D Chaudhary Road in Lyari, which begins from the Gaddani bus stop and runs past the popular Azam Khan Hotel and the spacious three-story Sheedi Arabi Mosque now bears a new name — Ali Nawaz Baloch Road.

On August 4, 2008, as a mark of respect to the living football legend, the 1996 President's Pride of Performance recipient Ali Nawaz Baloch, Town Nazim Mahmood Hashmi and Naib Nazim Abdullah Abdul Rahim, decided to rename the road where the house in which Baloch was born on July 3, 1949, was situated.

Although our family house is no longer there, this signboard will be reminiscent of the fact that I began life here, says the ever-jovial Ali Nawaz.

The Sheedi Arabi Mosque located on the newly named Ali Nawaz Baloch Road according to the football legend, ...shared a common wall with our family home. My brothers and I gave up that house in the name of God when there was talk of expanding the mosque. I refused to accept even a penny in return and God has shown His kindness to our family in so many ways, says Baloch with a grateful glance towards the sky.

Many may not have heard of Baloch, as football has yet to gain the heights cricket and hockey have in Pakistan, but the man who played as main striker (centre-forward) in the teams he represented over the years is remembered by Karachi's football aficionados for scoring several hat tricks. His triple hat trick while playing for the Dacca Mohammadans against a Middle-Eastern outfit is still remembered by the lovers of the sport. They gave me the name 'Goal-making machine' after that, says the player with a laugh.

Yes, Dacca Mohammadans ... Baloch's association with professional football began in the 1960s when West and East Pakistan were still one country and football was extremely popular in the Subcontinent. Talented footballers from Karachi's Lyari district were in popular demand by the various club teams of which Dacca Mohammadans was the most prestigious. Back in the '60s when even a thousand rupees was considered a fortune, Baloch signed contracts worth Rs10,000.

The top players from the regional club teams would be selected to comprise Pakistan's national team for the annual Regional Cooperation for Development (RCD) tournament. Three countries, namely, Iran, Turkey and of course Pakistan featured in the RCD Cup and Baloch captained the Pakistan national football team in the event from 1974-80, winning us several matches.

Having also played for Emirates Club in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the former player, who was also offered nationality by the UAE, which he turned down for the love of his country, returned to Karachi in 1980 after forming a UAE team, which he had also played for and coached, for some five years. He remained vice president of the Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) for 16 years beginning in 1986 and as manager of sports in PIA also coached his department's football team. 

Baloch reminisces about his childhood. I started playing when I was very young, he says. The school I attended, the Jamia Islamia Khadda Haji Sir Abdullah Haroon School, catered specially to aspiring footballers. 99 per cent of the top Pakistan football players are products of that school. It provided free books, stationary, besides kits and coaching to the budding footballers. That was how talent was recognised at the grass-root level. The gifted players were given further help through scholarships and good jobs later on and the only thing they had to worry about was their performance on the field. Today, with no proper football academy to groom the talented boys, the future of football seems bleak.

Back in our day, mothers in Lyari, while quoting mine as well as the example of other football greats like Captain Umer, Hussain Killer, Abdul Ghafoor, Turab Ali and Qadir Bux Baloch, told their sons to go out and play football and earn some money so that conditions at home could improve. Today, the mothers tell their children to work in garages and tea stalls. How times have changed ... he trails off.

The youngsters too then gained inspiration from our stories. They knew that just like them we had played football in the narrow lanes of Lyari to get where we did. But now with no great footballer doing well for himself in Pakistan, and most former legends leading lives of misery in sheer poverty, they don't see much of a future for themselves in the game, Baloch explains.

When asked what does he then say to these boys who, although have heard great stories about the footballers of Lyari, can't begin to imagine what it used to be like, Baloch says, I give them hope. I tell them about the great football legends of the world and point out that they too have it in them to match their feats. I urge them to come to the grounds and play. Sometimes I step on to the field myself to play with them.

A recent positive development taking shape in Karachi as far as football is concerned is the FIFA Goal Project II. After struggling for years (since 1999), the Sindh Football Association (SFA) was recently able to acquire 10 acres of land from the Government of Sindh to build the FIFA Goal Project II at Hawkesbay.

Baluch, as member of the General Council of the SFA, had a big role in the allotment of this land.

Karachi had been awarded the Goal Project in 1999 as well but the project was moved to Lahore after the provincial government failed to provide land for it  back then. When FIFA awarded Karachi their Goal Project II in May of this year, I was approached by Sindh's Minister for Katchi Abadis and SFA's Chief Patron, Rafique Engineer regarding the matter. He told me that this was my chance to do something for football, since more than 70 per cent of the country's talent comes from Karachi. So I pursued the government to allot us the land for the project for which FIFA has already approved funds. All that there is left to do now is for the world football body to give its approval for the land, explains Baloch.

The FIFA Goal Project II, besides having a proper football stadium with sporting facilities such as an indoor gymnasium with sophisticated training equipment as well as a swimming pool, will also boast of the FIFA House, bungalows for officials along with a hostel for the players. It has the potential to bring back football to Karachi, says the yesteryear hero hopefully.