JOIN USMoney, the mantra in new league
Among those who signed up for the League were Indian captain Rajpal Singh, penalty corner specialist Sandeep Singh and star defender Sardar Singh with each of whom expected to rake in between Rs 40-50 lakh annually by playing in the first edition of the tournament to be held between November 2011 and February 2012.
Shivendra Singh, Arjun Halappa, Gurbaj Singh, Adrian D’Souza, Bharat Chetri, V S Vinaya, Bharat Chikara, Prabodh Tirkey and Tushar Khandekar are among others to sign up for the lucrative league that is to see between 8-10 franchise owned teams taking part.
Nimbus chairman Harish Thawani challenged HI’s secretary-general Narender Batra for threatening to ban the players who take part in the League from representing the country in future assignments.
“I don’t know whether Mr Batra has said it or not, but if he had said it I am willing to fight it in court. There is a thing called restraint of trade,” said Thawani.
“What is Hockey India. It is just on paper. Anyway the matter is in the Supreme Court. IHF is recognised by the government. It is the body which has in its hold all hockey infrastructure,” he said. “We would be offering prize money of more than USD one million initially and a top Indian player can take home between Rs 40 and 50 lakh through fees, endorsements etc,” he said.
The League aims to sign up 60 top international players and all the players would be picked up by the American-style draft system. “It will not be cattle like auction as we see in some leagues,” Thawani said.
“The deal with the IHF is for 15 years and we have given a guarantee that Rs 30 crore would be paid whether the league is a success or not. The players have been signed up for three years initially,” he said.
The Nimbus boss said that the league would be played in 10 cities across the country from 18 venues that have been shortlisted and already his firm has lined up sponsors and franchise owners. “Each edition would cost Rs 125 crore all put together,” he informed.
Thawani said world hockey body FIH, which has recognised only HI, cannot stop any player from Europe from playing in the newly formed league. “As you know FIH is based in Lausanne and is governed by European laws. These players are also represented by accredited player agents,” he said.
He also said that the league will welcome players from Pakistan provided it gets green signal from the government authorities to do so. Nimbus will also team up with IHF to organise, manage, develop, stage, market and broadcast the league to 70 countries, Thawani said.
IHF president RK Shetty brushed aside HI’s threat by saying his organisation had conducted the senior nationals in Bhopal and almost all states and units had been represented. “All the players who are playing for India now have come through the IHF conducted events,” he pointed out.
It was learnt that the players would be slotted in the salary range of Rs 5, 7 and 10 lakh by the franchise teams. “The lowest take home money for a senior player would be between Rs 25 and 30 lakh,” sources said.
Giving details of the league, Nimbus’s COO Yannick Colaco said that matches in the multi-city event would be played on a home and away basis with teams with the best records advancing to a multi-header play-off.