Player, coach and influential figure, Mukul Pandey has devoted decades to the game and to those who play it.
Mukul Pandey is a legendary hockey coach in Indian hockey. He was a coach of the Junior India Hockey Team and Maratha Warriors in the Professional Hockey League (Currently, Hockey India League). His wards became household names in Indian hockey, including Cornelius D’Costa, Adolph Colaco, Dhanraj Pillay, Walmiki Brothers, Sabu Varkey, Sandeep Somesh, Dhananjay Mahadik, Agent D’Souza, Gurbaj Singh, Ajmer Singh, Viren Rasquinha, Anil Adrin and many more.
Mukul Pandey moved from the Easter India town of Varanasi with his family to Mumbai in the west. He says of his background, “My father belonged to a wrestling family from Varanasi, and he moved to Mumbai to work as a police officer. My father took up hockey during his time with the police and would often play in our neighborhood with his friends. So my brother and I picked up the sport from him, and I must have been ten years old when I first held my hockey stick.”
There’s always a talk about being fit as an athlete and being match-fit. When asked what big area was of concern and his inspirations, he said,
Mukul Pandy: Growing up, we played a lot on the grass. We practiced our dribbles, flicks, and scoops against the wall, and we gave equal priority to both physical fitness and individual skills. Also, we played with shorter sticks (36 to 36.5 inches) than the larger sticks of today (39 inches). Modern-day synthetic surface game is about power, speed, endurance, and strength; on this turf, it’s all about the position of angles, permutations, and combinations. It also made the game more monotonous and predictable with the ease of predicting the next coming pass.
He went on to say, “Balbir Singh of the Western Railways was my biggest inspiration, and we are still looking for a more charismatic presence than him. After him, I admire Ashok Kumar and Inam-ur Rahman of Indian Airlines. There used to be many wonderful and skillful players from Punjab, like Udham Singh, Surjeet Singh, Tarsem Singh, and many others.”
For Mukul, representing India is something special for any player/coach. “In 1998, I was selected to represent India in the Master’s World Cup in Amsterdam. Our team had greats like Ashok Kumar Dhyan Chand, S S Grewal, Jafar Iqbal, Romeo James, Kuldip Singh, Baljeet Singh, Mir Ranjan Negi, and many other stalwarts of Indian hockey. It’s priceless to represent our country at any level; it cannot be described on paper.”
Mukul Pandey
The coach in him proudly recalled the Tokyo Olympic Bronze and said, “We were supposed to fly to Tokyo for the Olympics. However, due to covid restrictions, we watched the games at the KSHA Hockey Stadium in Bengaluru with the OTOD family. It was historical and emotional, and this bronze medal after 32 years will remain cherished for the rest of our lives. We fought tooth and nail against the rampaging Germans for the bronze medal match, and like my nephew and commentator Siddharth Pandey, we all had tears of joy and pride that day.”
It is a common notion for players to hide/fake injuries before significant events like the Olympics and World Cups. Mr. Pandey said, “Players are bound to hide their injuries and try and get into the team. The scientific advisors/trainers/physios work to see that such players are not selected for national duty.”
Adding to the above on inconsistencies and irregularities of performance and personal discipline, Mr. Pandey said, “Unless they are genius, almost every player will have good and bad days, and as human beings, we are bound to make mistakes. Tempers keep coming out here and there, and in some cases, India lost a few battles due to excessive appeal and rough play.”
Here are other excerpts from my interview with him.
Ravi: What were the strategies of your training unique? Were there any gaps between coaching and fitness training standards in India and other countries?
Mukul Pandey: We mostly played in the 5-3-2-1 system and were told by our coaches to give our best to win the match. I was a natural athlete and played football and cricket at the university level. I was selected to represent the Mumbai University football team, but since it clashed with my hockey matches, I could not play. Later in 1977, when I joined the Indian Customs as an officer, I represented the Mumbai Customs football team in the senior division for ten years. Since Bombay Customs did not have a hockey team, so the then Collector of Customs called me to play hockey. He knew my background in hockey.
