The Death of Hockey in Pakistan; Will Dutch coach Michel van den Heuvel Revive the Team?
Hockey is the national sport in Pakistan, but at the moment it seems like it is the one sport no one cares about. Over the years, there has been a steady decline in the performance of the hockey team of the country. This is due to many factors, and there are many ways of fixing the situation, if only the people in charge took some much needed action to correct the problems currently plaguing the team. If the current problems are fixed, the team can get back on track to its previous world championship position.
Pakistan is a former four-time World Champion at hockey and 3 time Olympic gold medal winner at the sport as well. So it was very strange to see how the team came last among the 12 countries playing at the 2010 Hockey World Cup. After a dismal performance at the tournament, the entire management was sacked, as was the chief selector for the sport. The entire team of players handed in their resignations as well over their poor showing, but these were not accepted and they were asked to stay on.
The entire game of hockey is in decline in the country. Where once hockey players were almost worshipped by their fans, today the situation is very different. People in the country follow the cricket team religiously and no one cares about hockey anymore.
The reasons for the decline of hockey are many and varied and are given by everyone in the country. It seems everyone who is asked has an opinion on why the game has died in the country. One of the reasons that turns up again and again is to do with the Pakistan Hockey Federation. It seems the organisation is full of unprofessional and undisciplined people who lack the skills to take the country’s team to the next level. It is alleged that the people who are running the Federation have been put there not because of any talents that they possess but because they are related to or are friends with someone high up in the government. Another theory presented is that the entire country is facing the worst crisis it has had to go through, and this is affecting the sport. Corruption is rife, inflation is sky high, unemployment is at unbelievable levels and there is a general sense of disheartenment among the people of Pakistan. This seems to have affected the sport as well; corruption has weeded its fingers into hockey along with every other institution in the country. This is affecting funds allocated for the sport and it results in the wrong people being selected for the management. People also seem to not want to play hockey to represent their country because of the general deflated spirit among the population.
It seems the Hockey Federation has put forward its own reason for the decline of hockey in the country. They allege that it is because the International Federation of Hockey (FIH) favours European teams over Asian ones. They say that the FIH makes anti-Asian rules and tries to see that Asian teams stay at the bottom of the pack. The Pakistan Hockey Federation’s Secretary, however, has a different opinion about the allegations. He says that the FIH is making rules and regulations that actually favour Asian teams. Firstly, they have launched a World Series of Hockey and scrapped qualifying in order to give Asian teams a better chance of making it to the Olympics and the World Cup. Also, they are going to have two wild card entries in the Champions Trophy and this is widely thought to be India and Pakistan. It looks like the FIH is really trying to be fair and is actually favouring Asian teams over European ones. It is the European teams that should be complaining and not the Pakistani team.
Now we come to how this sad situation can be reversed. One of the ways is what the Hockey Federation has just done and that is to appoint a new coach. The hockey team has a new coach in the form of Dutchman Michel van den Heuvel. He led the Netherlands team to a bronze medal in this year’s World Cup and Pakistan hopes he can do the same or even better for them. It is now just a matter of waiting and seeing if the new coach can really turn around the fortunes of the country’s team. Another interesting strategy is being adopted by India. They are starting a Premier League of Hockey, which will feature many different teams and players, and the best ones will be selected for the national team. Maybe Pakistan could benefit from something similar to this; it could revive the national squad and also bring back hockey’s popularity in the country.
Whatever happens, let’s hope that the fortunes of this once great team can be brought back and it can be raised from the dead to make the country and its people proud once again.
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