The Hockey Wizard, the Human Eel

You know the hockey wizard – right? Did you know that Dhyan Chand was also known as the Human Eel? That’s how the English press used to call him. I came to know of it only yesterday. For each and every hockey player worth the name Dhyan Chand is the model. He was a towering personality on the Hockey field and did India proud on this sport. Good that he is not alive today. Else the 8-0 and similar other drubbings which we get regularly from the Europeans and the Australians would have failed his heart in any case. Personally I cherish those heydays of Indian Hockey from 1928 to 1966 the most. I played hockey at school and always dreamt higher. (It’s different that nothing happened thereafter on that front). I feel extremely let down in this life of mine by the failure of Indian hockey to rise to the level of the others.

Did you know of his Bengal connections? Born in Allahabad, he joined the army. Thereafter the family shifted to Jhansi. He played for United Provinces. After 1920, hockey was taken off from the Olympics. It was at the insistence of the nascent Indian Hockey federation, that it was reinstated in the 1928 Amsterdam Olympics. And the group that made it possible for the team to sail to the European continent was not Punjab, not Bombay, not Madras but the Bengal Hockey Association (BHA). Major Burn-Murdoch and Charles Newham were the two key personalities whose keenness to get the Indian hockey team in the Olympic hockey arena made it happen. The selections were held in Calcutta and the final team was selected by these two gentlemen.

India went to mainland Europe via England. A funny development was that seeing the form of the Indian team in the practice matches, England decided to withdraw from the Hockey event in the Olympics. They could not think of being humiliated by India. India could meet England only in 1948 London Olympics after our independence. But by that time the wizard had retired having played in the 1928 (Amsterdam), 1932 (Los Angeles) and 1936 (Berlin) Olympics. He was the captain in the last tourney.

Dhyan Chand was a very shy person. In the army, Subedar Major Bale Tiwari seeing his deft stickwork got him to the hockey field. Being an army man, he was always wary of how he would be taken by the civilians in the team. He would never go to the parties after the victories but would rather be content to listen to the stories of what happened there. The only thing which he would miss out was the cold beer – look at the simplicity of this world conqueror.

Family was a big thing for him. Out of his 5 children, Rajkumar and Ashok Kumar played hockey at Calcutta. Ashok kumar represented the country and scored the all-important goal in the finals to lift the hockey world cup at Kualalampur in 1975. His sibling Roop Singh played alongside him in the 1932 and 1936 Olympics.

There are quite a few stories on the legend.

Some excerpts-

• While playing a hockey game, Major Dhyan Chand was not able to score a goal against the opposition team. After several misses, he argued with the match referee regarding the measurement of the goal post, and amazingly, it was found to not be in conformation with the official width of a goal post (as prescribed under international rules).

• After seeing his prolific play at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, Adolf Hitler offered Dhyan Chand, a Major in the British Indian Army, German citizenship and an offer to promote him to the rank of a Colonel (which Dhyan Chand subsequently refused).

• "Goal" is the autobiography of Hockey wizard Dhyan Chand published by Sport & Pastime, Chennai, 1952

• Residents of Vienna, Austria honoured him by setting up a statue of him with four hands and four sticks, depicting his control and mastery over the ball.

Dhyan Chand died on December 3, 1979 at the AIIMS, New Delhi, a pauper – a sad end for such a huge personality. Things have somewhat improved now. But still we as a country have not been able to honor and help artistes and sportspersons of our country at their old age. We are so insensitive as a nation to our own countrymen.

Major Dhyan Chand's birthday (August 29) is celebrated as National Sports Day in India. The President gives away the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award on that day. He was awarded the Padma Bhushan in 1956.