For decades, the Indian national hockey team has taken the field in blue. That long-standing identity was upended after Hockey India revealed a new saffron-coloured kit for both the men’s and women’s teams ahead of next month’s FIH World Cup in the Netherlands and Belgium. The sudden shift from blue to ‘kesariya’ triggered immediate backlash and intense public debate.
Former men’s team captain and Olympian Viren Rasquinha led the outcry and questioned the logic behind ditching decades of sporting tradition. “I must say that Hockey India has done many good things for Indian hockey. But this is embarrassing. The legacy & identity of the Indian team has always been BLUE,” Rasquinha stated. “I wore the Blue jersey with pride for many years. Fans want to see our Indian team in blue. What is the logic of orange?”
Hockey India defended the redesign on technical grounds. “The primary consideration was technical… the blue playing uniform tended to blend with the blue synthetic playing surface, which is now the standard colour for international hockey pitches. This visual similarity affected on-field clarity and visibility for the players,” said the top body in a statement. It also said it had engaged in “detailed consultations with the support staff and players.”
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President Dilip Tirkey, speaking to ANI, further cited the yellow kits at the 2014 World Cup and sky-blue designs in 2018 as precedents for the change of jersey colour. Rasquinha, meanwhile, clarified in a separate post on X that he didn’t want to make any political stance. “I’m seeing many unnecessary political comments on this. I don’t want to get into any of that. My simple and humble point is on pride, identity & legacy,” he wrote.
There is no smoke without fire!
Despite retaining blue and Tricolour accents on the jersey, the political connotations are undeniable. The imposition of the colour under the ruling government over the past decade and a half has given name to the practice of “saffronisation”, and Hockey India’s promotional launch video leaned heavily into nationalist motifs, pairing the saffron base with Devanagari script, Sudarshan Chakra graphics, and the government’s flagship slogan “Ek Bharat, Shreshtha Bharat.”
A senior official was quoted by PTI as saying, “There is nothing political about it. What’s wrong in saffron being the first jersey? Saffron is part of our Tricolour. Besides, change is always welcome.”
The Indian men’s cricket team had donned an orange “away” jersey in the 2019 ODI World Cup in England, and the move had sparked widespread condemnation. In the years since, orange and Tricolour sleeves and accents have become common in place of the once-all-blue kit.
