New Delhi: Style, spunk, attitude. MTV style promos. This is Indian hockey and the Premier Hockey League. After two successful editions the PHL is back with some innovations.
The tournament gets underway on January 2 and it will be held at two venues -- Chennai and Chandigarh -- and will feature seven teams in one super league. All 42 matches will be played under lights and for the first time ever, there will be a best of three finals.
R C Venkateish, member of the organising team, says: "It has always been our objective with PHL to expand the number of venues, expand the number of teams, expand the game, and increase the length of the league. Gradually we want to go into 'home and away' format."
The PHL is aimed at bringing the masses back to hockey. All the matches are played under lights and are shown live. This time the tier-two teams have been done away with. The tournament will be played out over 10 weeks instead of the earlier format of 5 weeks.
"If people don't see hockey, they'll forget about hockey. They won't play hockey, we won't have great hockey players in the future. They are able to see it on television, they identify the game, and then they go out and become good players," says Venkateish.
The last PHL threw up some names who went on and made it to the Indian team. Shivinder Singh was in fact India's highest scorer at the World Cup. But with Indian hockey floundering at the world scene, the question remains, can PHL bring a turnaround in the fortunes of the national game?
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