E-Paper
Indian flavour in Australia’s Hockey One league
Hockey One will launch the Melbourne Cobras with one-third Indian-origin players, aiming to attract the diaspora and promote hockey in Victoria
In an unprecedented move, Hockey One – Australia’s premier domestic league for men and women – will launch a team in which almost one-third of the squad will comprise Indian or Indian-origin players.
Melbourne Cobras will be Hockey One’s eighth team in both the men’s and women’s leagues, and second from the state of Victoria after Hockey Club Melbourne, that will participate in the 2026 edition. The team will first be launched in Punjab in October before it is unveiled in Melbourne at the end of the two-month competition in November.
Among a squad 25, eight mandatorily will comprise Indian or Indian-origin players. Hockey Victoria are keen on bringing in top internationals, emerging talents and recently retired players from India to attract the growing diaspora population in the state of Victoria for which their team is currently in India.
“Our last six (local) clubs in Melbourne were all Indian clubs. The vast majority of our Indian diaspora making Melbourne home is from Punjab. We wanted to create a franchise that could captivate an audience outside of Australia, but also motivate and drive participation growth in the South Asian community in Victoria,” Hockey Victoria CEO Andrew Skillern, who also helped Hockey Australia launch Hockey One in 2019, told HT.
“The current national players, albeit they will not be able to play the full season, we understand that, but they will absolutely act as an opportunity for us to supercharge the promotion of the team back into India and then around the Indian diaspora around the world.”
Skillern and his associates have had meetings with multiple stakeholders including Hockey India (HI), players, Hockey India League (HIL) franchises and coaches. Though it is still a work in progress, it is unlikely that top India internationals will be able to participate due to the packed international calendar. When not touring Harmanpreet Singh and Co attend national camps and when they get free, they also have to fulfill obligations of their employers by playing domestic events.
“It is still a work in progress but unlikely that our top players will be able to play. We will see. But we have reached an understanding that players from the India A team or the juniors can be sent to play there. Discussions are ongoing,” a top HI official told HT on condition of anonymity.
Skillern and his team are still optimistic about the participation of players like Manpreet Singh and Harmanpreet Singh. They engaged with the India internationals on their recent trip to Australia for a four-match friendly series against the hosts where they also spoke about the idea to India chief coach Craig Fulton. They are hopeful that India’s marquee players can be present at the launch in Melbourne in November.
“Craig wants game time for his players and for the emerging players as well. We’ve had targeted discussions with a number of Indian players. Their feedback is one of strong interest to engage in the franchise. The players we’ve spoken to have really liked the flexibility because they can obviously navigate playing for Cobras in and around their national commitments,” said Skillern.
“All our discussions with the national players in terms of their participation is about working around their national commitments. We know they’re not going to be there for two months. But it’ll continue to be a work in progress. But we don’t want to stand in the way of India’s aspirations as a national team.”
However, the participation of emerging talents and retired players looks likely. Tokyo Olympics bronze medallist Rupinder Pal Singh played for both Canberra Chill and HC Melbourne in Hockey One, which replaced the Australian Hockey League in 2019, post retirement. Currently India player Shilanand Lakra also played for HC Melbourne last year when he was not included in the core group.
“For the development players, we’ve been speaking to a number of academies over the last couple of years in India about providing opportunity to teenage male and female talent to come and immerse themselves in the Australian high performance system for a couple of months, play against some of the best in the world,” said Skillern.
“We’d love to think that Manpreet will play forever, but some of these players are getting to the end of their career. So what a wonderful opportunity for them when they retire to be able to come out to Melbourne with their family, experience another country and play in front of a passionate Indian community in Oz.”
Hockey Victoria is also keen on collaborating with HIL franchises about the exchange of players and eager to set up a Cobras franchise in the HIL. “We plan to have multiple Cobras franchises playing in multiple competitions around the world,” said Skillern.
Interestingly, the Hockey One system allows players to access sponsorship programme where all 25 in a squad together take 75% of the revenue share in those agreements. Players can also have up to four player sponsors under that model.
“We will also be offering them revenue share in the merchandise of Cobras which is a first for world hockey,” said Skillern.
