POWER INTERVIEW - ASHOK MATTOO
Ashok Kumar Mattoo, long standing sports administrator known for hisintegrity and uprightness was recently in the news for chucking up hisjob as Hockey India president on the eve of the hockey World Cupreturning after 29 years to India. Mattoo was instrumental in bringingthe World Cup to India, arguing India's case fiercely both inHyderabad and Beijing. With FIH president Leonardo negre havingrecently visited Delhi to review the World Cup, Mattoo said he hasgone back extremely pleased that the entire thing is wokring likeclockwork. In his first ever interaction after his resignation fromall posts, Mattoo broke his silence to sportzpower's Sandeep Bamzai onwhat went wrong with Hockey India and the players revolt. According toMattoo, he is not disillusioned with the way things transpired, but issad that it had to end this way. Excerpts over an interview conductedover two days:
*Why did you quit suddenly? After all you were holkding suchresponsible and crucial positions, particularly those of president ofHockey India and treasurer of the Commonwealth Games OrganisingCommittee and IOA, hasn't your departure left a big void?
A day comes in everyone's life when one thinks of the future. I feltcompletely helpless with the deadlock arising out of the playersrevolt. Moreover, I was very upset that I couldn't convince the boys.Fault finding is the easiest thing to do. I wonder why people werepresuming that we were dishonest. We had the best of intentions anddespite a resource crunch were trying our level best to provide forthe players. An remember that all this heartburn was being done by mein an honorary capacity because one has an interest in sport.
*But why quit from all the posts?
If you don't have faith in me in one body, then in all fairness itmakes eminent sense to leave all posts. So, if your conditions are sostringent, then I thought enough is enough.
*Do you think they were being instigated by someone to ensure thatthey didn't listen to you?
I have no idea what their motivation was. I only wish they had satdown, analysed and retrospected. I am sure we would have been able toresolve the issue amicably over time.
*Then how is it that Mr Kalmadi managed to play white knight andresolve the matter so quickly...
Mr Suresh Kalmadi is the boss, remember that I was not an electedpresident, but merely a nominated one. Hat's off to him for bringing aquick resolution to an iffy issue. The bottomline is that otherplayers in other disciplines will do the same to get their way.Schemes and guidelkines will need to be created for greater clarity onpaymnets. Otherwise this haphazarad manner of functioning willcontinue. Look at the women hockey players now, aren't they indulgingin the same sort of work to rule strike. An over arching new policydefining payments and incentives needs to be put in place for Indiansportspersons.
*Isn't it sickening that when a hockey World Cup has returned after 29years, we are bickering over player payments, elections andaffiliations and not concentrating on the event itself. In the normalcourse, India wouldn't even have qualified for the World Cup, but hasdone so because it is the host...
The World Cup is on schedule, there is no threat to that. But thetiming of all these iimponderables is all wrong. In fact, it isshocking that these unsavoury issues have come up now, it appears tohave been done deliberately to settle scores. If you look at theplayers' demands, then I too needed to take up the matter, rememberthat as a nominated president, I only a conduit and couldn't take anyad hock decision with consultation. You can't hold a gun at my templeand ask me to get something done. It won't fly. On that particularday, Hockey India had just Rs 32 lakh with it, and I offered Rs 20lakh out of that kitty to the men, women and junior players as thefirst tranche. But this was unacceptable to the players.
*Why was the monetary situation so bad at HI?
Actually it was worse than this when we took over. There was no money.I took a loan from IOA amounting to Rs 25 lakh and sought an overdraftfacility from Andhra Bank for Rs 1 crore. Subsequently when I had themoney, I cleared the O/D. When the players struck work, I offered themand the women Rs 25,000 each and Rs 15,000 to the junior players.Their list of demands on January 13 had seven to eight specific items.We agreed to pay Rs 1.5 lakh to each player for events likeCommonwealth games, Asian Games, Olympics and World Cup. We alsodecided to pay Rs 15,000 per match and graded contracts for threecategoiries of players - A Rs 12 lakh, B - Rs 10.5 lakh and C - Rs 8.5lakh. Further, it was mutually decided to pay Rs 500 per day while theplayers are in camp and $100 per day when on a foreign tour.Given ourfinancial position, it was a fair offer.
*What was the problem with the Sahara contract?
Well KPS Gill had a contract with them and this was pretty much alegacy system. But there were problems and the matter went to court.Finally I had to go to Lucknow meet Subroto Roy and manage an out ofcourt settlement. Actually I also managed to enhance the sum of moneyinvolved once the contract was revalidated. Earlier it wasapproximately Rs 60 lakh a quarter and Rs 2.5 crore per annum. I gotthis increased to Rs 3 crore per year and got the women included inthe deal. Every penny received by Hockey India has been accounted for.I was hurt by the allegations that were being made. On April 28, 2008,the ad hoc body of Hockey India was appointed. On May 20, the body wasregistrered. WE discovered that there was no sponsorship agreement inplace at the time. The existing contract with Sahara Leisure &Entertainment was for eight years starting 2003. But Sahara wasunhappy over certain issues and the matter had gone into litigation.It was renewed after I interceded with Subroto Roy and the newcontract was from July 15, 2009 to July 14, 2011. Since the matter waspending in court, we didn't seek fresh sponsors as the originalcontract forbid IHF from bringing any new sponsors on board. Sahara'scontract with IHF was exclusive. Saharshree was kind enough toincrease the size of the deal to Rs 3 crore per annum and the womenplayers became a part of the new deal.
*What was the sequence of events that led to this breakdown between HIand the players?
On November 22 last year, the players approached HI en route to Spainand then onwards to Salta for the Champions Challenge, seeking ourfinancial support. Further on January 5, they gave an ultimatum andthis needed to be resolved by january 8. On January 9, six of the topplayers arrived in Delhi as part of their advertising contract withhero Honda for a sponsor's event at the then ongoing Auto Expo. Wetold them clearly that there was no question of giving a commitmentfor prize money and incentives due to acute resource constraints.However, we told them as soon as things get better we would be payingup. We also promised them Rs 1 crore for a podium finish in the WorldCup. Despite these assurances, they refused to train on January 10 and11. On January 12, Hockey India officials along with FIH vicepresident Ondraza made a fervent plea to the players in Pune. A newpayment system was put forth - match fee of Rs 15,000, a lump sumpayment of Rs 4.5 lakh each for the seven tournaments and bilateralsthat they had played in 2009, medical insurance up to Rs 5 lakh, Rs500 daily during camp and $100 per day foreign allowance while ontour. All this was done despite not having such large resources at ourdisposal. But the players walked out of the room, startling all of us.
*You were also treasurer of the CWG organising committee, why is thereso much dissonance over the state of preparedness?
There are two aspects to your question - let us understand that thegovernment is responsible for the infrastructure while the venuebriefs have been given by the OC. And the overall preparation for theCWG itself, well this activity is being coordinated by SAI. Projectsof this size and magnitude will have glitches. Let me assure you thatthe OC was getting ready to meet the challenges. I cannot comment onthe status of the infrastructure because multiple city civic agenciesare responsible for that. Our budgets were all in place and I think wewere proceeding well in terms of being revenue neutral. We have soldthe television broadcast rights and several sponsorships to companieslike Central Bank and Coca Cola.
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