World Series Hockey (WSH) was a professional league for

field hockey Field hockey is a team sport structured in standard hockey format, in which each team plays with ten outfield players and a goalkeeper. Teams must drive a round hockey ball by hitting it with a hockey stick towards the rival team's shooting ...

competition in India. It was organised by

Indian Hockey Federation The Indian Hockey Federation was the Indian branch of the International Hockey Federation. Background It was the apex governing body of field hockey in India. It was formed on 7 November 1925 in Gwalior. It was the first non-European team t ...

and Nimbus Sports with the objective to reinvigorate hockey in India. It was contested among eight franchisee-based teams consisting of players from India and around the world. The entire event took place on home and away basis culminating into multi header playoffs. Australian Dennis Meredith, a member of the FIH panel of tournament directors is the technical director of the WSH. It is currently sponsored by tyre manufacturers,

Bridgestone is a Japanese multinational tire manufacturer founded in 1931 by Shojiro Ishibashi (1889–1976) in the city of Kurume, Fukuoka, Japan. The name Bridgestone comes from a calque translation and transposition of , meaning 'stone bridge' in Japa ...

, and therefore officially known as Bridgestone World Series Hockey. The inaugural season of the tournament was played between eight teams out of which

Sher-e-Punjab Ranjit Singh (13 November 1780 – 27 June 1839), popularly known as Sher-e-Punjab or "Lion of Punjab", was the first Maharaja of the Sikh Empire, which ruled the northwest Indian subcontinent in the early half of the 19th century. He s ...

was crowned the champion after defeating Pune Strykers 5-2 in the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of con ...

. WSH became the first field hockey tournament ever to live stream all the matches online on

Google Google LLC () is an American Multinational corporation, multinational technology company focusing on Search Engine, search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, software, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, ar ...

's video and music sharing site

YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...

History

First season

The inaugural season of WSH was to take place from 17 December 2011 to 22 January 2012 but later was postponed owing to Olympic qualifiers. It kicked off on 29 February amidst confusion and controversies when the Indian players opted out of the tournament and FIH, HI and PHF warned players looking to participate in the WSH that they will be suspended from international matches as the event was unsanctioned. A total of 59 matches were played in 34 days. The top four teams in the league phase advanced to the semi-finals followed by the final which was played in

Mahindra Hockey Stadium Mahindra Hockey Stadium is a field hockey stadium at Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. It is the home of the Mumbai Marines of the World Series Hockey and Mumbai Magicians of the Hockey India League. It was also the home venue of the Maratha Warriors ...

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the secon ...

defeated Pune Strykers 5 – 2 to become the champions of the first WSH.

Second season

The second season of World Series Hockey was supposed to be played from 15 December 2012 to 20 January 2013.

Competition format

Rules

The event was played according to traditional hockey rules apart from a few variations. All the matches are of 70 minutes each but instead of two-halves, the games are divided into four-quarters of 17-and-a-half minutes each to give more rest to players during a game and also provide opportunities to sponsors and advertisers. Each team can have a maximum of 25 registered players out of which 18 can play. Time-outs (2 minutes) can be called by the teams, once in each half although are not mandatory. There are video umpires in all games and video referrals can be only called by umpires either at their own or as requested by a team (one per match) for goal line decision only. In the event that the referral is upheld the referring team will retain its right of referral. Shoot-out competition between two teams is similar to the

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice ...

penalty shootout. Each team has five penalty shoot-outs where five players are nominated. Each player, with the ball on the 23 m line, the goalkeeper/defending player on or behind the goal‐line between the goal posts, starts with the umpire's signal and has a maximum of eight seconds to score a goal with only the goal keeper defending the goal. The player can take as many shots possible within the stipulated eight secs. A

penalty stroke In field hockey, a penalty stroke, sometimes known as a penalty flick, is the most severe penalty given. It is predominantly awarded when a foul has prevented a certain goal from being scored or for a deliberate infringement by a defender in the ...

is awarded in case of intentional foul by the goal-keeper. The shoot-outs are used only in the knockout stage.

Competition

World Series Hockey will be a multi city franchise-based league with the players allocated to the teams based on the internationally accepted and practiced

draft Draft, The Draft, or Draught may refer to: Watercraft dimensions * Draft (hull), the distance from waterline to keel of a vessel * Draft (sail), degree of curvature in a sail * Air draft, distance from waterline to the highest point on a vesse ...

system. World Series Hockey consists of eight teams representing eight cities/states of India. The Event will be played in two phases over 34 days and consist of a total of 59 matches.

