September 13, 2006	Wednesday	Sha'aban 19, 1427

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SPORT was on the agenda this last weekend and it promised much; after a disastrous summer of controversy preceded fitfully by some cricket, Pakistan were hoping to end a long tour with some gusto.

A comfortable ODI series win, after all, is a comfortable ODI series win even if it comes against an England side palpably indifferent to the ethos of the shortened game and shorn of enough celebrity to bankroll a couple of reality TV shows. A win would have readied Pakistan nicely for coming challenges; first the Champions Trophy, a smaller, more compact, potentially irrelevant cousin of the bigger challenge, the World Cup later next year.

Their lesser (paid, lauded, noticed, supported, sponsored) hockey counterparts, meanwhile, were looking to put behind them an equally shambolic summer – a record 9-2 shellacking to the Netherlands as part of an awful Champions Trophy and the habitual coaching staff change — by attempting to qualify for the semi-finals of the World Cup.

Even the expectations are lesser here; not as many harbour realistic hopes of Mohammad Saqlain leading his men to paint Germany green as do of Inzamam-ul-Haq painting the Caribbean a similar colour next year.

On the basis of the last weekend – four international contests involving Pakistan and precisely zero victories — perhaps it is time we all took a leaf out of the few remaining squash, football or snooker fans in this country, who long ago relinquished hopes of any glory whatsoever.

That mixture of relief, that buzz of anticipation which greets so many at the end of a long week of work on Friday must have quickly fizzled out as Pakistan were first thumped by eight wickets at Trent Bridge. During it, in sunny Monchengladbach, Pakistan somehow managed to contrive a 4-4 draw with the distinctly non-hockey giants of New Zealand.

Saturday brought some moody contemplation but also the potential, with Sunday to come, of redemption. Pakistan could still salvage the ODI series and if Spain were vanquished, then it mightn’t have been so bad after all.

Instead, Edgbaston saw a Pakistan crumble and it didn’t matter that eventually they did it with some bravery and spirit. In Germany at least defeat was avoided but that a 2-2 draw was the most Pakistan sports had to celebrate sums up just how gloomy a weekend it was.

The state broadcaster didn’t much help. By some dint of scheduling genius, viewers without cable and thus at the mercy of PTV, were part of a bizarre broadcasting experiment as attempts were made to show both the hockey and cricket at the same time.

Ten minutes would be broadcast from Germany, then 20 from Edgbaston, then 10 again from Germany before going back to Edgbaston. Like the government’s proposed amendments to the Hudood laws, the intent was, in essence, noble. But just as liberal circles thought the tinkering too little and religious ones the changes too much in the government’s proposal, PTV too managed to alienate just about everyone – hockey or cricket fan – by choosing to mix, match and splice two sports as different as chalk and cheese.

And just when people might have actually been glad the weekend was over, Monday, as it is meant to do, brought further blues. The hockey team lost a shocker to Argentina to effectively knock themselves out of semi-final contention. Was there any consolation that this time, at least, we could watch the whole match and not just snippets?

But weekends such as the last one still matter because sport matters. Not too many things have as adhesive an effect on our nation as sport does. It unites us in triumph, in despair, in celebration, in condemnation, in ecstasy and also, uniquely, in gloom.

Almost in spite of ourselves, we have a rich, proud sporting tradition. We shouldn’t, given how we run most sports and how little attention we pay to it at schools, but we have. Sport is one of the few things we can be unequivocal, unambiguous about; sure there is pettiness in it, provincialism, feuding, corruption.

But somehow and unlike much else, sport has worked for us, predominantly in squash, cricket and hockey but intermittently also in snooker, boxing, tennis and others.

Nearly twelve years ago, for a month in November, we even boasted world champions in four different sports. That we have none now and are unlikely to do so for some shouldn’t make sport mean any less. Even, perhaps, after a weekend as depressing as this last one.