NEW DELHI: Field hockey's governing body Thursday refused permission for a new multi-million-dollar world series in India modeled on the popular Indian Premier League cricket tournament. The Indian television company Nimbus and the unrecognized Indian Hockey Federation were planning the World Series of Hockey (WSH) to start in November or December this year. They hoped to attract the world's top stars to play for cash-rich franchises for hefty sums of money, like the three-season-old IPL Twenty20 event that revolutionized cricket. The Swiss-based International Hockey Federation (FIH) said it was concerned at reports that players were being contacted by WSH agents and threatened to ban anyone associated with the initiative. “The FIH does not recognize the World Series of Hockey,” the governing body said in a statement. “Matches in the World Series may conflict with major FIH events, which may compromise an athlete's participation in their national team's program. “Any player and any association that participates in the World Series may render both ineligible to participate in any FIH tournament, including Olympic qualifying tournaments and the Olympic Games.” The FIH said it was already working toward starting a professional league in India in collaboration with Hockey India, the official body running the sport in the country. Hockey India was formed in 2008 after the Indian Hockey Federation (IHF), headed previously by decorated police officer K.P.S. Gill, was delisted by the government amid corruption allegations. But the IHF won a reprieve in court and resumed functioning as a parallel body, even though the world governing body continued to recognize Hockey India alone. Organizers of the rebel league are considering legal action against the FIH. “There appears to be a Hockey India-FIH nexus,” IHF Secretary General Ashok Mathur told Reuters Thursday. “The IHF has been revived by a High Court order, which is binding on the government and the Indian Olympic Association as well. We are the genuine body authorised to run hockey in the country.” The game's governing body could not simply stop a player from earning a living, he added. “This is an unnecessary interference and we are consulting our lawyers. We have got a huge response from overseas players and I don't think there should be any threat to the event.” Organizers paraded India captain Rajpal Singh and some of his teammates when launching the league in Mumbai last month. The IPL itself was started by the Indian cricket board in 2008 to counter a rebel Twenty20 league that was begun by another television network, Zee Telefilms, in 2007. The Zee-owned Indian Cricket League folded after two years.
