September 01, 2008	Monday	Sha'aban 29, 1429

KARACHI, Aug 31: An Early Sunset, a short documentary on the saga of soccer in the slums of Karachi was previewed for the press at the City District Government Karachi (CDGK) Stadium on Saturday night.

The 17-minute documentary prepared by Outfield Productions is an amateur attempt at capturing the long gone glorious days of football in Karachi’s Lyari area which produced many world-class footballers such as Captain Umar and Ali Nawaz Baloch.

These legends, during their playing days, were known to cause massive traffic jams on being spotted in crowded places and not just here but in Dacca (now Dhaka) and India as well. Such was their fan following that they were considered as big celebrities as the movie star Dilip Kumar, who was himself their fan.

While on the subject of the great days of the past when foreign teams visited here and the stadiums would be jam-packed with the lovers of the sport, the documentary, in contrast, also gives the story of young Imran Abdullah, also a Lyari boy, who wants to play football today but is refrained because of his poor circumstances. Still he manages to make the under-13 national team when he was dragged in greasy clothes and without shoes to the trials by his coach, who believed in his talent and ability.

The film besides featuring legends like Ali Nawaz Baloch, who now has a road in Lyari named after him, and FIFA Referee Ahmad Jan, who also happens to be in charge of the 18,000-capacity CDGK Stadium and is witness to all the great matches that took place there, also boasts of football officials such as Chairman, Zonal Football Association, District South, Karachi, Nasir Karim Baloch and former national team coach Tariq Lutfi who speak about what has happened to football here and what can help it come up again.

The producer Khalid Hasan Khan and director M. Waseem got much appreciation from the press personnel, footballers and the various officials present at the showing including the chief guest Sindh Minister for Katchi Abadis and Sindh Football Association’s chief patron Rafiq Engineer, who also announced a sum of Rs10,000 for Imran, also present on the occasion, so that he to could buy a proper pair of shoes and football kit for himself.

While speaking to Dawn, Khalid said that the main purpose of holding a special screening was to gather suggestions about improving the documentary further before allowing Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) to release it internationally.