Hockey India League (HIL)

A forum to discuss Indian hockey and the disarray it is in despite the promising new professional PHL series.

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Re: Hockey India League (HIL) - January 2013

Post by Ankit Desai »

Match schedule for HIL.

Hockey related news are flooded by HIL. HIL is in all around the air.

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Re: Hockey India League (HIL) - January 2013

Post by ssp »

Just watched 2 matches today. They are being streamed live on :www.youtube.com/user/thehockeyindialeague

Some scrappy play in both matches. Punjab were particularly poor. Looks like all the teams are rusty and even the foreign players seem to have dropped to our players' level! ;)

Some of our current internationals looked ok, but the likes of Dharamvir, Danish, Yuvraj, Akashdeep, Gurmail etc just kept losing the ball and generally are too weak when in possession. Sandeep failed to score against a quality GK. He converted 1/3 PCs and missed a PS.
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Re: Hockey India League (HIL) - January 2013

Post by Ankit Desai »

In case people want to see it live

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Re: Hockey India League (HIL) - January 2013

Post by ssp »

A better match today between Ranchi Rhinos & Mumbai Magicians.

A couple of reasonable defenders- Chandan Singh (Mumbai) & Amit Rohidas. Sandeep did a huge aerial almost every time and promptly gave the ball back to the opposition. Ranchi had a couple of promising forwards-Vikas Choudry & Prabdeep Singh. But Birendra, Manpreet & Kothajit all looked decent.
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Re: Hockey India League (HIL) - January 2013

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Hockey Indian League is the new mantra for Indian Sports.Our Hockey,Our Game!!!
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Re: Hockey India League (HIL) - January 2013

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With over 34 matches scheduled in a period of one month,Hockey India League is a visual treat for the hockey lovers.
Like us if you like Hockey.
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Re: Hockey India League (HIL) - January 2013

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“Unity is strength” sits perfectly in case of Hockey.
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Re: Hockey India League (HIL) - January 2013

Post by PKBasu »

I watched about half of yesterday's game between Mumbai Magicians and Ranchi Rhinos. Good to see the pace at which the game was played, and reasonable skills of the players. Especially striking was young Mandeep Singh's skills (is he really just 17?). I was less impressed with Kothajit (who is one of the new stars of the Indian team). The foreign players were generally a cut above, though, especially with basic skills like trapping and passing.
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Re: Hockey India League (HIL) - January 2013

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Hickey is more about the team and even more about India – Our Game, Our Pride .
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Re: Hockey India League (HIL) - January 2013

Post by ssp »

Watched DW draw 2-2 with RR.
Very enjoyable match with several brilliant players on both sides. Nicholas Jacobi was outstanding in the DW's goal. I expect these 2 teams to meet in the final.

The format is not great as there are only 5 teams. The sensible way forward would be a merger of this league & the WSH to create a 12 team format. I posted my 'ideal' vision of proper national league on the WSH forum about a year ago.
If the league can attract a better audience, maybe having 12 teams would work out better. I would then split the 12 teams into 2 groups of 6 based on geography, so that home and away fixtures will involve shorter journeys. The winners and runners up would then play semis & finals at the national stadium in Delhi. The winners would actually play fewer games (10 league games + semi + final) compared to the current format (14 + semi + final).

To make this more meaningful, I would invite all the affiliated units (of the IHF or HI...dunno which one is going to prevail if the current dispute ever gets sorted out)to select a state team. I think that will give 32 teams, which can be given various names (Sher-e-Punjab, Karnataka Lions etc), but only the top 12 will play in the WSH. The others should play in the 2nd division and try and qualify into the WSH via play offs with the bottom 2 teams of the WSH. This will give incentives for the 'weaker' teams to improve their standards to get into the WSH, which is where the big money will be. This will effectively give us a proper, professional domestic structure, where coaches, players and administrators will be trying to achieve better standards and thereby earning decent money.
It is possible, but only if we had someone with any clout to resolve the IHF/HI dispute. I think getting the crowds in will be easy when we have the best players in the world in every team.
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Re: Hockey India League (HIL) - January 2013

Post by sameerph »

Final between Ranchi Rhinos & Delhi Waveriders.

SF results -

SF1

Ranchi Rhinos 4 (Mandeep Singh 5, 66; Nick Wilson 32, 64) bt Uttar Pradesh Wizards 2 (Nithin Thimmiah 16, 54)

Hero Goal of the Day: Mandeep Singh

Man-of-the-Match: Mandeep Singh

SF2

Delhi Waveriders 3 (Andres Mir Bel 14, Rupinder Pal Singh 32, Lloyd Norris-Jones 67) bt Jaypee Punjab Warriors 1 (Jamie Dwyer 33)

Hero Goal of the Day: Jamie Dwyer

Man-of-the-Match: Nicolas Jacobi


Mandeep Singh in one of the top scoreres in this tournament & is the only one other than drag flickers in the top 5 or so. Appears to be good talent emerging. We need some goal scorers.
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Re: Hockey India League (HIL) - January 2013

Post by PKBasu »

Mandeep Singh is only 17, right? A very exciting new talent indeed unearthed partly by the HIL -- and now part of the India squad for the Azlan Shah Cup. We need to nurture and build on his spectacular potential.
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Re: Hockey India League (HIL) - January 2013

Post by ssp »

Watched both matches today.
Exciting spectacle and great crowd, although the limited stadium capacity (of 5,000??)made it a strange choice to hold the finals.
Punjab did a typical 'India job' and threw away a 3 goal lead and lost.They seemed to go too defensive after taking such a healthy lead and then started giving away too many PCs (just like Indian teams have done in the past few decades). Dwyer, Hammond & de Nooijer were outstanding. The Indian internationals in this match were generally disappointing. Sunil showed pace but not much else, Dharamvir kept losing the ball (yet managed to stay on the pitch for most of the match). Didn't see much from Nitin or Gurmail, but Ragunath won the match with his powerful drag flicks. The only other Indian player that impressed was Gurinder Singh who actually defended very well
I was slightly disappointed to see Delhi lose the final because I wanted Sardar to end up on the winning team (for once). Again the foreign players (Mir Bel, Furste, Jenneskins, Child) were brilliant, but in this match some Indians looked good too. I was impressed by Kothajit, Birendra, Manpreet and Rupinder (although he gave away the 2 PCs that cost Delhi the match). Mandeep had a few good touches, but he and Sardar have played better in previous matches. Chandi, Akashdeep and Yuvraj had a forgettable day.
One aspect of Indian players is their lack of discipline when tackling or when defending in general. So many players rush into a tackle or have poor footwork and get beaten easily or commit a bad foul to concede a free hit or a PC or get carded. We also have a stupid habit of whacking the ball from the right flank and hope for a deflection. Compare this to the foreign players. They would either make an attempt to pass into the D or take on a defender and try and get a PC or if they got stuck in a corner, they would keep possession by passing backwards. Common sense stuff....but not something our players are capable of.Our keepers too looked a couple of notches below the best in the world.
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Re: Hockey India League (HIL) - January 2013

Post by il_fenomeno »

In a german newspaper article Worldhockeyplayer Moritz Fürste said that Indians are technically brilliant (must be dribbling skills? I can't imagine he meant passing or trapping ;) ). But they don't have a good structure in their game to make more out of it. Tactical understanding and body strength are the main problems. That's why he thinks that a average european club team would win this tournament.
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Re: Hockey India League (HIL) - January 2013

Post by jaydeep »

Found nice article about Rupinderpal Singh after his performance in HIL.

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