LAHORE: Former hockey Olympian Tauqir Dar has appealed to Prime Minister of Pakistan Imran Khan to not repeat the mistake of ending departmental competitions by introducing the same system in hockey, otherwise, players would be hardly found.

“The prime minister has recently indicated that the structure of hockey be built on the basis of regions instead of departments — identical to that in cricket. Ending departmental cricket has rendered many cricketers jobless forcing many of them to turn into cart-pushers in a bid to survive. I will appeal to the premier to not repeat the same mistake in hockey as lower class people are playing this game and job opportunity is the only source of motivation for them to take up this sport professionally,” said Tauqir, a member of the last Pakistan team that won Olympics in 1984.

Tauqir said: “Very few people and players have interest in hockey now. Putting an end to potential job opportunities will be a disaster for the game which is already in a deep crisis.”

It should be noted that the prime minister, in his first-ever meeting with the PHF president retired Brig Sajjad Khokhar in two years despite being patron-in-chief of the PHF, had suggested to make necessary amendments in the constitution to set up academies and to form teams on city basis for league hockey. Earlier, on the instructions of the prime minister, the Pakistan Cricket Board had abolished departmental cricket, which cut short its first-class structure from 16 teams (eight departmental and as many regional) to only six provincial teams, limiting the players count to just 192 cricketers from around 350 previously.

Tauqir said a crime of the decade was done with Pakistan hockey by not fielding a team in the first-ever introduced FIH Pro league last year.

“It was a great opportunity to keep Pakistan in the top ten teams of the world. Pakistan would have stayed in top ten teams even if they had they lost all the matches. Moreover, it would have also provided a great opportunity to play hockey with big teams like Australia, Holland, Germany and Belgium on the basis of top ten ranking.

“Pakistan’s absence from FIH Pro Hockey further brought them down on the world rankings from 13 to 17, while arch-rivals India are at 4,” he lamented.

Pakistan did not participate in Pro Hockey last year because of insufficient funds. However, after the PHF delegation’s meeting with prime minister and Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa, hopes are high that the PHF will get special grants from the federal government. The Army chief has already announced a grant of Rs50million.

Tauqir also advised the PHF to use the money in a better way and to make heavy investments at the grassroots level. “Only money cannot develop hockey alone. You need vision and will as well. If these three things are there, everyone can change their fate. It is high time for the PHF to increase hockey activities at the grassroots level. It should also focus on its national team players’ panel to create international activities for them,” Tauqir said.

“Eleven players of Tanvir Dar Hockey Academy got recruited in different departments when the PHF held the national junior championship last time. It shows the importance of hockey at the grassroots level,” he said.

He also suggested the PHF to make all appointments on merit instead of considering friends and relatives for key positions.

Tauqir also talked about the lack of proper coaching manual despite winning Olympics three times and World Cup four times.

“Due to different hockey manual functions, our players have become confused so as to which coaching manual to follow”, he commented.

“It is high time for the PHF to organise top level coaching courses with the help of a common coaching manual,” he concluded.

Published in Dawn, September 6th, 2020