Committee Formed to look into Gradation of Players

In an attempt to introduce a graded-payment system, Hockey India (HI) on 8 Feb 2010 formed a committee consisting of former players Ajit Pal Singh, M.P. Ganesh, Zafar Iqbal and Dhanraj Pillay to look into the gradation of players. HI President Vidya Stokes and Secretary-General Narinder Batra will be the special invitees to the panel. Jagbir Singh, Director (Planning) of Hockey India would be the convener of the panel.

During their revolt by players in Pune in January 2010, the players had put forth graded payment as one of their demands by which they would get an annual contract amount. They demanded that ‘A’ category players (those who have played more than 100 international matches at the start of the year; also taking into account their past achievements in major tournaments) would have to be paid Rs. 12 lakh a year. ‘B’ category players (more than 50 matches) Rs. 10 lakh per year and ‘C’ category players (fewer than 50 matches) Rs. 8.5 lakh per year as retainer fee.