Bangalore University hockey team lifts trophy, asks for shoes

BENGALURU: “Please sir, we want shoes”. This was the demand put forth by Bangalore University hockey captain SM Rafeeque to a stunned vice-chancellor, N Prabhu Dev, in 2009 after they won the South Zone tournament. The VC promised “anything” the players needed. The team soon left for Rourkela in Odisha for the all-India cup and that was that.
Nine years later, on January 28, the university hockey team made pretty much the same demand: shoes and a second set of the team colours for each player.The team had won the South Zone tournament and qualified for the Nehru all-India inter-university tournament in New Delhi. In-charge vice chancellor V Sudesh, who heard the team out at the awards ceremony, was supportive. Yet, the players left for Delhi 10 days later in their old shoes and one set of uniform - jersey, shorts and stockings - which they would wash and wear every day.
The team made light of the issue, turning around their fortunes after the defeat to Punjabi University, Patiala in the opening game of the league, to notch a 2-0 win in the final against Veer Bahadur Singh Purvanchal University, Jaunpur (Uttar Pradesh) on Monday. With the cup in their kitty, new shoes seem a remote possibility. While one official promised new shoes at the felicitation ceremony, another said not every demand for “such expensive kits” could be met. Despite repeated attempts, the in-charge VC did not respond to TOI’s queries.