COMING out on August 14, the day when the nation will be celebrating fifty-eight years of independence, it is in the fitness of things to look back and see what we have done thus far. Such exercises in introspection are necessary for any nation to be sure of the mistakes it may have committed at various stages of its life as an independent entity on the world map, and, more importantly, to learn its lessons and resolve not to commit those mistakes again. Making mistakes is no big deal; we all do it all the time. But not learning from them and repeating them over and over again is a crime. To err is, indeed, human, but it is not a good idea to have that as the sole attribute!
Making mistakes is no big deal; we all do it all the time. But not learning from them and repeating them over and over again is a crime
While people from all walks of life will talk, as they should, about the different aspects of our nationhood, I wish to deal with my own area of specialization. I don’t call it my ‘area of expertise’ because ‘expertise’ is a relative issue and I leave it to my readers — both the fans as well as the detractors — to make their own judgments on that count.
Hockey, which happens to be our national sport, fascinated me from a very young age. I, and a whole lot of kids my age, had the same level of fascination, if not more, with hockey as is the relationship between the kids of today and cricket. And there is a reason behind this shift in attitude of the nation’s young towards the national sport. Success attracts the young mind, and lack of it works in the opposite direction.
When I was young, Pakistan was the powerhouse of international hockey. There were stalwarts like Colonel Dara, Brigadier Hameedi, Brigadier Atif, Waheed Khan, Anwar Ahmad Khan, Habibur Rahman, Latifur Rahman and many more who were not in the spotlight before Partition, but moved to Pakistan and laid the foundations of a strong hockey unit. In only its third appearance in Olympics, the 1956 Melbourne games, Pakistan played the final against India, and claimed the silver medal, losing out in an exciting Penalty Bully finish. There used to be no penalty strokes in those days, and unfinished matches were decided on the basis of Penalty Bully which was nothing but a regular bully taken about a yard or so from the goal-line between two players, one from either side, without the goalkeeper being in the net.
The first gold came a couple of years later at the 1958 Asian Games, followed by the first Olympic glory at the 1960 games in Rome. Pakistan was a regular visitor to the podium in the years that followed, and duly floated the idea of a Hockey World Cup. The first championship was held in the Spanish city of Barcelona in 1971, which Pakistan won. This also led to the remarkable feat of hitting the Grand Slam as Pakistan was already in possession of the Olympics titles, which it had won in 1968, and the Asian crown which had come its way in 1970.
The World Cup was lifted again in 1978, and a rare second Grand Slam was registered in the shape of World Cup and Asian titles in 1982, and the Olympics gold in 1984. But the Los Angeles Olympics unfortunately represented the end of Pakistan’s dominance in world hockey which had lasted an impressive three decades. Though Pakistan won the World Cup and the Champions Trophy in 1994, the momentum could not be sustained and the last more than eleven years have yielded almost nothing of note. This has been a tragic turn of events for the country, but more tragic is the fact that nothing concrete is being done to halt the slide, and we are slipping deeper and deeper in the morass.
The major reasons behind this downfall, as I see it, are centred around the change in attitude of our authorities towards such key elements as physical fitness, technical excellence, team discipline and national honour. To cover up their own follies, officials often blame things like the introduction of artificial playing surfaces and umpiring regulations. I have played international hockey both on natural grass and astro-turfs. Likewise, I have represented Pakistan on the FIH Board of Rules for a long time. With that exposure behind me, I can assure you that such excuses have no worth at all.
I will pick up this thread again next week. For the moment, I share your wish to have an opportunity to scream at the top of my voice, Pakistan Hockey Zindabad! Let’s hope that we will have that opportunity sooner rather than later. Till that hapens, let’s settle for PAKISTAN ZINDABAD!
COMING out on August 14, the day when the nation will be celebrating fifty-eight years of independence, it is in the fitness of things to look back and see what we have done thus far. Such exercises in introspection are necessary for any nation to be sure of the mistakes it may have committed at various stages of its life as an independent entity on the world map, and, more importantly, to learn its lessons and resolve not to commit those mistakes again. Making mistakes is no big deal; we all do it all the time. But not learning from them and repeating them over and over again is a crime. To err is, indeed, human, but it is not a good idea to have that as the sole attribute!
Hockey, which happens to be our national sport, fascinated me from a very young age. I, and a whole lot of kids my age, had the same level of fascination, if not more, with hockey as is the relationship between the kids of today and cricket. And there is a reason behind this shift in attitude of the nation’s young towards the national sport. Success attracts the young mind, and lack of it works in the opposite direction.
The World Cup was lifted again in 1978, and a rare second Grand Slam was registered in the shape of World Cup and Asian titles in 1982, and the Olympics gold in 1984. But the Los Angeles Olympics unfortunately represented the end of Pakistan’s dominance in world hockey which had lasted an impressive three decades. Though Pakistan won the World Cup and the Champions Trophy in 1994, the momentum could not be sustained and the last more than eleven years have yielded almost nothing of note. This has been a tragic turn of events for the country, but more tragic is the fact that nothing concrete is being done to halt the slide, and we are slipping deeper and deeper in the morass.
