Hockey clubs gearing up

After a three-year hiatus, the hockey clubs are returning to activity following the announcement of the inter-club player transfers, scheduled for September 19 to 23 and with the hockey season getting underway through the Club Cup tournament from October 12.

Since the completion of the Dhaka Premier Division League in June 2018, Bangladesh Hockey Federation (BHF) could not take the top-flight league to the turf due to international engagement of the senior and junior national teams, conflicts among club officials soon after the 2019 BHF elections as well as the outbreak of coronavirus last year.

However, things changed rapidly once Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina allocated a budget of Tk one crore for the 12 participating clubs in a bid to bring the Premier Hockey League back to the turf.

Following the budget announcement, the clubs have already started communicating with the players to form their squads. The top clubs, especially holders Mohammedan, runners-up Dhaka Mariner Youngs' Club and Abahani, are ahead of others in this regard.

"As a former player, I feel good that hockey is returning after a long gap. I have already started talking to the players we targeted to sign up as I have been given the responsibility again after 10 years. I definitely want to repay the faith the club management had put in me by forming a strong team for the championship," Mohammedan's hockey secretary Sajed A Adel told the Daily Star yesterday.

Dhaka Mariners general secretary Hasan Ullah Khan Rana said, "We have already confirmed three top players out of a five-player quota and are negotiating other players to form a squad that will fight for the championship."

"We are yet to start the official procedure as the club directors are supposed to sit sometime later this month. However, unofficial discussion with the players is going on and we are hoping to form a strong team as Abahani always do," said Abahani's hockey secretary Zaki Ahmed Ripon.

A club official, seeking anonymity, said that the players are also demanding high salaries compared to 2018 but the club officials are not ready to spend high amount due to financial limitation amid the pandemic.

Since each club can field up to four foreign players against seven registered, the title contenders would want to first bank on the local players to form strong squads and then think of foreign players, whose movement could be susceptible amid travel restrictions due to the pandemic.