10 April 2005	Sunday	30 Safar 1426

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KARACHI, April 9: In the absence of a proper sports department and no annual budget allocation, Pakistan Customs which has produced a number of sportsmen of repute in the yester years, is going through the agony to keep the ball moving due to lack of funds.

It sounds strange that the sports in Customs which is synonymous with hockey for its valuable contribution to the national game, is run on ad hoc basis. The department started patronizing cricket much later. The Customs cricket academy, was however, commissioned on May 14, 1999.

Presently, both the disciplines are being run simultaneously by two groups — hockey by the Preventive and cricket by the Appraisement, who remain busy on a fund raising campaign round the year for participation in national level competitions. Once known as a force to be reckoning with, the performance of hockey outfit has nosed down in the recent past.

The Customs hockey team, it may be mentioned, had won the national title on seven occasions besides being joint winner with PIA once and finished runners-up six times. The last time Customs clinched the national crown was way back in 1988. Though Customs again reached the final after 11 years in 1999, they had to be content with second slot.

The reason is simple as the department which used to attract promising players, did not made any fresh appointments after 1994. Olympian Danish Kaleem and internationals Muhammad Ali and Naeem Ahmed were inducted in the last batch.

As far as cricket is concerned, Customs remained in the top fray for quite some time after they were able to meet the demands of players who were hired on contract basis for the season from time to time.

The 1928 Olympian Feroze Khan, whose services were transferred from Bombay Customs to Pakistan Customs after independence, was instrumental in introducing Quaid-i-Azam Gold Cup hockey tournament in 1955. It is, however, sad that instead of making it an annual feature, Customs, an affiliated unit of the Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF), had organized it only thrice in the last 50 years, the last being in 1992.

Collectors come and go but what Khalil Masood has done while at the helm of Preventive Collectorate, will be remembered for a long time to come. Using his discretionary powers, he convinced the Central Board of Revenue (CBR) and transformed the idea of converting the encroached land, allotted to Customs by the government under MLO 122 for sports complex, into reality.

The astro turf, imported from abroad, remained in the warehouse at seaport for three years before it was laid at the Customs sports complex. The third Quaid-i-Azam Gold Cup, that marked the inauguration of the complex, was unfortunately the only all Pakistan tournament held at the astro turf before it was worn out. Only it was Olympian Hanif Khan who made some efforts by holding club competitions from time to time.

The provision for laying a tartan track around the hockey field was also made besides leaving a suitable space to create facilities for indoor games, but not a single brick has been added in this regard. The Customs cricket academy is an exception.

The premises were used for holding marriages for a long time resulting in suspension of electricity and water. The telephone also remained out of order due to non-payment of bills. This reflects the sad saga of how the government institutions run in the country.

Though the worn out patches of the astro turf have been replaced with the used synthetic pitch brought from Lahore, it will not serve the purpose beyond club hockey.

Raising the funds had been never a problem in Customs. A sum of Rs. 2.8m were raised for organizing the departmental round of the national hockey championship and for participation of Customs team in a tournament in the recent past, a senior employee said on condition of anonymity. But there should be some check and balance.

At a time when the nation is deeply concerned about deterioration of the game, the revival of Quaid-i-Azam Gold Cup on an annual basis by Customs is imperative. It can be organized at the Hockey Club of Pakistan Stadium. The PHF should make it mandatory for all its affiliated units to organize one all Pakistan tournament annually.

One hopes that the Central Board of Revenue (CBR), the parent body of Customs, will set the things in order for the revival of its glorious past.