League phase

Each team will play the other twice; home and away and thus will play 14 league matches; 7 home and 7 away. The League Phase will consist of 56 matches and will be played from 29 February to 2 April. Points in the league phase were awarded as follows: 3 points for a win, 1 point each for a draw and no points for a loss. Top four teams qualify for the semi-finals. If at the end of the league phase two or more teams have the same number of points, these teams will be ranked according to the following criteria: # Respective number of matches won # Higher number of wins # Goal difference # Number of goals scored # Head to head record # Shoot‐out competition

Playoffs

The four teams with the best record after the league phase qualify for the playoffs. In the Semis, the No.1 team plays the No. 4 team, and the No. 2 team faces No. 3 team. Each of these matches are a one match knockout and venue for this match is allocated by the Technical Director. The winners of each playoff semis qualifies for the final. The Final is played between the winners of each of the semis. The team which wins the Final are declared the Champions.

Franchises

Players

Each team can have a maximum of 25 registered players out of which 18 can play. The tournament includes Pakistani superstar and legend

system. The captains of eight city-based franchisee teams were announced at a media conference and the list includes four Indian players and four foreign players. WSH signed on eight world-renowned coaches to take charge of the teams. The coaches have been selected from a list of highly talented professionals primarily based on their experience with international teams and their exposure to the sub continent conditions.

Trophy

Trophy of Bridgestone World Series Hockey comprises a large cup with two hockey sticks on either sides. The trophy was unveiled by

bollywood Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, refers to the film industry based in Mumbai, engaged in production of motion pictures in Hindi language. The popular term Bollywood, is a portmanteau of "Bombay" ...

star

Saif Ali Khan Saif Ali Khan (; born Sajid Ali Khan Pataudi; 16 August 1970) is an Indian actor and film producer who works in Hindi films. Part of the Pataudi family, he is the son of actress Sharmila Tagore and cricketer Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi. Khan ...

with Viren Rasquinha, Prabhjot Singh,

Arjun Halappa Arjun Halappa (born 13 December 1980) is a professional Indian hockey player and former captain of Indian Hockey Team. Career Midfield maestro Arjun Halappa is the son of former East Bengal Hockey Club player B. K. Halappa, He hails from K ...

and

Rajpal Singh Rajpal Singh (born 8 August 1983) is a former captain of India national hockey team. He plays from the forward (front line) position. He is an Arjuna Award winner. He is a graduate from Chandigarh’s SGGS Khalsa College and a product of Shiv ...

at a press conference in

Sponsorship

Tyre manufacturers

became the title sponsors of World Series Hockey for the inaugural season. *2012–present:

Other major sponsors of the league include leading brands

Vodafone Vodafone Group plc () is a British multinational telecommunications company. Its registered office and global headquarters are in Newbury, Berkshire, England. It predominantly operates services in Asia, Africa, Europe, and Oceania. , Vod ...

and

Seagram The Seagram Company Ltd. (which traded as Seagram's) was a Canadian multinational conglomerate formerly headquartered in Montreal, Quebec. Originally a distiller of Canadian whisky based in Waterloo, Ontario, it was once (in the 1990s) the ...

's Imperial Blue.

Prize money

The prize money for WSH will be the highest ever prize money for any hockey event in the world which is 30 times more prize money than the

Euro Hockey League The Euro Hockey League is an annual men's field hockey cup competition organized by the European Hockey Federation, EHF for the very top field hockey clubs in Europe. The competition was launched at the start of the 2007-08 field hockey season whe ...

. The total prize money is excess of 100 million (100 Million

Indian rupee The Indian rupee ( symbol: ₹; code: INR) is the official currency in the republic of India. The rupee is subdivided into 100 '' paise'' (singular: ''paisa''), though as of 2022, coins of denomination of 1 rupee are the lowest value in use ...

s). Prize Money will be as follows: If an Indian player becomes 'WSH Rockstar', the prize for the 'Indian Superstar' will be awarded to the next best Indian player. All WSH franchises have committed to share a minimum of 50% of their team winnings with the players.

Preparations

Installation of goalposts

WSH has set international standard goalposts at every tournament venue. These goalposts are the same ones that will be used in the London Olympics in 2012, and are manufactured by Harrod UK, who are the official suppliers to the event. Harrod UK has been responsible for goalposts used in global sporting events, including

Rugby World Cup The Rugby World Cup is a men's rugby union tournament contested every four years between the top international teams. The tournament is administered by World Rugby, the sport's international governing body. The winners are awarded the Webb ...

, Delhi Commonwealth Games,

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium (branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE for sponsorship reasons) is a football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Stadium, which was demolished from 200 ...

, Santiago Bernabéu and

Dubai Sports City Dubai Sports City or DSC is a multi-venue sports complex in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, developed by Dubai. It provides a mix of residential, retail, leisure and recreational facilities. It is built around five major sports venues and featur ...

. The specialty of these goalposts is that the back post is outside the net, thus not allowing balls to rebound at pace from within the goal, and leaving no doubt in decisions made by umpires on shots on goal that enter the goal.

