IHF favours euro over local currency

HYDERABAD: With the path-breaking Premier Hockey League (PHL) set to roll from January 13, things seem to be loaded in favour of foreign players who will be fielded for various squads. They, it is learnt, will be paid between 2000 to 3000 euros (about Rs 1.2 lakh to Rs 1.74 lakh) for the tournament by the IHF, depending on the country they come. The European players will get the highest, besides lodging and boarding.
On the other hand, Indian players will have to be contended with a fee as low as Rs 800 per match, which comes to Rs 6,400 for the 8-match series.While the foreign stars have to be given more money, the disparity in the pay packets is too stars to be ignored. It''s definitely going to sap the morale of home players.
However, the Indian Hockey Federation denied that Indian players would be given a short shrift. Speaking to TOI on Monday, a senior IHF official defended the difference in match fee. "You can''t call it disparity. This is a domestic league and local players and foreigners have to be categorised. There will be different yardsticks for the two."
"Similar things happen in other leagues too. When our players go there, they get higher match-fee. We have given it a lot of thought and decided to maintain the difference," the official added. Claiming that the difference will not be huge, the official said the IHF is already thinking of revising it! "We''re not going to discriminate against anyone."
The match fee for PHL players will be finalised during a meeting between the IHF, ESPN-Star and Leisure Sports Management in New Delhi on Tuesday.
It is learnt that domestic players will get graded payment, just like the Indian cricketers, with senior ones getting more. Then, there is a move to exclude foreigners from a share in prize money.
Besides fee, the meeting will also decide on composition of teams, fixtures and sponsorship issues.The IHF has appointed Dutch coach Maurits Hendriks, who recently guided Spain to the Champions Trophy title in Lahore, as Technical Advisor for the league. He has also been entrusted with the job of roping in European players.
However, he made it clear that getting top European players would be difficult as most of them were currently involved in various leagues across the continent.