But hockey ireland

Tamil Nadu Dragons: Ireland's legendary goalkeeper David Harte is excited to play India for the first time in six years at the upcoming Hockey India League (HIL) 2024-25 season with Tamil Nadu Dragons. Harte, who played in the HIL in 2017, is looking forward to getting the feel of passionate Indian fans in Rourkela and Ranchi.

"I was only chatting to a couple of friends of mine about this. It's a unique place to go to play hockey. Everybody in the world knows that. India and their fans are just incredible. It's unrivalled to a certain level. You can say other countries, perhaps Argentina in Argentina and the Netherlands, when you play them in the Netherlands, also have fantastic support," Harte told IANS.

"But India is just on a different level. The stadiums, the boisterous support and any fans that are going to be over there, I would love to interact, love to engage with them. Maybe click a selfie with them if they want to. And yeah, hopefully, there'll be a lot of support for all the teams in Rourkela and also in Ranchi throughout the tournament," he added.