Hockey players hit hard

When some top national hockey players joined Bangladesh Navy in 2013, an argument over the justification of their joining the services team had made the rounds in the hockey fraternity.

The argument was that the national players can earn more from the Dhaka Premier League compared to what they would get from Bangladesh Navy. However, those players -- Rasel Mahmud Jimmy, Mamunur Rahman Chayan, Imran Hasan Pintoo, Khorshedur Rahman, Sarwar Hossain and others -- stuck to their decision, and now they can consider themselves lucky as they get a regular stream of income from Bangladesh Navy during this nationwide shutdown.

The other players, though, have not had the luck as they solely depend on hockey to run their families, and with no league taking place in the last two years, they have been going through acute financial crisis following the coronavirus outbreak.

Bappy Kumar Ghosh, one of the unfortunate ones, had been helping his parents by earning money from premier hockey league in Dhaka, Chattogram and Sylhet apart from conducting coaching in Rajshahi and Cumilla. But now all his income sources have been cut off in the wake of Covid-19.

"My father gets only Tk 5000 salary and I provide most of the expenditure of our three-member family. But at the moment I can't help the family as there is no income. I used to get a small pocket money from coaching at Boikalin Sangha in Rajshahi and I used to earn by playing hockey leagues in Chattogram, Sylhet and Dhaka but everything is halted now. Besides, I was supposed to coach a unit of Bangladesh Army in June which is also uncertain now. I don't know what I will do in future and how to help the family," said the 28-year-old, who has been playing the premier league for the last 12 years -- a duration when only six editions of the league was held.

"If the league was held every year, I think I would have been far better off. As the Dhaka league is irregular, I bank on other district leagues and coaching profession to earn bread and butter," said Ghosh, who represented Sonali Bank, Shadharan Bima and Ajax SC in the league.

Former national striker Ashraful Islam Shishu is also going through similar crisis. "Physically I'm fine but not financially. I depend on Bangladesh Army's coaching, which is now uncertain. I don't have any deposit to spend," said Shishu, who represented the national team from 2008 to 2018.

Former goalkeeper Rasel Khan Bappi, who played in the 2018 premier league – the last time theleague was held -- admitted that many players, despite being in financial hardship, do not want to disclose their current condition due to their social status and prestige.

"Not only general players, many national players are in financial trouble as there has been no premier league in the last two years. I am getting many calls from players from outside Dhaka but I don't want to mention any names," said Bappi, who represented the national team from 1996 to 2006.

"When the financial status of hockey players is bad, how will the hockey players' welfare association help the current players? It is in fact a duty of the federation to help the players as they can't hold the league regularly," the former national custodian said.

"The federation officials are not attending phone calls. How can we approach them to help the players? I think if the federation could hold the league once in last two years, the players would not be in such trouble right now," said Bappi.