Pakistan Hockey — A Circus

December 4, 1994, was the day when Pakistan held two of the biggest prizes in team sports.

After becoming the world champions in cricket for the first time nearly three years back in Melbourne, the Green Shirts defeated the Netherlands in the same country in the final of the hockey World Cup to become the best in the world.

That victory was special but not something which was celebrated like the victory three years back in the field of cricket, largely because it was the fourth time Pakistan became the world champions in hockey.

Fast forwarding it and three decades later, the Pakistan hockey team has once again failed to cement their place in the very same competition where they still are one of the most successful teams in its history.

It would be the third consecutive event where the side with four world titles will not take part after also missing out on qualification in the 2016 and 2020 events.

However, not featuring this time would be a bitter pill to swallow compared to the last two occasions as the Green Shirts missed out on a place in the biggest competitions after suffering a narrow 3-2 defeat against Japan in the Asia Cup.

That defeat on paper doesn’t tell you the whole story as the losing side’s two goals were disallowed, one of which was because of a rookie mistake where there were 12 Pakistan players on the field in a contest where only 11 were allowed.

Despite such humiliation where the officials were unaware of the basic rules of the sport, current Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) Secretary Asif Bajwa, while talking to a local media house, highlighted how the team’s overall performance was better than how it used to be in the past.

“Yes, it is a big upset because the team played well [in the Asia Cup] and showed improvement on every day,” he said. “But unfortunately the last day of the pool matches was not our day as we lost by a slim margin and India also defeated Indonesia 16-0 to qualify for the last four.

“Despite having meagre financial resources, the PHF has been trying to facilitate the players. We offered central contracts to the players, brought coaches from Australia and now hired a Dutch coach. Moreover, after several years the boys undertook a tour to Europe.

“We also organised long training camps for the boys who have shown improvement. I strongly hope Pakistan will qualify for the next Olympics Games as well as for the FIH Pro-league,” the PHF secretary emphasised.

Those words were a slap in the face of players, officials and everyone who wanted to see Pakistan back to where it belonged on the hockey map like it used to before because those very comments suggest that the focus is entirely on ‘oh see we did this and they didn’t, instead of ‘here is how we are going to reach the very top’.

The irony was that no one made a big fuss about how the team once again failed to qualify for the biggest event of the national sport, because of a silly mistake which was equivalent to having something like two batters standing at the same side trying to face a ball and thus the umpire gave some penalty runs to the opposition.

It is one thing when you lose but it is another when you lose because of not knowing the rules, something which would be termed as ‘criminal negligence’ in any part of the world, except Pakistan.

Supporters of Pakistani field hockey team carry player Sohail Abbas (C) as he arrives from the Asian Games to Allam Iqbal International Airport in Lahore late on November 27, 2010. Pakistan celebrated their first Asian Games hockey gold in 20 years beating Malaysia 2-0 in the final in Guangzhou, China. The Asian Games win — their eighth — is their first major achievement since winning the World Cup in Australia in 1994. AFP PHOTO/Arif ALI (Photo credit should read Arif Ali/AFP via Getty Images)

The legends

From the era of winning multiple mega events to now, Pakistan produced several world beaters in their respective position and it was no surprise that perhaps all of them were livid with how the team was knocked out of the qualifying phase for the World Cup.

Legend Samiullah Khan, also known as Flying Horse, was quoted in a report by a local media outlet where he was livid with how things are in the game of hockey.

“I think Pakistan’s performance in the Asia Cup was not that bad but they should have qualified for the World Cup; failure to reach the global event is not good for our hockey,” he said. “This is a serious concern because Pakistan, once a giant force in world hockey, could not qualify [for the World Cup] even after the Asian quota was increased to four teams from this region as a result of the decisions made by the International Hockey FIH and the Asian Hockey Federation.

Samiullah was of the opinion that it was time for the federation’s higherups to resign after another failure registered during their time as the in charge of the PHF.

“Khalid Sajjad Khokhar has remained at the PHF helm for the last six years with no success to his credit,” he said. “Therefore, it will be better if he quits and the government brings in a suitable replacement, having the ability to get sponsorships and put the system on the right track.”

Another hockey legend Hasan Sardar echoed Samiullah’s words and asked what has the current top management achieved while staying in power.

“What have [PHF President Brigadier (retd) Khalid Sajjad Khokar and team manager Khawaja Junaid] achieved as yet despite being around for so many years now? Khokar has been president for seven years,” he was quoted by the Print.

Olympian Rasheed ul Hasan agreed with both the legends and stated that there is nothing good which came out during the time of Brigadier (retd) Khokar and Bajwa.

“What have these two achieved as yet despite being around for so many years now,” he said while talking to the Bridge. “Khokar has been president for seven years now.”

Two-time World Cup-winning captain Islahuddin expressed disappointment over the development by saying that: “There was a time when such big events were incomplete without Pakistan.”

The 74-year-old also called for drastic measures to change the state of affairs of hockey in Pakistan.

“We have always measured our hockey strength with India and it hurts to see the Indian team now surging ahead of us in all departments,” he said. “I think radical steps are required from the government to stop this decline.”

Way forward

It is true that every problem has a solution, every illness has a cure and a dark day, no matter how often they come, will end.

But sports is a cruel business. Here, there are no shortcuts to finding solutions and the longer you take to identify the basic problem, the harder it will be for a team to return to its glory days.

As for Pakistan, it seems now it is improbable if not possible to turn the wheel around and to do that, we must start somewhere as with the current setup no one will leave the office despite having absolutely nothing good under their reign.

The starting point should be the inclusion of financial benefits. It is one of the most basic requirements of attracting youngsters to give up other things and invest themselves in sports professionally.

However, unfortunately, despite living in 2022, Pakistan hockey players are no way near getting paid the amount they deserve or would’ve if they would be playing the sport elsewhere in the world.

Not long ago, Pakistan national team players were used to be given 1,500PKR as a daily allowance during an international tournament and they were made to sleep on ‘charpai’ but even then they were asked to compete against the world’s best.

As things stand, no hockey player playing even for the national team earns anyway close to PKR 5 million, something which should be the basic pay scale for an athlete who is representing the country at the highest level.

Just for a comparison, in the Pakistan Super League, the minimum category for a player to be drafted is $25,000 which is equivalent to more than PKR 5 million in today’s exchange rate.

So we can talk all about how we want things to improve, how we want Pakistan to become the world’s best, but if we can’t bring a structure where players are aware that they will have some sort of financial backing, there is absolutely no reason why Pakistan hockey should return to the glory days of the past.