Alarm bells ringing: Pakistan hockey’s staring down the barrel after dismal World Cup campaign

Four matches. Zero wins. Two goals scored, 12 conceded.

Pakistan has never witnessed a more dismal reading of their team’s performance in the 47-year-old history of the men’s Hockey World Cup, a tournament that they introduced. They have won four gold medals, two silver medals and have now got a wake up call to revive their hockey before it’s too late.

Pakistan, for the first time, have been winless in a World Cup. In 2014, for the first time, they were not part of a World Cup.

(Also read: Pakistan’s campaign ends with a whimper after being crushed by Belgium)

This year, too, despite qualifying for the tournament, they were uncertain to participate because of financial constraints.

With less than a month left for the tournament to begin, Pakistan Hockey Federation’s Secretary Shahbaz Ahmad asked the country’s Prime Minister and its cricket board for help. The former, reportedly, didn’t respond. The latter asked the hockey federation to pay back a previous loan.

“If we are not able to send the team to India it will not only damage our image in world hockey but we will also face a hefty fine from the FIH,” Shahbaz had said.

The Sindh government’s last-minute grant of Rs 100 million enabled Pakistan’s campaign.

Off-field troubles

Pakistan were placed in arguably the most volatile group of the tournament. They had to prevent finishing last in Pool D that contained two-time world champions Germany, three-time world champions Netherlands, Asian Games silver medallists Malaysia.

Despite losing the first game to the Germans, Pakistan played well. Their defence, considered one of their weaknesses, was solid against Germany and conceded just one goal.

The next game, they drew 1-1 with a resilient Malaysian side. Even as they earned the first point in the tournament, they suffered a big blow: their skipper Muhammad Rizwan was ruled out of the tournament after fracturing a toe in the game.

Vice-captain Ammad Butt was slapped a one-match ban (that was later revoked) for carelessly running into a Malaysian player in a penalty corner. Then, assistant coach Danish Kaleem was pulled up for breaching security protocols.

“Do we focus on our matches or these off-field issues?” coach Tauqeer Dar had asked before the match against the Netherlands, which Pakistan lost 1-5.

Pakistan had qualified for the crossovers due to a better goal difference. But, against Belgium, without the experienced Rizwan, they floundered and crashed out of the tournament.

Need to fix grassroots

Like India, Pakistan, too, considers hockey as its national game. But the way the sport and the players are treated in India is very different from Pakistan’s management of the game. “There is no comparison,” says Pakistan coach Dar.

“Forget hockey, Pakistan haven’t won an Olympic medal since 1992. India have been winning medals across several sports. You need to invest in the sport.”

Pakistani legend Hassan Sardar, who’s the current team’s manager, complains of a lack of hockey culture in the country. Cricket, he says, is a much more attractive sport in Pakistan.

“We need to work on grassroots and give importance to school and college level. There is no grassroots hockey in Pakistan,” he says. “There are a handful of academies and no domestic hockey is happening except for the National Championship. The fault lies with the federation.

“If our performance becomes better, people will come to watch us anywhere in the world. We don’t have any problem in playing at neutral venues. We are ready to play in India and if India doesn’t want to travel to Pakistan we can play at a neutral venue.”

Assistant coach and former hockey captain Rehan Butt reiterates the need to nurture the grassroots.

“Major reason for Pakistan’s hockey downfall is lack of job opportunities for upcoming players,” he says. “When I started playing hockey, my biggest motivation was getting a job. Now, all major government departments have stopped offering employment to hockey players. Hence, the youngsters don’t see a future in hockey and survival of hockey players has become really difficult.”

Hopes pinned on PHL

After mulling over the idea of a league for long, PHF announced last month that the country’s first hockey league – Pakistan Hockey League (PHL) – will be held in February next year. The first edition will feature six teams and is slated to be held across four different cities – Faisalabad, Gojra, Karachi and Lahore.

Dar welcomes the idea of the league. “If we can have a hockey league and if the players are well paid, they needn’t go for jobs. They can be like professional players in India. The youth will then get inspired by them and take up hockey,” he says.

The Pakistan Super League was seen in the country as a platform for young talent to come through. The country’s hockey aficionados hope that PHL will do to hockey what PSL did to cricket in their country.

But if this doesn’t work out, Dar says there is “no long-term solution unless the government takes drastic steps to revive hockey.”