Colour bind
On the face of it, changing jerseys of a national sporting team is entirely unexceptionable. So, why the controversy about hockey team’s saffron jerseys, set to replace the iconic blue, worn since 1926? First, and rather intriguingly, Hockey India president said he had no idea about the switch. Huh? Second, several players told reporters there was no consultation on the colour change. Third, multiple official statements explaining the switch leave no one wiser. We were told the choice of orange was inspired by the national flag – but, so was the legacy blue (from the chakra). Then, we were told it was a technical call – that the blue blended into blue astroturfs. But the boys have played these blue pitches for over a decade.
More fundamentally, why didn’t those making the decision realise that in today’s highly charged political atmosphere, the colour switch will inevitably attract controversy? Indian hockey doesn’t need this, just a fortnight before the hockey World Cup starts in Belgium and Netherlands. BTW, Netherlands’ iconic jersey colour is orange, or Oranje, if you want the Dutch spelling. Orange is as Dutch as blue is Indian. So, when our boys play the Dutch, they’ll ditch saffron/orange and switch to white? White was always the alternative to blue for India’s hockey teams. So, why change anything? We wish the boys in blue the best for the World Cup.
Disclaimer
Views expressed above are the author’s own.
