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Dear Balbir Singh-ji,
Thanks for reminding the world about the fearless hockey goalkeepers who
form
the crucial component of any winning hockey team (see article below).
I read with interest as you reminisced through all the great hockey
goalkeepers
of India - they were all part of a great tradition that began with RJ Allen
of
Bengal at the 1928 Amsterdam Olympics, continued through Leo Pinto of Bombay
in
the 1948 London Olympics to Adrian D'Souza today.
However, the article failed to mention the secret of your success as one of
India's most prolific center-forwards and goal-scorers over three Olympics
(1948, 1952 and 1956) - that you began your hockey career as a goalkeeper in
school and moved up to the center forward position by the time you were in
college. Besides your prodigious skills as a center- forward, this could
have
been the secret of your record goal-scoring: "as a center-forward, you
always
had a goalkeeper's perspective in mind and this helped you in putting the
ball
past the goal-line over and over again"
I reckon that if future legions of Indian forwards follow your example - by
playing in goal for some time in their careers, India may be able to
reproduce a
few more prodigious, goal-getting forwards like Balbir Singh and this may
just
about help India regain its position at the top of World Hockey !
Having faced the fire and brimstone from Surjit Singh, Baljeet Singh,
Davinder
Singh, Rajinder Singh at Patiala and Bangalore NIS camps, in the late 70s
and
early 80s, I can fully empathize with my fellow hockey goalkeepers. I am
happy
you remembered Ian Taylor of England in the article because he truly
revolutionized hockey goalkeeping and had a big impact on his team's
performances in his own distinctive way.
You may remember from my previous discussions with you that my high school
in
India "St.Stanislaus High School" in Bandra, Bombay too was part of this
great
goalkeeper tradition and a breeding ground for hockey goalies - having
produced
ex-student goal-keepers like Leo Pinto, Cedric Pereira, Hilary Gomes, Adrian
D'Souza, etc. and international forwards/midfeilders like Francis D'Mello,
Marcellus Gomes, Joaquim Carvalho, etc.
We are all eagerly looking forward to your forthcoming book "The Golden
Yard-Stick" which details the training and skills needed for success in
today's
field hockey. That should be a fitting sequel to an inspiring "The Golden
Hat-Trick" that you published a few years ago.
Please advise if you are in Vancouver or Chandigarh these days.
Best Regards,
Dr. Carmo D'Cruz,
ex-St. Stanislaus Hockey Goalkeeper,
Indan Harbour Beach, Florida
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In a classic understatement, Balbir Singh, champion centre-forward of the
golden early post-independence era of hockey, is recently reported to have
said
that hockey is the same old game as it was in his heyday. His poser: Is it
not
all about getting the ball past the goalkeeper and over the goal-line? To
which
one can imagine, the late Shankar Laxman, the much decorated goalkeeper,
would
have added by way of a joking rejoinder, that the padded ones under the bar
were
there precisely to deny centre-forwards like the venerable Sardar, or any
other
player for that matter, that pleasure.
Despite Balbir Singh's over-simplified view, the game, almost everything
about
it, goalkeepers included, has changed. Goalkeepers in Laxman's time were
left to
face fire and brimstone with their stick and a pair of leg pads, quite
unlike
their securely-helmeted successors of more recent times, who turn out in
protective padding from hand to foot.
And what fire and brimstone! Old-timers who had watched stalwart strikers
of
the ball like Dharam Singh, RS Gentle, Tarlochan Singh, Prithipal Singh and
Surjit Singh (of that deadly 26oz stick) fire their cannon-all shots from
short
corners (as penalty corners were once described), will vouch for their
aggression. No less lethal were rockets fired on the run by forwards like
Balbir
Singh or the late Udham Singh and their ilk.
Goalkeeping in those good old times, when equipment manufacturers had still
to
invent expensive protective gear, was a trade for brave men with sharp
reflexes.
To make things worse, there was even a phase when the rule banning the
raising
of the stick above the shoulder was relaxed. The shots directed at the goal
became deadlier as the ball flew at menacing speed, as even undercuts were
quite
legal.
Yours truly was once witness to an intrepid, even suicidal, save by an army
goalkeeper, Fredericks, who took a sharply rising missile fired by a
full-back
on his forehead - the swelling was the size of the ball that struck him. The
man
had to be stretchered out of the Shivaji Stadium and admitted to a nearby
hospital. It was all too dangerous. But that was the way it was. All in a
day's
work for a goalkeeper.
To stretch the memory further back, there was that memorable day at the
National Stadium when Desamuthu of Hindustan Aircraft, Bangalore,
single-handedly defied the power and might of the formidable Punjab Police
attack, led by the legendary Balbir Singh himself. The great Udham Singh got
so
frustrated at failing to beat the goalkeeper, that he threw his stick out of
the
pitch.
Cedric Pereira, Mark Patterson, Charles Cornelius and Francis are some other
names that come to mind when talking of goalkeepers.
But with due respect to the fearless men between the posts of that era, the
modern tribe of goalkeepers is equally difficult to beat. Even expert
drag-flickers will agree. There have even been goalkeeper-captains in recent
times, who have directed the team's strategy and tactics when not busy
making
unbelievable saves. Ian Taylor of England, for one, led his country to a
World
Cup victory. Leading from the rear, you could say.
Goals, they say, win matches. But often those who prevent them from being
scored also win crucial matches. Shankar Laxman was one of them.
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