Graham Reid has stepped down from position of Indian men’s Hockey team head coach position a day after the 2023 FIH Men’s Hockey World Cup finished. With just over one year left for the Paris Olympics 2024, the Indian Hockey board now have to find a suitable replacement for Reid.
“Indian Men’s Hockey Team Chief Coach Graham Reid submitted his resignation to Hockey India President Dilip Tirkey, a day after the conclusion of the FIH Odisha Hockey Men’s World Cup 2023 Bhubaneswar-Rourkela. The President, Hockey India along with Secretary General Bholanath Singh met with players and the support staff of the team to understand and analyse the team`s performance and strategy for the way ahead,” Hockey India said in a statement.
The Analytical Coach Greg Clark and Scientific Advisor Mitchell David Pemberton also tendered their resignation on Monday morning. All three will be serving their notice period over the next month.
Graham Reid has made Indian Hockey exciting & enjoyable. I’ll miss the high demand for an intense work rate, and the shift that he had exerted in the Indian Team to make them better. I had always enjoyed your coaching. Thank you for the memories. You will be missed. pic.twitter.com/LNPt76YU9Y
— Tanuj Birua (@supersonicbirua) January 30, 2023
Reid and his team of support staff have been part of the Indian Team`s historic Bronze Medal feat at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020, Silver Commonwealth Games medal in 2022, as well as securing third place in the FIH Hockey Pro League season in 2021/22.
Among Reid’s successful outing as Chief Coach with the team includes the FIH Series Final title victory in 2019, subsequently the team broke no sweat in making the qualification for the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 when they won the Qualifiers in Bhubaneswar back in 2019.
Talking about his stint with the Indian side since 2019, Reid said, “It is now time for me to step aside and handover the reigns to the next management. It has been an honour and privilege to work with the team and Hockey India and I have enjoyed every moment of this epic journey. I wish the team all the very best.”
Having accepted Reid’s resignation along with Greg and Mitchell’s, Hockey India President Dilip Tirkey said, “India will always have gratitude towards Graham Reid and his team of support staff who have brought good results to the country, particularly the Olympic Games. As all journeys move to different phases, it is now time for us to move on towards a new approach for our team.” (With ANI inputs)
