Will the change in the PHF leadership result in the changing of the hockey team’s fortunes?
RELYING on assumptions, people come, pass their time and go without any accountability for constant failures, building their fortunes at the expense of government exchequer. Sports are no exception.
Tariq Kirmani, Managing Director, Pakistan State Oil (PSO), on December 28 became the nineteenth president of the Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF), following his nomination by Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz. This of course came after the resignation of the previous PHF chief, General (retd.) Muhammed Aziz Khan. “It was unfair to continue in the office after I’d hanged my uniform,” Aziz told newsmen at a press conference.
General Aziz came at the helm of affairs after being nominated by President General Pervaiz Musharraf and was later elected by the PHF Council. In the process, Aziz replaced Arif Ali Khan Abbasi on the eve of 2000 Sydney Olympics. However, much was expected of him and he couldn’t deliver.
Other than the Sydney debacle, for which the ex-General cannot be blamed since he took charge of PHF only a couple of weeks before the games, Aziz shoulders responsibility for being in command of PHF that failed to produce a gold medal winning team. Instead, in his four years, it had become a tradition to release a barrage of statements just before a foreign tour or a major tournament, that expressed optimism ‘the team will Inshallah win the gold medal’. And upon the team’s failure, no official owned the responsibility. In fact, General Aziz’s tenure brought nothing new to the national hockey team. It simply continued with the losing tradition. It is now well over a decade since Pakistan stood on the No 1 spot, at either the Olympics, the World Cup, the Champions Trophy or even the Asian Games. It has been a sad story of a continuous slide, down south.
Pakistan, that once used to earn direct passage into premier tournaments — Olympics and the World Cup — now have to go through the humiliation of competing in a qualifying tournament. This they did first in Osaka and then in Madrid. In addition, the three-time former Olympic champions have also had to faced the agony of not making it to the 22nd Champions Trophy in 2000 and the 7th Junior World Cup, at Hobart Australia, in 2001. Pakistan also achieved ignominious first when they failed to finish on the podium at the Busan Asian Games. And then there have the humiliating losses to other lesser teams, the most infamous being the loss to New Zealand.
The green-shirts were humbled by New Zealand 1-7 in the semi-final of the Manchester Commonwealth Games. The defeat at the hands of Kiwis is to date the heaviest in the illustrious history of the country’s hockey. Pakistan’s defences crumbled yet again when archrivals India, ranked below Pakistan, pulled a major upset and beat as, 7-4 in the 25th Champions’ Trophy at Amsterdam.
In the last one year alone, Spain, once the perennial underdogs of hockey, have managed to convincingly beat Pakistan, thrice! First there was the 3-2 semifinal loss in the Olympic Qualifying round in Madrid. Then, barely five-months later, the Spaniards again proved their ascendancy, this time with a 3-0 drubbing in the classification match of the Athens Olympics. And last but not the least, Spain stamped their authority on Pakistan when they yet again posted a 3-0 victory in the Lahore Champions Trophy at the fag end of the year. And all of this happened in not only General Aziz’s tenure, but also during the highly paid Dutch coach, Rolent Oltmans’ term. I am quite sure we were looking for results much better than these.
Whatever matches Pakistan won during the period were mainly due to the exceptional skills of ace striker Sohail Abbas. Now that he has called it a day from international hockey, it would be hard for the PHF to fill the vacuum. And since the number of local competitions on all Pakistan basis, that serve as a pipeline of talent for the national team, have been drastically curtailed, the federation is going to find it tough in finding a replacement. The PHF should make it mandatory for all affiliated units to organize one such tournament in a year. A pool of managers and coaches should also be created and those given a chance once should not be brought back to avoid mockery.
Air Marshal (retd.) Nur Khan, a great administrator of sports the country has produced, believed in a thee-tier system. Secondly, he had a good team of officials and always asked the players to enter the field, thinking that they are playing with a two-goal handicap. When combined, these factors among other measures were instrumental in Pakistan hockey team’s success.
Presently, the Senate Standing Committee on Sports is the most suited platform which has the authority to summon top officials of the game and reprimand them on the declining standard. One hopes the committee would not spare those found guilty besides expanding its base.
Following General Aziz’s departure, it would be interesting to see if the PHF Secretary, Brig (retd.) Musarratullah too will leave or not. For, someone new in the Secretary’s chair will be able to, hopefully, infuse new optimism in the setup.