Plan for National Team

The organisers of WSH announced huge financial rewards for Indian players who participate in the event. As per the plan, WSH-signed players who make it to the Indian team for next year's Olympic Qualifiers will get 500,000 each. If India qualify for London Olympics, these players will be given additional 500,000 each. If Indian team returns with bronze medal from London Olympics, 5 million will be divided equally amongst all WSH-signed players in the team. The sum will be doubled to 10 million if India win silver, while the reward will be 20 million in case of a gold medal.

Preparatory camps

The preparatory camps for World Series Hockey took place from 10 December over a week. The international players and coaches arrived in India. Sun Ming (South Korea), Stephenson Lloyd James (New Zealand) and Andreu Enrich (Spain) and Pakistan players also attended the camps. The high intensity camp was specially designed by the coaches keeping in mind individual skill sets that can be synced with the team strategy.

Postpone

The organizers of World Series Hockey decided to postpone the event by two months due to uncertainty over the participation of Indian players ahead of the Olympic qualifiers. Confirming this in a release on 12 December, Nimbus Sport said the franchisee-based tournament would now be held between 29 February and 2 April. However, Hockey India officials were quick to clarify that there was no guarantee of the national squad members being available on those dates if they correspond with their preparatory camps.

Brand Ambassador

Bollywood actor

Suniel Shetty Suniel Shetty (born Sunil V. Shetty; 11 August 1961) is an Indian actor, film producer, television personality and entrepreneur who is predominantly active in Hindi films he has also worked in tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and kannada films. In a c ...

is appointed as the 'Brand Ambassador' for the World Series Hockey.

Title sponsors

Tyre manufacturers

became the Title Sponsor of World Series Hockey.

Statistics

Performance of teams

Top scorers

The top goal scorer of the league is awarded with golden stick award and a prize money of 2.5 million ( 25,000). Apart from this, 5,000 is given to the players for the goal of the match. Currently Gurjinder Singh (19 in 15 matches) and Syed Imran Warsi (19 in 14 matches) share the number one spot for most goals after the first season. Champion team

holds the record for most goals scored (54 in 16 matches). Delhi Wizards and

Bhopal Badshahs Bhopal Badshahs (BB) was hockey team from Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh that competes in the World Series Hockey championship. The captain of the team is Sameer Dad, part of the Indian National Hockey Team. Bhopal Badshahs was coached by Vasudevan Bh ...

have conceded the fewest goals (37 in 14 matches). The highest-scoring matches to date in the World Series Hockey occurred twice: First on 1 March 2012 when Pune Strykers beat Mumbai Marines and second on 30 March 2012 when Delhi defeated Punjab. Both the matches ended up 7–5. Out of

Pune Pune (; ; also known as Poona, ( the official name from 1818 until 1978) is one of the most important industrial and educational hubs of India, with an estimated population of 7.4 million As of 2021, Pune Metropolitan Region is the largest i ...

's 7 goals, 5 were scored by Gurpreet Singh which is also the most goals scored in a WSH match by an individual.

Technical committee

On 11 November, the technical committee for World Series Hockey was announced, which includes Dennis Meredith, former Indian coach Joaquim Carvolho, Former Captain and one of the best goalkeepers of India

Ashish Ballal Ashish Kumar Ballal (born 8 October 1970) is a former Indian goalkeeper of field hockey. He represented India in 275 international matches in the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, the 1990 World cup, 3 Champions Trophy tournaments (1989, 1993, 1996), ...

, former Chairman of the FIH Umpiring Committee Peter Von Reth, M.P. Ganesh,

Shahbaz Ahmed Shahbaz Ahmad ( Urdu: شہباز احمد) (born September 1, 1968) is a former field hockey player from Pakistan who is also known by his nickname as "Shahbaz Ahmed Senior". He was born in to Arain family. Career He is considered to be amo ...

and Zafar Iqbal. The committee will be responsible for establishment of rules and regulations the WSH code of conduct for players, tournament officials and franchise owners, guidelines for offences and penalties pursuant and guidelines to the WSH Technical Director on the process for hearing and determining any reported offence. Tina Brullo of Australia was named as the competition operations manager. Tina has over 15 years of extensive experience in managing international sports events including the last year's FIH Hockey World Cup in India. 1996 Atlanta Olympics Indian goalkeeper Alloysius Edwards was chosen as one of the managers of the World Series Hockey whereas sports medicine expert P.S.M. Chandran, involved with multiple sports at the international level for more than three decades, was elected as chief medical officer.

Controversies

The IHF is not recognised by the

International Hockey Federation The Fédération Internationale de Hockey (English: International Hockey Federation), commonly known by the acronym FIH, is the international governing body of field hockey and indoor field hockey. Its headquarters are in Lausanne, Switzerland. ...

