Hockey: As Sjoerd Marijne returns to take over Indian women’s team in disarray, a serious challenge awaits with World Cup qualification looming

And so, Sjoerd Marijne takes over from Harendra Singh once again. When this happened the last time – in 2018 – it turned out to be a transformative moment for women’s hockey in India. The Dutchman will hope to have a similar impact again as he returns for a third stint with the team.

Marijne, the mastermind of the Indian women’s hockey team’s best-ever fourth-place finish at the Tokyo Olympics, was re-appointed as the chief coach on Friday after Harendra resigned last month. Hockey India officials said Marijne was approached after senior players recommended his name to lead the team out of the current mess, like he did the last time when he took over a side that had finished at the bottom in the Rio Olympics.

The 51-year-old Dutchman, who has coached clubs in the Netherlands and was a part of the backroom staff of their all-conquering women’s national side since he left India, will have a power-packed staff to support him.

By his side, as the analytical coach, will be former Argentine international Matias Vila – a midfielder who played at two Olympics in 2000 and 2004. Marijne’s most crucial ally would be scientific advisor and head of athletic performance Wayne Lombard, who too had left the women’s team after the Tokyo Olympics. The South African, who has worked with other top Indian athletes, including decathlete Tejaswin Shankar and wrestler Vinesh Phogat, was credited with turning around the Indian women’s hockey team’s fitness, which aided their memorable performance in Tokyo.

“It’s great to be back,” said Marijne, who had coached the team twice during his first stint in India from 2017 to 2021. “After 4.5 years, I return with fresh energy and a clear vision to support the team’s growth and help the players achieve their full potential on the world stage.”

Deep down, Marijne knows it won’t be so straightforward.

Speaking to The Indian Express in August last year, Marijne agreed that ‘something is not going well, else they would be ranked higher’ than world number 9 at the time (10). Giving an example from last year’s Pro League, when he was the Netherlands’ assistant coach, Marijne observed: “I was responsible for ball possession (of the Netherlands), and you see they gave a lot of space away and couldn’t match-up with the speed of the Dutch,” Marijne had said. “What was very difficult for them, Deepika scored a nice goal and developed very well (as a player)…but that was individual; as a team, they didn’t create so much. That’s what I noticed.”

Hockey coach Sjoerd Marijne. (Hockey India)

Back in 2017, when he joined the women’s team for his first stint, Marijne presided over a largely disjointed outfit, one in which most players couldn’t run, pass or score. When he joins the camp on January 14, Marijne is likely to find the players in the same condition as he first saw them.

Since 2021, the team he left has only regressed, individually and collectively, under two different coaches. When Janneke Schopmann, a key part of Marijne’s support staff in Tokyo, was at the helm, India could not qualify for the Paris Olympics. After Harendra took over from her, India got relegated from the FIH Pro League – a competition that pits the world’s elite against each other – and now have their backs to the wall in the race for a World Cup berth.

Marijne won’t just be confronted by the on-field mess. Outside the pitch, too, the team is in a disarray. Harendra resigned in December, citing ‘personal reasons’. But the real reasons were laid bare by a group of players in a letter to Hockey India and the sports ministry – favouritism, behaviour and a string of poor results.

In their letter, the senior players also questioned the elevation of Salima Tete as the captain under Harendra, accusing her of ‘misusing her position’ and further alleging that the captain and vice-captain ‘do not work together’. It signals a deep rift within the team.

For Marijne, this scenario isn’t unfamiliar. But from late 2018 to 2021 – he was made the men’s team coach in late 2017 in a stint that lasted nine months – Marijne ironed out the differences and transformed the team, led by the now-retired Rani Rampal, into a force.

Rani and former captain Savita Punia have earlier said how Marijne ‘democratised team meetings and created an atmosphere where players can freely express themselves’, which was a refreshing change for a bunch that was groomed to be conformists. Together with Lombard, he also improved the tactical understanding of the players and made them fitter to take on the world’s best.

This time, he’ll have a little more than a month to prepare the team. The World Cup qualifier in Hyderabad from March 8 to 14 – a do-or-die tournament for India – will show just how transformative this stint could be.