Now Reading: Hockey India replaces blue jersey with saffron for World Cup
-
01
Hockey India replaces blue jersey with saffron for World Cup
Hockey India has replaced the men's national team's traditional blue jersey with a saffron (orange) one ahead of the FIH Hockey World Cup. The move has drawn sharp criticism from former players…
The Story in Brief
Hockey India has replaced the men's national team's traditional blue jersey with a saffron (orange) one ahead of the FIH Hockey World Cup. The move has drawn sharp criticism from former players and fans. Former captain Viren Rasquinha called the change 'embarrassing', while Dhanraj Pillay said Indian hockey's identity has always been blue. The federation defended the decision, saying it was based on player and support staff consultations and a technical need: blue uniforms blend with blue synthetic pitches, reducing on-field visibility. The new jersey features designs from Indian tradition in barely-visible tones.
The Indian Opinion
The saffron jersey debate is being framed as a clash between tradition and politics. But the federation's technical reasoning, blue on blue turf is a genuine visibility issue, has been raised before. Critics, however, rightly question why players were not consulted earlier and why the change came so close to the World Cup. The real test will be whether the team's performance improves or the colour becomes a needless distraction.
Sources (2): thehindu.com, thehindu.com (2)
This story was synthesised by AI from the 2 sources linked above.
Updated: this story now draws on 2 sources.
