Hockey World Cup: Post debacle, it's time to fix accountability

India hockey coach Graham Reid quits after poor World Cup show; analytical coach Clark, scientific adviser Pemberton resign tooBHUBANESWAR: Hiring and firing coaches is nothing new. In fact, that's the only constant in Indian hockey. Less than 24 hours after the conclusion of the FIH World Cup, Indian hockey's off-field magnum opus began on Monday with the 'resignation' of chief coach Graham Reid and his team including analytical coach Greg Clark and scientific advisor Mitchell David Pemberton. This curtails their contract which is until the 2024 Paris Olympics.Hockey India has said that they will serve a three-month notice period, which probably gives the former time to work out the new coaching team. That said, this knee-jerk reaction leaves the team in the lurch, especially with eight months to go for the Asian Games. While the cracks in the Indian think-tank started to appear last year, the cookie crumbled following the hosts' ninth-place finish at the World Cup.

The Hockey India press release stated Reid and his staff submitted their resignation to federation president Dilip Tirkey on Monday. But, the doors on their Indian sojourn were shut a day earlier with HI leaving them with no option but to put in their papers for an amicable exit. This was following a meeting the coaches had with Tirkey.Like in the case with most new coaches, Reid too skated on thin ice for a while, forming his core group while leaving out some seasoned players, who believed they still had a lot of hockey left in them.In terms of results, Reid is by far the most successful foreign coach, having guided India to a bronze medal at the Tokyo Games, the country's first podium finish in 41 years at the quadrennial extravaganza. The Australian took