Perth-based Mark Patterson sad over 1992 Olympics snub

Perth Twentyone is not an age to quit sport Unfortunately one of Indias best hockey goalkeepers Mark Patterson was forced to do that after he was unceremoniously left out of the Indian team at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics trials when at the peak of his career thanks to some inexplicable politics that prevailed in the national sport back thenFormer India hockey goalkeeper Mark Patterson at his office in central Perth yesterday PicAshwin Ferro Over two decades later Patterson is still a tad sad but not bitter as midday caught up with him at his workplace here at St Georges Terrace for an interviewExcerptsWhat were your early hockey days likeI began in the lanes of Kalina My dad Terence was an India player having played three matches against Pakistan in the late 1960s as goalkeeper So that connect got me into goalkeeping too And before I knew it I rose through the ranks quickly At the age of 11 I was playing senior mens tournaments and at 15 I was playing the Mumbai Super League which was one of the most competitive leagues in the country then Here I rubbed shoulders with established players like Joaquim Carvalho Merwyn Fernandes MM Somaya among others and they were all great mentors I played under Jaswant Singh for Khalsa College and then Mahindra Tractors picked meWhen did national recognition beckonI played a tournament for Mahindra Tractors in Rourkela and in the final we faced ASC Jallandar who had a brilliant penalty corner specialist He was scoring sixseven goals in every match so I decided that Id do something different to stop him So in the final I slept on the floor and countered his fierce hits At that time there wasnt enough padding for us keepers and I remember I was battered and bruised all over We lost but I didnt let him score Then in 1986 I was picked into the senior Mahindra team where we played ASC again in the Aga Khan final Again I was all over the floor and even cracked my helmet but didnt let him score and we won 10 I played for Mumbai the next year and in 1988 I got my India break We first played the Sultan Azlan Shah in Ipoh Malaysia followed by a tournament in Nairobi Kenya where I excelled and made national headlines after saving all five penalty strokes in the tiebreaker in the final against PakistanThose heady days A young Mark PattersonWhat was the 1988 Seoul Olympics likeTo play the Olympics was a dream come true But just before that there was a sixmatch IndoPak bilateral series that we drew 11 and in the last match I had not done so well So in the Olympics Rajinder Singh Rawat was picked as first goalie while I was second Sadly we lost the first match to Russia 01 which we should have won by a big score Then in our last league match we lost 03 to England and failed to make the semisNow in the classification match we played Argentina first and the full time score read 66 Thats when coach MP Ganesh turned to me and said Its the tiebreaker you go inI did and made a couple of saves and we won 43 The next match was against Pakistan and here I played out of my skin and though we lost 12 we finished 6th and qualified for the Champions Trophy I became a hero I still have a press clipping outside my bedroom with a headline that referred to me as the Custodian of Indias Olympic honourSo how did things spiral downwardsI was home one day and got a call to come to play the Junior World Cup Qualifiers There were rumours that I could be captain because I was Indias No 1 goalie then Shockingly I was told just before the game that I wasnt playing I did not play in the full tournament I was shattered and went off to Australia for a fourmonth holiday just to get away from this mess But I was missing home and missing my hockeySo when I heard that the nationals were coming up I returned to play for Bombay We made history under coach Cedric DSouza and captain Marcellus Gomes by winning the 53rd National Hockey Championships after 45 years beating Punjab 41 via tiebreaker in Gwalior We had a team of brilliant youngsters like Dhanraj Pillay Edgar Mascarenhas John Fernandes Floyd DSouza among others My teammates hoisted me on their shoulders after the final I conceded only one goal in that tournamentThen why did you leave IndiaThe next big tournament was the World Cup in 1990 and sadly we got a shellacking in Lahore We didnt play well and finished 10th The team management kept alternating between Ashish Ballal and me in goal but we just didnt click as a team Then in 1991 we had a good European tour of Germany Spain France and Holland and did well there too but somehow being Indias No 1 goalkeeper I was unhappy at being rested now and then Maybe I was wrong Maybe the team management was wrong but no one spoke to me about it There was no man management or player management system in Indian hockey No one cared I felt that to continue being the best I had to play more I was upset and decided to leave India for Australia because I felt the team didnt need me Pargat Singh was captain then and he wasnt too happy to see me go because we shared a great rapport Now heres the final straw India came to tour Australia and I got a call from Pargat telling me that I should come back to play for the India team He said that coach Balkishen Singh also felt the same Hockey was in my blood so the sucker in me brought me back to India and the time coincided with the trials for the Bombay team for the nationals Here shockingly I was not picked I dont know why but some of the Mumbai hockey administrators didnt want me in the team Now I knew that if I couldnt make it to the Bombay team there was no way I could make it to the India team but I still went to Delhi for trials and performed well there I knew captain Pargat and coach Balkishen wanted me in the teamIn fact coach Balkishen actually told me I dont know whats going on We want you in but there are certain thingsAt 21 and in the peak of my career I was not picked for India I deserved to go to Barcelona but my dream was over I returned to Australia and got stuck into life here I pursued an IT course at University and here I am doing really well for myself as head of my companys Western Australia South Australia and Tasmania Operations And Im grateful to Indian hockey for thatWhy are you grateful to Indian hockey for succeeding in AustraliaLook in Australia you cannot live a halflife with your mind being in India and only body being here I wouldnt have achieved anything if I did that But being dropped for the Seoul team gave me the closure that I needed to leave hockey and India for good and start afresh Rebecca my wife with whom I was in love with in Mumbai for so many years is here with me and so are my parents I have a son Liam 12 and daughter Hanna 9 Im extremely happy Im at peace with myselfDo you follow Indian hockeyIve started following Indian hockey a bit now and I think the Hockey India League is a great initiative Indian hockey is aiming for a medal at the 2016 Rio Olympics and I strongly believe that this is possible because unlike our times there is far more international exposure and expertise provided to the players now I only hope the hockey systems man management player management skills have improved