Ravi: Can you tell us about your experience in tournaments like Nehru Hockey Tournament, Aga Khan Cup, and Beighton Cup? Do you have any favorite goals and moments from the game?
Mukul Pandey: Mumbai, as we all know, is the nursery for hockey in the west tournaments like The Bombay Gold Cup, The Aga Khan Cup, and The Bombay Senior Division League always produced top-class international players and Olympians. They always attracted huge crowds, and playing in such tournaments was an honor and privilege. Also, in our days, there was no prize money, and we played in the knockout format.
Ravi: How do you see hockey evolving in your state of Maharashtra and our country? What kind of support did you receive in your career?
Celebrating
Mukul Pandey: The game in Mumbai is deplorable to the least, and it has become nothing less but a fight for power and control. Hockey India should take the blame for this downfall in metros like Mumbai, Bengaluru, Bhopal, Patiala, etc. Our associate member’s membership has been canceled for unknown reasons, and my heart today bleeds to see no active hockey in Mumbai since 2019. Instead of investing big money in Khelo-India games, HI should invest in robust, purposeful, grassroots tournaments and a pan-India hockey development program. The same money can be utilized to develop modern infrastructure with proper scientific training for deserving and promising players in our country. We should also focus on establishing training centers in small towns accessible to nearby villages. That’s where real Indian hockey talent lies.
Ravi: Franchise sport has changed the global sporting ecosystem. How do you see this modern-day approach in sports, and how well do you see this in hockey?
Mukul Pandey: Indeed, Franchise Sports are becoming increasingly popular today, with corporates responsible for sponsoring individual players and teams. This brings accountability and professionalism, raising the standards of individual sportsmen and women as performance becomes the criterion. The premier Hockey league DHL was a huge success. Still, hockey India’s poor management and non-accountability saw the HIL’s death, which helped local players gain confidence and bridge the gap in international tournaments.
Ravi: I always feel Indian Hockey (men and women) needs Indian coaches and a bit against foreign coaches. Please share your opinions and views on this.
Mukul Pandey: If you ask me, most Indian coaches are not well educated to apply modern training, techniques, and methods, unlike other hockey-playing nations. In India, we need a uniform structure to follow. I do not want to go into the intricacies of this selection process, as it is better that I keep quiet about it.
Ravi: What was your favorite position on the hockey pitch? Do you also participate in other sports, recreation, or fitness activities? If yes, can you talk through them?
Mukul Pandey: I started my career as a prolific center-forward and moved to center-half due to my excellent distribution and anticipation of the ball. My late coach Mr. Terrence Fernandes was instrumental in my playing in this position. I represented my state as a midfielder, a halfback, and even India in this position. I follow a strict fitness regime and still play hockey on weekends with players half my age.
Ravi: Sports education is a subject taken for granted too many times. Can you talk more about this?
Winners!
Mukul Pandey: I have a degree in post-graduation in sports science and nutrition from Bombay University. I have also done my FIH Masters high-performance coaching program from the FIH. An exercise physiologist and fitness expert are necessary for any coaching program, and we need experts who can chalk out individual programs for athletes. Indian hockey owes a lot to foreign trainers and fitness coaches who have reached the team’s fitness levels to be on par with the best in the world.
Ravi: Where do you see India’s men and women teams journeying in 2023 and beyond? What changes/suggestions would you suggest about coaching and training?
Mukul Pandey: The Indian men’s and women’s teams are performing well, with good coaching and technical staff, but future planning, especially at the grassroots structure, is needed to get to the top of the ladder. We must have a proper system to achieve that.
Ravi: What is your philosophy in sports and life, and how would you encourage good sportsmanship? What message would you give modern-day players and coaches about ethics and character?
Mukul Pandey: There are chapters and chapters written on philosophy in sports. Being a science graduate, I do not believe in philosophy, discipline, dedication, hard work, honesty, and sincerity pay you in life. No matter which field or walk of life you are in.
Thanks Ravi, Mukul is one of the few thinking people both as player and coach. He has a shrewd analytical mind and that is the basis of his success story. For few of his tribe, hockey is the breath of life and I am proud to have made his acquaintance. God bless him.