India is unique place to play hockey, would love to interact with incredible fans, says David Harte

New Delhi, Dec 6 (IANS) Ireland's legendary goalkeeper David Harte is excited to play India for the first time in six years at the upcoming Hockey India League (HIL) 2024-25 season with Tamil Nadu Dragons. Harte, who played in the HIL in 2017, is looking forward to getting the feel of passionate Indian fans in Rourkela and Ranchi. 

"I was only chatting to a couple of friends of mine about this. It's a unique place to go to play hockey. Everybody in the world knows that. India and their fans are just incredible. It's unrivalled to a certain level. You can say other countries, perhaps Argentina in Argentina and the Netherlands, when you play them in the Netherlands, also have fantastic support," Harte told IANS.

"But India is just on a different level. The stadiums, the boisterous support and any fans that are going to be over there, I would love to interact, love to engage with them. Maybe click a selfie with them if they want to. And yeah, hopefully, there'll be a lot of support for all the teams in Rourkela and also in Ranchi throughout the tournament," he added.

When quizzed about his Hindi knowledge or any particular lessons he is taking before embarking on a flight to India, he said, "I don't know, because obviously, knowing the nature of the different regions and the different dialects, it's really difficult. You could always use the same words, kaise ho (how are you), kya haal hai (how are you doing) and there is another word you can use - shukriya (thanks), things I can remember back to my days because it's been actually quite some time since I've been there. I think the 2018 World Cup in Bhubaneswar was the last time that I was on Indian soil.

"So personally, I can't wait to get back and maybe pick up a bit of Tamil when we're also in Chennai for our pre-training camp as well," he said.

Asked about his future goals after quitting the game in future, Harte sees himself taking the teaching job more seriously.

"I don't think it would be possible for me to stay out of the sport too long. I just love being in elite high-performance sports and particularly obviously hockey. When I'm finished playing, I'm not quite sure yet, but I would like to try and see if perhaps the current role that I have right now is as a lecturer at Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences. Having the ability to take that to perhaps different countries, you might move to become a college or university lecturer. Or at the same time, also going to see what my wife would like to do because she's been incredibly good to me.

"She's followed me all over the world. And it's now time for me to return that favour and to go listen, Lynn, wherever you want to go, whatever you want to do, I'll be there behind you to support you and my two daughters," he added.

Harte is happy with the progress of Ireland's hockey teams but calls for stability and consistency to keep themselves in the top 10 rankings. "I would like to hope and see that there will be continued and sustained success for the organisation, for Hockey Ireland and both the men's and the women's side. But Hockey Ireland will justify and cement its position in major tournaments to go to the likes of the World Cups consistently to play in Olympic games," he said.

"It will become a norm for a lot of teams like the likes of India, the Netherlands and Germany teams that you will see throughout the four-year cycles always being at those events. And for Ireland right now, we're kind of hit or miss. And I would like to see over 10 years to try and get that consistency in place where you remain within the top 10 in the world, but you also get to participate in those major tournaments," he concluded.

--IANS

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