The entrance to Balbir Singh’s home, nestled in one of the sleepy residential colonies of Jalandhar, leads into a gallery that serves as a shrine to the glory days of his past.
The walls adorn memorabilia from his hockey-playing days, when he won bronze at the 1968 Mexico Olympics and gold at the 1966 Asian Games. But more importantly for him, they are a reminder that his tiny village, Sansarpur, now surrounded by a sprawling town, produced some of India’s greatest Olympians of the post-colonial era.
“Go around (town) and you will see hockey is in our blood,” he says.
For decades, Punjab and hockey have been synonymous in a way few regions are known for sports in India. And if Punjab was considered the sport’s spiritual home, Jalandhar was its hub. Even as other regions – from Karnataka to Odisha – began producing hockey players en masse, that maxim continues to hold a grain of truth even today.
Eight of the 16 members of the squad that won bronze at the 2024 Paris Olympics hailed from Punjab, of which four – Manpreet Singh, Hardik Singh, Sukhjeet Singh and Mandeep Singh – are natives of Jalandhar. At least six members of that squad train at the renowned Surjit Singh Hockey Academy in the city. Nine of the 19-member squad that won bronze in Tokyo were also training here.
Of the 130 Indian players in the eight teams in the revamped Hockey India League (HIL), which started last week, 32 are from Punjab with 15 of them either born and brought up, or currently training, in Jalandhar. Each team has at least one player with a connection to the city.
How Jalandhar, a minor industrial town with a major presence of defence personnel, turned into one of Indian hockey’s hubs is a peculiar story that webs together the colonial-era history of its infrastructure, its status as a sports manufacturing hub, and its present-day developmental academies.
Eight of the 16 members of the squad that won bronze at the 2024 Paris Olympics hailed from Punjab (FILE)
For long, it had been Balbir’s village, Sansarpur, that had given the city recognition for hockey. But today, the influence of the game has gripped many other parts of Jalandhar. An elite academy in the interiors of the city houses hockey aspirants from all over Punjab, as well as other parts of the country. Mithapur village has now developed a reputation for being one of the major producers of top talent.
Of the Olympic contingent, two hail from Mithapur. Midfielder Manpreet is a former captain of the side, following in the footsteps of fellow Mithapur native Pargat Singh. Forward Mandeep is also from the village, while Sukhjeet comes from nearby Rama Mandi. The team’s vice captain, Hardik, who was snapped up by the UP Rudras franchise for the third-highest fee of the HIL auction at Rs 70 lakh, comes from Khusropur.
Balbir Singh in his Jalandhar home (Special Arrangement)
When British-controlled cantonment areas came up across the state, a massive one was developed in Jalandhar, neighbouring Sansarpur. The vast fields made way for hockey grounds, and slowly villagers were allowed in to do cantonment chores. That gave them exposure to the game that few had in India, and with time, Sansarpur alone had produced 14 Olympians, nine of whom, including Balbir, represented India.
“This was a British game, and for long, to us it was only known as an army game,” he says. “The first organised hockey match in India was played in Sansarpur (in 1910) between two British battalions – 47 Sikh and Manchester Guardian Regiment. That was the first time our ancestors saw lines marked on the pitch and two men running around dressed in white… they turned out to be the umpires (laughs).”
Stories spill out of the army man, now 80, at a pace that his body can’t keep up with anymore; perhaps similar to his sporting career, which was cut short by a knee injury. They range from hockey to the army to life in Jalandhar and Punjab, but the legacy of his village is what he remains keen to remind people of.
“I don’t believe there is a place on earth where so many Olympians would have come from the same village, the same street and the same clan,” he adds.
If Sansarpur’s legacy allowed Jalandhar to stake claim as one of the country’s hockey hubs, over the years, that status has been retained thanks to the evolving occupational profile of its population.
“From the 60s to almost the 90s, Jalandhar had become a hub for this game for many reasons,” Avtar Singh, one of the coaches at the Surjit Singh Academy, says. “Firstly, it was known for its sports goods manufacturing. Then there was a well-known sports school established here, and many players would reach the national camp through that.
“And most importantly, there were several departmental teams here. Railways, Services, defence teams. They not only provided playing opportunities but also the potential for a job. So it was well known around Punjab that if you want to be a hockey player, you come to Jalandhar.”
Avtar is on the sidelines of a recently-inaugurated plush turf hockey ground within the Border Security Forces (BSF) complex. He speaks intermittently while passing tactical instructions to his academy team that is preparing to play the final of a developmental tournament. The scene makes Balbir’s yarns of yore seem distant – from a period when family background, access to grounds and recreational play built careers, not privately-funded academies, imposing Sports Authority of India centres, or powerful, highly-entitled state and national federations.
Still from an Under-19 match in the city. (Special Arrangement)
As the sporting scene in India evolved, Jalandhar’s hockey scene had to keep pace. Between Pargat in the mid-to-late 1990s, and Manpreet’s emergence in the early 2010s, the city failed to produce players of the stature it was known to.
The decline of Punjab as a sports hub and the drug menace that gripped the state’s youth are among reasons provided. But it’s indicative that it coincided with a lull in Indian hockey in general.
“At that time, we analysed that the structure for successful hockey had evolved, India had fallen behind. The European style had taken over, inspired by football,” Avtar, who has worked at the Surjit Academy since 2008, said. “The main thing we focused on at the academy was versatility: make players used to different roles and understand the rolling substitutions. Once they were capable of understanding this new structure, with the base talent they had, more players began to come out. Punjab and even India has gained from that change.”
Jalandhar, or even Punjab at large, is no utopic nursery for the game though.
If women are conspicuously absent from this story, it’s not coincidental. “The state of women’s hockey here is very poor. Talented boys are being found, not just in Jalandhar but all over Punjab, but we can’t compete with other states in the women’s game,” Balwinder Singh, coach at the Mithapur Academy who has worked across developmental teams in Punjab, said.
Balwinder’s grouse is emblematic of a larger problem facing hockey in Punjab. Developing women’s players needs an added sensitivity from experienced coaches and an assurance of safety in the form of hostels and facilities. The investment in those areas has to be led by public funding, he says, where Punjab has been lacking behind states like Odisha and Haryana.
Balbir recalls a conversation he once had with former Indian cricket captain Bishan Singh Bedi.
“I told him the usual things, about why cricket was overvalued and we were undervalued. He replied ‘Produce results and come to the table to negotiate, you will get something.’ You look at the current lot, they are achieving big things and small rewards have begun to roll in. The kids are looking up to them.”
On the same day, on the other side of town in Burlton Park, an Under-16 tournament semifinal concludes, causing a rush. Billboards are hastily brought onto the turf, photographers are readied and a small crowd gathers. An announcement is made: Jarmanpreet Singh, Olympic bronze medallist, is in attendance. A small felicitation takes place, selfies are captured, all contractual obligations are satisfied and the kids gush with the nervousness of meeting a hero.
“I don’t think there’s a single village in Punjab where boys don’t play hockey. That’s doubly true for Jalandhar. This is the advantage we have,” Rajinder Singh, an Asian Games medallist who is now technical head at Roundglass Academy, says. “AS long as local heroes keep coming up, and we keep producing players, we will always be mad about hockey.”
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