IN one of my recent columns I had stressed the need of providing incentives to players at a young age to attract quality stuff for proper grooming. This, to me at least, is the only way to keep the supply line well greased and functional right up to the top level.
Of course, not everyone who undertakes this uncertain journey reaches the destination and gets to represent his country. But they all deserve some incentive to feel attracted to the game on a sustained basis. In the absence of incentives at the young age, budding players and, indeed, their parents consider it too uncertain a chance to take on what would otherwise be a successful career with enough bread and butter to sustain a family.
Incentives at the top level do work as a catalyst to improved performance, but do not help the cause of maintaining the supply line which is so vital for keeping the momentum going. Unfortunately, Pakistan has suffered on this count and has paid a heavy price for not giving due attention to the supply line when things were rosy at the top and the team was winning laurel after laurel on the international stage.
We have now come to a stage where even single major title in a decade is taken as a major sign of improvement. Worse still, we struggle in even minor tournaments like the Azlan Shah Cup and the various three-nation, four-nation contests that come every now and then. It is all because we never bothered to think ahead of time, and do something when we needed to. Now when we are suffering, it has become such a vicious cycle that we are suffering both at the top and at the bottom, which is a pity.
There has been much hope pinned on President General Pervez Musharraf who is an ardent fan of sports. But more than being ardent, he is practical in approach which is visible through his various awards to sportsmen and teams doing fine in their respective fields. The national cricket team recently was awarded rather lavishly, especially its captain Inzamamul Haq. Sohail Abbas was another case when he broke the world record. Besides, winning tennis and boxing teams have also had their share.
A couple of years earlier, he had promised that the issue of employment for sportsmen will be looked into. Subsequently, the then prime minister, Mir Zafarullah Jamali, publicly lifted the ban on such employment. I personally interviewed the prime minister on Pakistan Television during which he was categorical on the issue, making it clear that there was no ban on employing sportsmen on the basis of their respective skills in government, semi-government organizations as well as autonomous public-sector corporations. It is such a shame that not many organizations have made use of this opportunity.
As things stand today, the door of employment for sportsmen in almost all organizations concerned remains shut. Even when the need is rather desperate on the part of these organizations, they hire the services on a contract basis which denies proper benefits to the sportsman. A case in point is that of several senior players in the Pakistan cricket team. According to newspaper reports, they took up the matter with Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz when he hosted the team on return from their successful tour to India.
I hope that the government, which has clearly shown commitment towards sporting activities, will do something concrete in this regard. In the absence of career opportunities for sportsmen, the younger lot is not going to feel attracted. Gone are the days when national pride alone was considered a factor strong enough to pull in the best. The world has changed and so has been the case with values. When no one in society is free of the hassles of making a decent living, there is no point expecting it of your sportsmen. And when I talk of society, I am talking of the global society, not just one country.
IN one of my recent columns I had stressed the need of providing incentives to players at a young age to attract quality stuff for proper grooming. This, to me at least, is the only way to keep the supply line well greased and functional right up to the top level.
