PR Sreejesh gets hero’s farewell – Indian hockey’s ‘Django’ who stood firm and accepted every challenge

Brighter than the shining sun,
Standing firm in the hot sun,
He accepted every challenge,
Never lost, never wavered.

Harendra Singh got emotional as he started to read out a poem in Hindi he had written for PR Sreejesh. When the acclaimed coach was told a couple of days back that he had to speak for a few minutes at Sreejesh’s felicitation ceremony, coach Harry decided to get poetic. The current Indian women’s team head coach was in charge of the junior team when he spotted a tall guy from Kerala and wondered what he did. When he was told that the kid was a goalkeeper, Harendra had no hesitation in bringing him to the national camp. “Django banega ye,” Harendra recalled saying back then, and the moniker stuck.

In the sometimes wild and turbulent world of Indian hockey, Parattu Raveendran Sreejesh has often been the calming constant. The cowboy who knew how to get the better of a striker in a standoff. The hero who emerged from the hockey backwaters of Kerala and became a national icon. The goalkeeper who often stood between defeats and draws, and between draws and victories.

On Wednesday in the Capital, the keeper of India’s hockey fortunes got a fitting farewell. With his teammates and coaches singing his praises, with former stalwarts in attendance, with the family by his side. After his final match at Paris 2024 where India won bronze, Hockey India confirmed that the iconic No. 16 jersey will be retired as well from the Indian senior team. It belongs to Sreejesh for eternity now.

𝙄𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙞𝙘 𝙅𝙚𝙧𝙨𝙚𝙮 𝙣𝙤 16 𝙬𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙣𝙤𝙬 𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧 𝙗𝙚 𝙖 𝙥𝙖𝙧𝙩 𝙤𝙛 𝙄𝙣𝙙𝙞𝙖𝙣 𝙃𝙤𝙘𝙠𝙚𝙮 𝙛𝙤𝙡𝙠𝙡𝙤𝙧𝙚. https://t.co/tSmEVgyDMv

— Hockey India (@TheHockeyIndia) August 14, 2024

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“What my age is, your career is longer.”

There was a chuckle in the room as Manu Bhaker, the double Olympic bronze medallist at Paris, started her question with a one-liner that summed up the age difference between India’s flagbearers at the Olympic closing ceremony. She wanted to know from Sreejesh how to deal with disappointments over a long career. Sreejesh’s response: “Stay in the moment, enjoy the highs, cry after the lows, but move on quickly… and know that this too shall pass.”

Sreejesh is no stranger to setbacks. His hockey journey began at the age of 12. While he made his debut with the junior team in 2004, followed by his senior team debut in 2006, it wasn’t until around 2011 that he really found his footing at the top level. Harendra recalled that any other athlete in Sreejesh’s place might have given up around 2009 and gone home.

Hockey India’s Secretary General @Bholana97117226 shares his story with Sreejesh and commends the entire team’s effort at the recently concluded Paris Olympics during the felicitation ceremony of P. R Sreejesh.#IndiaKaGame #HockeyIndia #SreejeshFelicitation #ThankYouSreejesh
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— Hockey India (@TheHockeyIndia) August 14, 2024

In his early days at the national camp, Sreejesh felt he didn’t belong. He didn’t know the language that was predominantly spoken around him, didn’t like the food and he recalled once for this daily that he was so homesick that he wanted to run away. But being a goalkeeper meant he didn’t have to interact much with the rest of the players on the field. Or so he told himself to get by.

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“He’s like a brother to me, since the time I joined the team as a youngster. He was always there for me. I feel good when he is behind me and yelling out. There have been so many matches when we needed a push, and Sreejesh gave us life.”

Vocal on the pitch, it is hard to miss Sreejesh bellowing out instructions to his teammates. And off the pitch, he is their big brother, a shoulder to lean on in tough situations. Manpreet Singh recalled how Sreejesh’s presence between the posts kept the team on its toes because the booming voice from the back let them know when they were losing focus. “Even his gaalis are meaningful,” Manpreet told this daily.

In spotlight the “God of Modern Indian Hockey”🐐#IndiaKaGame #HockeyIndia #SreejeshFelicitation #ThankYouSreejesh
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.@CMO_Odisha @IndiaSports @Media_SAI @sports_odisha @Limca_Official @CocaCola_Ind @FIH_Hockey pic.twitter.com/c9nQsZy6lT

— Hockey India (@TheHockeyIndia) August 14, 2024

The Sreejesh who is retiring in 2024 after more than two decades in the sport is the complete antithesis of that worried young man who left his home in Kizhakkambalam village in Kerala’s Ernakulam district. So much so that when a question was thrown to him in Malayalam by a journalist, he translated it and started answering in Hindi… before he was encouraged to respond in his native language.

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“After we lost the semifinals and the players got together, Sreejesh told us, ‘Macha, the hockey we have played in this tournament, the love we have got from everyone, it is a big deal. And now we have one last chance to lift ourselves and win a medal.’ That turned it around for us. I told him just before the bronze medal match, ‘yeh aapki life ka last match hai…’ and he replied, ‘aur kheloonga bhi waise hi.’ (I will play like it’s the last match of my life)”

Captain Harmanpreet Singh, who led the way for India in Paris with 10 goals, gave his shoulders one last heavy workout as he carried Sreejesh at the end of the bronze medal match. While Harmanpreet banged the goals in, Sreejesh – who insisted in praising the rest of India’s defence too – was the great wall between the posts.

In his last tournament, Sreejesh wasn’t getting carried by his teammates during the matches. The 36-year-old was sensational between the posts. Against Australia and Great Britain, he often single-handedly kept his side in the match. Asked why he was retiring when still at his best, he recalled a piece of advice he once received: “retire when people ask why, rather than why not.”

P.R. Sreejesh 🅼🅱️🅱️🆂

Miya
Biwi
Baccho
Samit#IndiaKaGame #HockeyIndia #SreejeshFelicitation #ThankYouSreejesh
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.@CMO_Odisha @IndiaSports @Media_SAI @sports_odisha @Limca_Official @CocaCola_Ind pic.twitter.com/pjHGE3tTXx

— Hockey India (@TheHockeyIndia) August 14, 2024

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“Sree, could you describe the last 10 seconds of the match against Spain?”
Finally, coach Craig Fulton got to ask Sreejesh a question. And it made Sreejesh blush. The usually nerveless goalkeeper had jumped the gun when he threw his helmet and gloves down to begin celebrating the bronze medal… but the clock hadn’t run down. The ball was still in play and Sreejesh had to quickly put on his helmet, and just held the gloves and stick in his hand instead of wearing them. “I really wanted to forget about that moment, coach, but I want to tell future goalkeepers, don’t trust your players to hold the ball for 8 seconds!”

Cue laughter in the room. For a man who was utterly professional in his career, those nervy last 10 seconds were perhaps allowable. But the Indian team knew that till the final hooter sounded, they could trust Sreejesh with their life on the pitch. Because, Sree bhai hai. Rok lega.

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