The Indian women’s hockey team defeated New Zealand to keep their hopes alive of qualifying for the Paris Olympics. (PHOTO: Hockey India)
Confusion had shrouded some aspects of the first-ever women’s Hockey India League (HIL) in the lead-up to the auction. On Tuesday, there was more in store as the first session got underway. While most of the top Indian players had teams bidding for them, some of the domestic players below the top rung – who had kept themselves at the highest price slab of Rs 10 lakh – were going unsold. It necessitated a subsequent reduction in their base price in order to get bids.
This change of ‘playing conditions’ in the middle of the auction was prompted by the uncertainty over the number of teams to feature in the inaugural edition. It was originally meant to be four, but earlier this month, Hockey India announced there would be six. But while doing so, they withheld the names of two team owners, citing pending legal documentation. On Monday, it became official that the first edition was going to feature only four teams.
The upside of this for the four franchises in the auction room was obvious: they get a clean shot at the best players from India as well as overseas. On the flip side, India’s local talent started feeling the pinch.
“It’s not exactly a problem for the owners because we had our plans in place,” Manisha Malhotra, part of the JSW Sports-owned Soorma Hockey Club set-up, told The Indian Express. “But the players have put their base prices with the assumption of a certain number of teams. But when you reduce the competition from 6 to 4 teams, you reduce the number of slots for players by 48. It automatically brings their value down, which hasn’t been factored in. Last night, the base prices should have been altered.”
The problem became increasingly evident after the first session witnessed bids in excess of Rs 20 lakh for a handful of players. But with teams needing to assemble a squad of 24 players with a budget of Rs 2 crore – this figure was Rs 4 crore for the men’s teams – it required them to tighten their purse-strings subsequently. If a team spent Rs 40-50 lakh on a couple of players, they had only around Rs 1.50 crore to buy the other 22 – meaning a base price of Rs 10 lakh priced out many players.
Rules revised
It was then that a request came from many Indian players, appealing to let them lower their base prices just so that they could get a chance to play in the league. The HIL Governing Committee gave its nod to unsold players of the Indian senior and junior women’s teams to reduce their base price to Rs 2 lakh. The base price reduction was applied to all previously unsold Indian core players.
“This decision comes in response to a collective appeal from the players,” a statement said. “We believe this adjustment will benefit both the players and the league.”
Former India captain Rani Rampal, part of the coaching set-up for Soorma Hockey Club, said that the salary cap was an issue.
“I know the purse is less but it is important to start somewhere. Even if it’s a small start, it is good for the sport and will only help in growing it further. I hope more franchises come next year and we can have six to eight teams,” Rani said.
Preeti Dubey, Deepika Soreng, Madhuri Kindo, Rutaja Dadaso Pisal and Akshata Abaso Dhekale – all part of the core group – were among the prominent names to not attract any bids in the morning, before finding takers later in the day. However, there were still plenty of young Indian players in the Rs 5 lakh bracket, who came up for auction later in the day and presumably hadn’t asked for their base prices to be revised.
