By :- Sundeep Misra

First, let’s get one thing out of the way: James Hillier is an extremely good coach. Now that the mandatory genuflection is done, we need to talk about his recent online session with “hand-picked” journalists.

Mr. Hillier saw fit to drop a slice of classic, defensive sarcasm, complaining that a few reporters “just try to find the negative in everything because they want a few clicks.”

It begs the question: Is he entirely above criticism? Did he secretly coach a golden generation to Olympic glory in some other part of the world, earning lifetime immunity from accountability? Or has the classic Indian sporting trait of zero introspection finally rubbed off on him?
​More importantly, does he seriously believe that Indian track and field is a goldmine for “clicks”? Let’s be real. If a journalist wanted cheap traffic, they’d write a breathless 100-word aggregate piece about Virat Kohli’s haircut or Rohit Sharma’s expressions. Covering athletics isn’t a get-rich-quick scheme. The reporters on this beat put far more on the line than the AFI or you, Mr. Hillier. You know why? We don’t get paid by the AFI or Reliance. We know exactly what dedicating our lives to the raw, unglamorous reality of track and field actually costs.

Let’s look at history. At the 2012 London Olympics, UK Athletics chief Charles van Commenee resigned after British athletes won six medals. Why? Because he had publicly promised eight. He held himself to his own standard and walked. Meanwhile, in our ecosystem, the baton gets dropped (thrice), performances plateau (relay), and the blame is neatly deflected away from the coaching staff. Was it lack of exposure? Lack of preparation? Who knows. But the goalposts just get pushed comfortably forward to the next Asian Games or Olympic cycle.

​Taxpayers’ money funds national teams and national systems. Is anyone ever held accountable? Historically, NSFs act like they are completely untouchable.

This isn’t about “negativity.” It’s about the soul of the sport. Watching wonderfully talented sprinters like Gurindervir Singh and Animesh Kujur suffer when their performances drop is genuinely heartbreaking. They are the ones who bear the brunt when the system falters. The rest of the noise? I couldn’t care a fig. Clicks or no clicks; the athletes deserve a system that takes a hard look in the mirror instead of blaming the people holding the notebooks.

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