There are some sports that have recorded their history with great pride and preserve those records meticulously. There are some clubs that do the same. Regrettably there are many more who haven’t.
When I was first asked to commentate hockey, this was very much the case. Some national associations had impeccable records while others had absolutely none. Since becoming involved in the sport I have also witnessed media managers come and go, and regrettably some have come to the sport from another and have no passion for its history, and as a result the record-keeping that existed prior to their appointment lapses.
One example of the impact that this has would be a fellow commentator going to the website and talking on air about an impending appearance milestone for a player, unaware that they had in fact already passed that milestone, and the website had not been updated.
Wanting to honour the past and the history of the sport I was desperate to try and locate statistics that were accurate and correct. Over time I found that there were two men who truly had a passion for the sport that went beyond all others in gathering such information, England’s Pat Rowley and India’s B.G. Joshi.
Both of these men have records of games played decades before the computer was invented. Records that are accurate and comprehensive. Both of these gentlemen were also always very generous to answer a query that I may have raised regarding a game between two countries to which I was unable to garner information.
Pat Rowley recalled attending the 1948 Olympic Games in London, and so not only were his records from just recording events but also from watching them. He has attended 14 Olympic Games since then. In 2016 he was awarded the British Empire Medal for his years involved in the game as a player, coach, sports correspondent, TV & radio commentator, an author and an archivist for the Hockey Museum in the UK.
HIs Indian counterpart B.G. Joshi received no awards from his Government, or as far as I am aware from Hockey India or the FIH, and he probably never will now. For he passed away this week, ironically as a statistic of the Covid Pandemic.
When I heard the news, someone very kindly texting me to let me know, I was in shock and then genuinely upset. I will confess I did not know the man well. But I knew how big a part he had played in enabling me to do my job well.
Before I met Mr Joshi I had gone to his website many times to source information. Then we met and he thanked me for acknowledging his website as the source of that information. This simple action shows how humble a man he was. It was I who should have been thanking him, for all the hours he had put into compiling the information that I was able to access!
I will never forget him pulling out of his plastic bag the books in which he recorded all of the information that he became known for. We sat together and I will be honest I marvelled at page after page of neatly compiled facts written in his own hand.
What became clear was his passion not just for the statistics and results but for the game as a whole. Who else would have know the fact that was retold this week that in the 2018 Women’s World Cup final Ireland’s Zoe Wilson was only the third bespectacled player to reach that stage!
BG Joshi was never paid to record this information that is such an important part of the game’s history. He did it out of a love for the game. There are many others like him around the world who are preserving not only hockey’s but other sports histories so that it does not get lost forever. What is sad is that those who are often employed to carry out such tasks simply fail to through a lack of passion or time.
How else would you explain one player during my time as a commentator having three different dates of birth? Another three years after one major tournament being listed as being younger than they were at the previous tournament? BG Joshi picked up those anomalies and when we discussed them I remember the wry smile that came across his face. This was a rare sight as he was to all intents and purposes a fairly serious man not known for his smiling; maybe it was simply because he took such matters very seriously.
His sudden passing shocked many and it will leave a huge hole in the record-keeping within the sport. Hopefully someone else will pick up where he left off, hopefully his meticulous records will also not be lost as that would be a true tragedy to the sport. Hopefully they will be preserved in a place such as the Hockey Museum with access available to all.
One wonders whether he knew in his life how much he meant to people within the world of hockey. One thing is sure the outpouring of emotion since his passing shows that he was as much loved as a man as he was for the work and service he has given the game; all on a voluntary basis and all because of his sheer love of the game of hockey. They simply do not make people like Mr Joshi any more, which is why it is important that his records are preserved and/or continued by someone and that his contribution is never forgotten.
Thank you for assisting me when I asked for help. Thank you for spending time with me and sharing your work. Rest assured your memory will live long with me. Rest in Peace BG Joshi, you were a special man, and certainly never just a statistic.
