Indian hockey's effort to clean the current mess is facing another roadblock as the case of midfielder Gurbaj Singh is turning into the next big talking point after the unceremonious exit of chief coach Paul van Ass.
The Van Ass saga ended with his countryman Roelant Oltmans, also a High Performance Director with Hockey India (HI), replacing him as national coach; however, by reporting Gurbaj for indiscipline, Hockey India's (HI) Special Committee has given birth to another issue.
But the veteran player, with over 200 international caps, has found strong support from his former captain Rajpal Singh who has vouched for Gurbaj's unquestionable commitment to the team and termed the midfielder as one of India's best players currently.
The Harbinder Singh-led committee named Gurbaj for "misbehaviour and creating disharmony within the team" in its report to HI on the FIH World League semi-finals in Belgium, where India finished fourth losing to all the teams ranked above them.
The tournament involved an ugly spat between Van Ass and HI president Narinder Batra, which eventually led to the Dutchman's ouster, but the committee, in its review of the team's performance, named Gurbaj as a troublemaker.
Interestingly, Van Ass did not file his report on the tour of Belgium, which raised a question on who complained about Gurbaj.
When asked the same question, Harbinder told IBNLive that there were other coaches, apart from Van Ass, in Belgium.
"Van Ass was not the only coach there. There were other members of the coaching staff [including assistant coaches Jude Felix and Sandeep Sangwan] who were with the team. I can't take any name but we have been told about Gurbaj's misbehaviour," the former Olympian said.
"And you know what happened at the 2012 Olympics," he added, pointing at the previous occasion when Gurbaj was reported for a similar offence under the then coach Michael Nobbs.
Harbinder, however, refused to go into further details or the possible action against the player.
With Gurbaj's name being associated with the team's poor performances, it's interesting to know that his former captain Rajpal actually found it surprising.
"I have played with Gurbaj for more than five years and for two years I was his captain, but not even once I found him indisciplined. In fact, in today's team, I would rank him among the top four-five players," Rajpal told IBNLive.
"In 2012, we finished last at the Olympics. Then also it was Gurbaj who was reported for indiscipline. In 2015, just a year before the Rio Olympics, we lost to every big team at the Hockey World League semis in Belgium, then also it's Gurbaj who is accused of creating disharmony in the team," the former captain said hinting at the Gurbaj being targeted as a scapegoat.
"Why is it that the most indisciplined player in 2011 [Sardar Singh] became the captain just six months after that," Rajpal raised a question over the double standards practised by HI.
And the former captain maintained that Gurbaj is one of the most important players in India's Olympic plans.
"I don't think Gurbaj is out of reckoning for the Olympics. At most he will be dropped for a foreign tour. But if I were to be asked, I won't leave him out of the team because he is a fantastic player and I don't think he is indisciplined," Rajpal said.
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