Winning the World Cup in 2006 and the Beijing games in 2008 are the set goals that the new PHF chief has to accomplish

FOR the new president of the Pakistan Hockey Federation, Syed Tariq Kirmani, there are a lot of challenges. The most formidable of them is the target of churning out a team that would hopefully be capable of first winning back the World Cup in 2006, and then the Olympics in Beijing, 2008. Not lofty goals by any means, but keeping in mind Pakistan’s recent lacklustre performance, to say the least, these are the herculean tasks that he has to face in his intended four-year tenure.

Three times Olympic champions, Pakistan, last won the gold, 20 years back in Los Angles in 1984. Since, however, the team has continued to disappoint its fans and just last year, finished fifth at Athens. The green-shirts won their last World Cup, the fourth time, ten years ago in Sydney in 1994. And then, in the 2002 World Cup in Kuala Lumpur, took a fifth position. In both the major tournaments Pakistan could not qualify for the semifinals. These are just the few things that Mr Kirmani, who is the Managing Director of the PSO, has to take care of now.

Following the resignation of Gen. Aziz, Kirmani was nominated as the PHF Chief by the patron-in-chief of the PHF, Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz. Gen. Aziz served national hockey to the best of his abilities, providing all possible facilities and incentives to the team which miserably failed to win back either the World Cup or the Olympic gold during his four-year tenure. He even set the right example of quitting the office of the President and hopefully others will do so in the future.

When Gen. Aziz took over, the PHF was virtually surrounded by a group of known former Olympians who had wasted about three years when the federation heavily relied on the coaching abilities of former Olympians. These men had claimed to make Pakistan a formidable combination for recapturing the world major titles. Even those Olympians who had revolted against the PHF on the eve of the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, were associated with the coaching of the national team when a panel of three coaches was formed. Three valuable years were wasted before the PHF hired world-renowned coach, Roelant Oltmans of The Netherlands. But that came, too little too late as he was hired and entrusted to tune Pakistan into a winning combination, hardly a year before the 2004 Athens games.

There had been a lot criticism by a group of former Olympians over the hiring of the Dutch coach on fabulous amount along with a physical trainer and physio.The hiring of the foreign coach by the PHF, headed by Gen. Aziz, was nothing new.

It should be remembered that the Pakistan team that won the 1994 Sydney World Cup and the Lahore Champions Trophy, the same year was trained by Dutch coach Hans Jorritsma. However, the difference between the 1994 and 2004 teams was that Jorritsma had higher quality players. The 2004 stuff made available to Roelant Oltmans was poor, as the overall mental IQ of the team left much to be desired. This shows that hockey is losing its appeal in the educational institutions, once the breeding grounds of champions. There was a time when most of the players selected for the team belonged to universities and colleges and Pakistan for a considerable long time remained a formidable force in international men field hockey.

Now former Olympians, who have failed as managers and coaches, are back with tall claims to re-establish Pakistan’s image in the international hockey under the new PHF president of Tariq Kirmani. However, it was quite unfair that a selection committee and managers as well as coaches for the senior and juniors teams, were named by the PHF Council, in a meeting held in Lahore on December 28, under the leadership of Gen. Aziz. It was at the end of the same meeting that Aziz tendered his resignation and it was the made officially known that Mr Kirmani has been appointed as the PHF president who was not at the meeting.

The major and important decisions about the team management and formation of the selection committee should not have been taken at the December 28 meeting. There was hardly any urgency of taking such vital decisions in the absence of the new president Kirmani. Those who were instrumental in carrying out such important and significant decisions, left the new PHF chief with no choice but to approve such vital decisions.

After taking over the PHF on January 5, Kirmani, in his first press conference, accepted that hockey is facing a decline and that he has to work hard to bring back Pakistan’s glorious past by adopting short and long term measures. He also approved all the decisions taken on December 28 meeting and hinted run the federation on a company line.

The PHF will certainly not be facing any financial problem with Kirmani as its president. When Gen. Aziz took over, there were initial financial issues. But later on he generated enough funds for national hockey and went to the extent of hiring a foreign coach with the sole objective of winning the Athens Olympics.

However, federation funds in certain cases were not judicially spent and the time has come that the new PHF chief should ensure accountability of federation officials as well as of those associated with team management.

There is a strong lobby of former Olympians who are against the hiring of a foreign coach and cited the example of Oltmans’ failure. But they fail to mention the remarkable job of coach Hans Jorritsma.

Hiring a foreign coach is a world-wide trend in international hockey. Even The Netherlands, Spain and Germany hire foreign coaches who train the team on modern and scientific line. The pattern of the game has changed and we need qualified coaches to train the team on modern and scientific lines in order to overcome the challenges of the modern day hockey. One should be honest in admitting the fact that none of our former Olympians are professional coaches. They are part time coaches and in such a state of affairs one cannot entertain much hopes of re-building a team winning back major tournament.

These former Olympians, who are really interested in coaching, should fully commit themselves to the coach job after being qualified by the FIH. Merely holding coaching certificates will not serve the coaching cause unless they gain experience at the lower-level.

In today’s hockey, coaching of the Pakistan team is a different proposition and there is great need of a foreign coach for raising a winning combination for the 2006 World Cup, within two years’ time. And to achieve this goal we have to take a decision; do we need a foreign coach or leave the team in the hands of those former Olympians who, it is generally said, are incapable of coaching the team on modern and scientific lines?