(FIH) as the governing body for the sport in India. The IHF has not been recognised by the FIH since 2000. Instead the FIH recognises

Hockey India Hockey India plans, directs and conducts all the activities for both men and women hockey in India. It is recognized by the Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports, Govt. of India as the sole body responsible towards promoting Hockey in India. It w ...

as the sole national governing body for hockey in India. It remains an unsanctioned event as per the FIH Statutes and Bye-Laws.

Pakistan Hockey Federation The Pakistan Hockey Federation ( ur, ) is the governing body for the sport of field hockey in Pakistan. It is affiliated with the International Hockey Federation (FIH). Management positions The current Patron-in-Chief is Prime Minister Mian M ...

(PHF) has said that any player who participates in the WSH will be banned from domestic competitions. This declaration hinders the plans of several Pakistan hockey stars, including former captain Rehan Butt. FIH wrote a letter to PHF which clearly stated that the league is unsanctioned and national team members and players not part of the team too would not take part in it. Earlier, the FIH had stated that those who had signed their contracts before 28 March 2011 could play in the league, but now the situation has changed as FIH has termed the league unsanctioned. Apart from Rehan, Zeeshan Ashraf, Mudassar Ali, Tariq Aziz, Adnan Maqsood,

Waseem Ahmad Waseem Ahmad (Punjabi language, Punjabi, Urdu: وسیم احمد) (born 10 April 1977, in Vehari, Punjab, Pakistan) is a Pakistani field hockey player and ex-captain of Pakistan Hockey Team.Shakeel Abbasi Shakeel Abbasi (b: 5 January 1984, Quetta, Pakistan) is a former international field hockey player from Pakistan. He played as a forward mainly as an inside right or center forward. A skillful forward Abbasi was regarded as one ...

were signed to play in WSH. FIH president Leandro Negre served a direct warning to players looking to participate in the WSH that they will be suspended from international matches. The entire Indian squad signed a contract to play in the league but Negre made it clear that any Indian player who participates will be banned from the Olympic qualifiers and all FIH tournaments. Former Indian coach Harendra Singh criticized the FIH and HI that they have no right to interfere in a domestic tournament and stop players from participating in the WSH. According to him, playing in match situation is more beneficial for the players than attending camps for the Olympic qualifiers. On 30 November, six top Indian players pulled out of the league in favor of the national camp for the Olympic qualifiers from 11 December. In a letter, addressed to Hockey India secretary Narinder Batra and signed by skipper

Bharat Chettri Bharat Kumar Chettri (born 15 December 1981 in Kalimpong, West Bengal) is an Indian field hockey player. He is the goalkeeper of the Indian hockey team. Career Chettri's professional career in field hockey began after he joined the Sports A ...

, Tushar Khandekar, Yuvraj Walmiki, Sreejesh,

Sandeep Singh Sandeep Singh (born 27 February 1986) is an Indian professional field hockey player from Haryana and an ex-captain of the Indian national hockey team. He generally features as a full back and is a penalty corner specialist for the team. He ...

and Sardar Singh, the players said they would be available for selection to the national team for the qualifiers, which would be held in the Capital in February. The organisers of the WSH, however, said that they were yet to get communication from any WSH player regarding their non-availability for the inaugural edition of the event. On 1 December, six more Indian players pulled out of the World Series Hockey citing national camp for the Olympic qualifier that would coincide with the league starting 17 December. The six players - Rupinder Pal Singh, Danish Mujtaba, Kangujam Chinglensana Singh, Manjeet Kullu, Birendra Lakra and Manpreet Singh - in a letter assured the Hockey India that they would attend the national camp that starts 11 December in

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders w ...

. But the IHF president RK Shetty said: "The IHF haven't received any request from the players. It is a ploy to sabotage the WSH". Sources claimed that coach requested Hockey India to postpone camp from 11 December to sometime in January so that national players can feature in inaugural World Series Hockey. Organisers of the WSH have said they are open to postponing the event by three months, till after the Olympic Qualification tournament, following Hockey India's refusal to select those players in the Indian team who would participate in the proposed franchise-based league. The organisers postponed the event with condition of written guarantee from HI and an assurance that they will allow all the players to participate in the tournament after the qualifiers. The tournament got clearance from

Delhi High Court The High Court of Delhi (IAST: ''dillī uchcha nyāyālaya'') was established on 31 October 1966, through the ''Delhi High Court Act, 1966'', with four judges, Chief Justice K. S. Hegde, Justice I. D. Dua, Justice H. R. Khanna and Justice S. ...

on 13 February adding that the schedule did not clash with international commitments of the national team. 18 players of the Indian team that qualified for the London Olympics decided to skip the league after a team meeting.

said that it can sanction the WSH only if the two organisations,

(HI) and

(IHF), reached an agreement.

Media

Broadcast rights

References

External links

*
World Series Hockey on SPORT195
{{Field hockey leagues Field hockey leagues in India Professional sports leagues in India