Indian Hockey Players stop play and sit on a strike...

Indian Hockey Players have gone on a strike.

Here are the various thoughts going around:

• Why did they take so long to escalate the issue? 
• Is there anyone in particular who is instigating this strike? 
• Wasn't it poorly orchestrated by the players? 
• Although, Brasa feels for the cause but has distanced himself from all this. 
• Players were on a promotional shoot for Hero Honda and hence a meeting materialized with Hockey India. Wasn't that opportunistic?
• Gill says the matter can be solved in 15m!

How the general public sees it?

Although a few would empathize with the condition of the players but mostly people believe that players taking the country to ransom by stopping the ongoing camp, brings disrepute to the very game which they play. So, until and unless you have a bunch of ruthless adminstrators, such an action doesn't find approval from many in general public.

I agree, the demands must be genuine and the administrators may be truly thick-skinned but it can be debated what methodology players could have adopted to convey their point.
A bunch of players, who would turn out not to be the correct representatives of the whole lot, were supposed to be in the Capital for a promotional event.

Precisely a week before this, players give an ultimatum and sit on a strike. A couple of days later, stage is set for negotiation because, as planned, the players are in Delhi.

Whether it is opportunistic or not, is a debatable topic?

The players could have raised this topic earlier but for what reason the topic is escalated only now is beyond comprehension. Somehow I feel relieved that this happened now and not in the last week of February.

So, what are the other ways to convey your point but still don't downgrade the game?
- Sit on a rotational fast everyday to convey your point.
- Come up with creative methods to convey one’s point.
- Practice with a band on their arms that conveys that conveys their point symbolically. (Media will anyway report and the whole world will know their grievances)
- Keep sending letters (and copies of the same to the media) to Hockey India and prepare a fair ground for a strike and the negotiation.

The problem with the whole thing is: Players don't attend the camp, then they go on a meeting with the officials. The officials are perfect on negotiation skills. Players don’t have a dedicated leader and they lack negotiation skills.

To negotiate one must have a strong ground, a tuft negotiator and a dedicated leader in the fore-front.

Guess what happened? The players left Delhi saying that all is solved. Few hours later, made a U-turn. Possibly, they were not having a genuine leader!
Sitting on strike for non-payment of dues for 1 tournament, Champions Challenge, doesn't sound like a very strong point. I am not saying it's an invalid point. But strike is too extreme a step.

Imagine what the officials must be thinking: "Oh, you are a bunch of directionless people and after what you have done, we will give you peanuts. If you don’t settle in that, we know how to get things right."

Now, everyone knows the players are divided! Mind you, administrators also know!

I am fairly sure with such a weak front, officials will have their way, peacefully.

Was strike the only way to sort out this matter, is what I am wondering?

Sadly, this time, I just feel the players could have preserved the pride of the game and taken it forward in a much better manner.

Revolt can be genuine but how you conduct it will dictate its success.
Of how I foresee things, it's just a matter of days the camp will re-start with hardly anything extra than what is already promised.
Sad but true!!