LAHORE: Pakistan hockey faces a fresh crisis and a potentially massive one in the immediate backdrop of the off-the-field fiasco the national team experienced on their just-concluded tour to Australia for the FIH Pro League second leg.

The alarming element of the brewing disaster has made the fate of the incumbent Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) uncertain as national team captain Ammad Butt in an explosive media talk on Tuesday night soon upon reaching Lahore from Australia raised serious allegations against the team management over the issue of the mismanagement during the said tour.

In a disturbing development just five before the Pakistan squad is scheduled to leave for Egypt to play the World Cup qualifiers, Ammad along with a number of senior players of the squad urged the PHF to sack the current team management comprising head coach Tahir Zaman, manager-cum-assistant coach Usman Sheikh and assistant coach Zeeshan Ashraf.

On Wednesday, Tahir, Usman and Zeeshan also held a joint press conference at the National Hockey Stadium to express their position on the matter.

Tahir also presented the tour report to the PHF, which called up Ammad and some other senior players on Thursday to listen to their point of view before taking any decision.

Amid this highly undesirable development, the PHF and the Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) are already at loggerheads, blaming each other for the fuss created during the Australia tour.

“We had to spend 12, 13 hours in Sydney under open sky. From Sydney we left for Hobart where we came to know that there was no hotel booking for our squad. The team management [on the occasion] expressed that it did not have sufficient funds to pay the hotel charges [which had been increa­sed],” Ammad told reporters.

“I don’t know who is right or wrong. When we talked to the PSB [on the matter], they claimed that the Board had handed over funds to the team management [to meet the tour expenses]. On the other hand, the management asserted that the funds [provided] were not adequate,” the captain added.

In a depressing revelation, he added, “The players [during the tour] had to prepare their breakfast, do dishwashing and wash clothes. In this [miserable scenario], what kind of performance could a player produce for the team?”

In an extremely upsetting disclosure, the captain alleged that the team management asked the players if they were with the captain or the federation.

Ammad, in this disappointing situation, made an earnest appeal to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Field Marshal Gen Asim Munir to take a strict action against those responsible for the debacle.

Pakistan in a flat performance on the chaotic tour lost all four matches of the second leg — two each against Australia and Germany.

When asked about a video clip issued by the PHF on social media during the above mentioned tour in which he expressed complete satisfaction over the accommodation arranged for the team, the skipper said he spoke in Pakistan’s interest after the team management advised him to give a positive statement noting some sections of Indian media and their lobbies were creating a fuss on the subject to defame Pakistan.

When highlighted that Pakis­tan had lost all the eight matches of the FIH Pro League held so far, Ammad said he was satisfied with the team’s performance.

“The PHF is also responsible for some wrong actions but as a player I had to talk with the team management on any issue concer­ning the players,” he maintained.

Answering a question on allegations made by the team management that he used inappropriate language against the team members during the Australia tour, the skipper denied them while adding “yes sometimes in the heat of the moments we [team members] spoke harshly but there was no [verbal] abuse against anyone.”

Speaking on the subject of scanty daily allowance, the captain said that the PSB had agreed to pay $115 (to each player) but for the first time the players had to pay their bill of three daily meals from that tiny amount.

“Around nine players [of the squad] are still waiting for the payment of their daily allowance of the last three years,” he disclosed.

‘I am ready to quit’

Speaking at the presser on Wednesday, Tahir said that it was a routine practice that if the players stayed at a five-star hotel, they had to wash their clothes.

“If you have to play for the nation, you have to give some sacrifice and as the World Cup qualifiers are around the corner, this problem [of tour expenses] should be amicably solved by the top officials,” Tahir emphasised.

“We have a pool of 30 to 36 players, from which the best team for the World Cup qualifying round is to be picked,” he said. “If Pakistan can qualify for the World Cup without me I am ready to quit.

“We have presented our [Australia tour] report to the PHF and now it will take a final decision,” he added.

Tahir in his media talk also clai­med that some former foreign coa­c­hes of Pakistan team in the past had also complained against the national players over indiscipline.

“[Some] players of the current squad were reported for indiscipline in the past and they were punished too,” the head coach revealed.

Responding to the charges levelled by Ammad, Tahir said when the team reached the hotel boo­k­ed by the PSB, the squad came to know that it was not booked due to a delay in the payment.

“Our booking was not confirmed and we attempted to book another hotel but could not do so. Later, we had to arrange a separate residence [a villa] for the team that had all the facilities of a five-star hotel,” Tahir claimed.

Disputing Ammad’s allegation, Tahir said the squad in Sydney had to stay [only] for six hours; some Pakistanis settled there took full care of the squad.

“But unfortunately every incident was presented sensationally,” he said.

“We have suggested the PHF to also take a report from neutral people living in Australia on what happened there [to the team].”

In another serious allegation, Tahir also condemned the inappropriate language the players used for Pakistan legend Shahbaz Ahmed Senior, who accompanied the team as observer in Australia.

Expressing his views on the occasion, Usman said that he acted as assistant coach and manager during the last four tours of the national team.

“All the arrangements for the first leg [of the Pro League] held in Argentine were made with the help of the FIH, while for the second leg [in Australia] these made by the PSB,” he noted.

“I received a cheque from the PSB on Jan 29 which was transferred into my account on Feb 3, just two days before the start of the [Australia] tour.”

It seems a minor mistake allegedly made by the PSB of only confirming the booking at the hotel in Australia without making any payment, sparked the crisis. The rent of the hotel had been increased between the period when it was booked and when the team reached the hotel.

Meanwhile, an official of the team management speaking on the condition of anonymity said as the Sydney airport was closed at 11:00pm daily while the Pakistan team had to travel to Hobart from a domestic airport which opened at 4:00am, the squad spent six hours at Opera House where some former Pakistan hockey players properly entertained the touring party.

The said official also shared with the media the video clips of the villas where the team was staying. Terming the stay at the villas fantastic, the official said, “Every facility was available to the squad there”.

Published in Dawn, February 19th, 2026