – and passionately sang – the nationwide anthem, instilled a way of calmness within the perennially chaotic world of Indian hockey and guided the staff to unprecedented heights, together with a return to the Olympic podium after 4 many years.
On Monday, a day after Germany had been topped champions and every week after India’s embarrassing exit from the World Cup, Hockey India claimed Reid had resigned because the coach. The federation didn’t make clear if any effort was made to persuade the coach, who was chargeable for India’s bronze medal on the Tokyo Olympics, to remain again. Or whether or not Reid, too, was allowed to depart as simply as Robin Arkell, the previous energy and conditioning specialist, who’s now an integral a part of the backroom workers of world champions Germany.
It’s typical of Indian hockey that after only one setback, the administration has made the coach the scapegoat as an alternative of addressing the deeper, underlying points – from lack of a grassroots programme to no skilled league.
Rourkela: Indian and South African gamers vie for the ball throughout their classification match on the 2023 Males’s FIH Hockey World Cup, in Rourkela, Saturday, Jan. 28, 2023. India received the match 5-2. (PTI Picture)(PTI01_28_2023_000320B)
Regardless of these issues, and overcoming the challenges thrown by the pandemic, Reid guided the nationwide staff to the Olympic podium in Tokyo in what’s going to undoubtedly go down as his largest contribution to Indian hockey.
Reid was beneath no phantasm that Covid was part of the rationale why he continued within the job for 4 years when the typical life span of an Indian coach is rather less than 12 months. The pandemic and the resultant lockdown meant there have been fewer matches, which in flip meant he acquired an extended rope in comparison with the earlier coaches.
The Australian, who has been working with a pacemaker in his coronary heart since 1996, used this era to stabilise Indian hockey on and off the pitch. The continuity within the taking part in group, too, gave Reid the time and house to depart his mark on the staff.
Though it wasn’t at all times the case within the World Cup for causes past comprehension, India have become a fantastic counterattacking unit that was additionally affected person on the ball when the scenario demanded – as an alternative of forcing entry, the staff learnt to carry possession, go the ball round and await gaps to open up, one thing they weren’t proficient in earlier.
However regardless of the Olympic medal, the staff was at all times a piece in progress. And Reid knew it.
After the Olympics, his precedence turned to enhance taking pictures contained in the circle. Stats revealed that – to borrow a soccer terminology – India’s xG (anticipated objectives) had been at all times fairly excessive however that principally didn’t mirror within the scorelines.
A significant a part of the final 12 months was spent fixing this anomaly, together with the best way by which the staff pressed (adopting a two-third courtroom press as an alternative of the same old full-court or half-court press India employed) in addition to the gamers’ off-the-ball working.
The motion off the ball was an space legendary Australian coach Ric Charlesworth, too, identified as one of many the explanation why India couldn’t get previous New Zealand within the playoff match for a spot within the quarterfinals.
Citing an instance of a go by New Zealand’s Simon Baby within the build-up to the primary aim, Charlesworth, on whose advice Reid utilized for the job in 2019, had stated: “… Nilakanta (Sharma) wasn’t sharp sufficient to get shut. If he will get nearer, it’s tougher for Baby to get the ball throughout. It’s by no means one factor. It’s a variety of issues. The ball acquired fired previous Harmanpreet, he wasn’t (sharp)… somebody will get a contact on the ball and it rolls over the sideline moderately than going to somebody who’s standing in entrance of the online.”
With Reid feeling it’s ‘now time to step apart and hand over the reins to the subsequent administration’, this section of his challenge stays incomplete. And provided that will probably be the subsequent logical step within the evolution of the staff, it’s secure to imagine it is going to even be on high of the agenda of his successor, who received’t have numerous time to ease into the demanding position.
It is a busy yr for India with matches nearly each second month, together with excursions to England and the Netherlands, however all the things the staff does can be designed to win the gold medal on the Asian Video games.
The multi-discipline occasion, which acquired postponed to September-October 2023 because of the pandemic, will present groups with the primary shot to guide an Olympic berth, which works to the winners. The resurgence of South Korea, the sheer doggedness of Malaysia and a banana pores and skin staff within the type of Japan will make India’s path to the Asian Video games ultimate trickier than anticipated – and lest we neglect Pakistan who, regardless of their troubles, are at all times within the combine.
“I’ve the utmost respect for the Asian Video games, how tough a match it’s,” Reid had stated final week.
With Reid gone, India’s activity to reclaim the gold medal they received in 2014 simply acquired more durable.
Packed yr for India
March: FIH Professional League (India host Australia and Germany)
Might-June: FIH Professional League (India journey to England to face Nice Britain and Belgium)
June: FIH Professional League (India journey to the Netherlands to face the Dutch and Argentina)
September: Asian Video games in Hangzhou, China
* A house take a look at sequence in opposition to Australia and potential participation within the Azlan Shah Cup are additionally on the playing cards
