Hockey India calls for emergent Executive Board meeting amid infighting

The controversy-mired Hockey India has called an emergent Executive Board meeting on September 18 here to resolve the differences among its top officials and restructure the struggling Hockey India League to create an independent Governing Council. HI President Dilip Tirkey and secretary Bhola Nath Singh have not been on the same page for a while following the controversy surrounding the change of Indian teams' jersey colour from blue to saffron before the recently-concluded FIH World Cup.Tirkey said the jersey change was done without his knowledge and without the consent of the HI Executive Board.Subsequently, he sent a show-cause notice to HI Director General, Cdr R K Srivastava and stripped him of all his powers with immediate effect, listing eight charges, with jersey change being the most prominent.The turn of events has prompted secretary Bhola Nath Singh to call an emergent Executive Board Meeting. The notice issued ' time to submit his reply."On the advice/direction of the Hockey India President, Dr Dilip Tirkey, received via email dated 14.09.2026, the Emergent - 119th Executive Board Meeting of Hockey India will be held at 15:00 hrs on 18.09.2026 at the Hockey India Office, New Delhi," Bhola Nath wrote in an e-mail to Executive Board members.The future of HIL for both and women is one of the biggest topics for discussion in the meeting. Sports Minister Mansukh Mandaviya held a meeting with Tirkey and HIL franchise owners on Monday and asked them to draw up a roadmap for the league with a five-member panel tasked with proposing a governance and financial model.It is reliably learnt that franchise owners had demanded a new governance structure for the HIL where they would have a seat on the table as they were not happy with how the league was being handled ."Discussion regarding restructuring of HIL with regard to HIL to be run as a joint venture along with Team Franchises. Formation of HIL Pvt Ltd as a separate entity/company, with equity of 40:60 per cent equity of HIL and Franchise," Bhola Nath wrote in his email."Formation of New Governing Council of HIL with Chairman and two Members from Hockey India and two representatives from each franchise. This GC will govern the administration of HIL."The meet will also discuss the possible dates for Hockey India elections."To finalise the date for the Hockey India Elections as per Hockey India Bye-Laws and to consider and approve the appointment of an Electoral Officer for conducting and supervising the said elections. To discuss and approve the Balance Sheet, Income & Expenditure account along with the Schedules and Notes to Accounts for the Financial Year 2025-2026."Among other agendas of the meeting will be a discussion related to hosting of men's and women's Asian Champions Trophy this year in Punjab (Jalandhar and Mohali) and Bhopal.The notice served to Srivastava ."Place on record the legal notice dated 12.09.2026 and the contents thereof issued , for discussion, deliberation, and decision," the mail read."Leakage of privileged and confidential information and records of Hockey India to the general public through Media/ Social Media or otherwise." (Except for the headline, this story has not been edited . It is published from a syndicated feed.)