Bhubaneswar: Argentina top player Gonzalo Peillat, who is an integral part of the Hockey India League (HIL) expressed his dissatisfaction over its irregularity and constant chopping and changing of the format.
The HIL’s future looked uncertain after five seasons when Hockey India (HI) postponed the 2018 edition. This was after some of the franchises threatened to withdraw having incurred financial losses. It forced HI to opt for a financially more viable format for the franchises to keep alive its flagship event.
It has been decided that the revamped HIL will return in 2019 in a new avatar with a more fast-paced five-a-side format replacing the traditional 11-a-side event. Save Delhi Waveriders, which is no longer part of the event all other franchises are expected to take part in the league.
But Peillat, who was part of the Uttar Pradesh Wizards in the last edition was not happy with the changing format. “It doesn’t help the audience to settle with the format. They will take more time to readjust with the new format and understand it fully. It will only add to the wane in popularity of the league,” he said on the sidelines of their match against Spain in the ongoing Men’s Hockey World Cup at the Kalinga Stadium here Thursday.
“The players will also take time to adjust with the new format and it will take a lot of time to set the pace of the game and we just can’t force the audience for a long time to bother it,” the soft spoken guy opined.
“Earlier it was two goals for each field goal and one for each penalty conversion. Now they (HI) are back to the square one. The puritans of the game certainly won’t like that much of flexibility with the rules. They (HI) should fix certain rules and at least allow the players, officials and audience to settle with it for some time,” he signed off.
It is also to be noted that besides the men’s and women’s events, a mixed team event will also be there in the upcoming edition of HIL. So basically, it means there will be three trophies up for grabs. These changes will help franchises save a lot of money. JSW Sports have come on board in place of Delhi and will be based out of Bangalore.