Pakistan hockey’s misery

Bol News talked exclusively with former World Cup-winning captain Islahuddin Siddiqui to discuss about who is responsible for the Green Shirts’ horror show

Living in the past is never a good thing, especially at a time when everything is moving at a pace perhaps never like before.

In sports, past glories mean absolutely nothing because it is the performance of that very moment which counts the most where the minnows get the better of a team full of superstars.

In sports, the primary example of how past glories have destroyed different teams are available in abundance. Let’s take the West Indies cricket team for example. They were the powerhouse in the 70s, 80s and till the early 90s.

They had that aura about them where they made it all look too simple and it almost felt like they started taking things for granted.

Fast-forwarding it to now and the two-time world champions played the 2019 edition of the 50-over World Cup after playing a qualifying round.

In football, there are many teams, especially in club football, who achieved great things but became a thing of history such as Nottingham Forest who won the European Cup or Leeds United who were a regular in the Champions League as well.

Same is the case of hockey in Pakistan where people still talk about how we used to dominate the world on the field. They often never realise that the discussion still revolves around ‘used to’, not how can we dominate the world in the present or in the future.

Commonwealth Games 2022 brought the same picture back again in front of everyone as the Green Shirts handed a proper reality check as they finished in the seventh position in the competition of 10 teams, courtesy of a narrow win against Canada.

The performance was so bad that the side never looked in contention to play for a medal. They won just two matches out of five, suffered two defeats and one fixture ended as a draw.

The Green Shirts only managed to score 10 goals in five matches, the third-lowest out of all the 10 teams. To put into context how bad it was, Australia scored 39 goals whereas arch-rivals India netted 30 times.

Not only that but they also conceded 18 goals in five matches, thus ending with a goal difference of minus nine.

Since the start of 2021, the Pakistan hockey team have played 22 matches in different events where they have managed to win just eight, lost nine in the process and three ended in a draw.

BIRMINGHAM, ENGLAND – JULY 31: David Brydon #3 of Team New Zealand battles for the ball against Mubashar Ali #3 Team and Ammad Butt #16 of Team Pakistan during the Men’s Hockey Pool match on day three of the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games at University of Birmingham Hockey & Squash Centre on July 31, 2022 on the Birmingham, England. (Photo by Dean Mouhtaropoulos/Getty Images)

Talking about the state of affairs in Pakistan hockey, Bol News had an exclusive discussion with former World Cup-winning captain Islahuddin, who was clearly unhappy with how things are going in the national sport.

The 74-year-old lambasted the current top-tier management of the Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF), who according to him have failed to deliver despite eight years in charge where the team went from number eight in the world to number 18.

“First thing first, the current setup in the federation needs to be replaced,” said Islahuddin. “The Prime Minister, who is the Patron in Chief of the PHF, must do something about it.

“These people have been here for the last eight years. During their reign, Pakistan went from number eight in the world to number 18 in the world. That alone is an indictment of their poor performance. What else do you want to look at other than this?

“As of now, Pakistan have not qualified for the World Cup, we have not qualified for the Olympics, what are these people doing there? The results show that these people are incompetent and they need to be removed from office to have any hope of Pakistan hockey’s betterment.”

During the same event, Pakistan hockey team coach Siegfried Aikman passed an interesting comment while talking to a local media journalist where he claimed that the national team was playing like the stone age days and therefore, it is hard to compete with others.

Those words were strange considering the fact that he has been brought in to change exactly that and improve the team’s performance.

Islahuddin was unhappy with the coach’s performance anyway and he insisted that having someone foreign sitting on the bench is no recipe for success. Instead, he opined that the Pakistan hockey team would play much better under a local coach who has more knowledge regarding what’s happening at the grass root level.

“I don’t believe the current coach should be here in the first place,” he said. “I don’t believe in the idea of having a foreign coach. They’ve never brought any laurels to the country. Only in 1994, we win the World Cup under the coaching of a foreigner. But even then, he resigned from the post a month earlier and was brought back as a last-ditched effort because we had no time.

“These foreign coaches come in with little or no idea about what’s happening at the grass root level in Pakistan hockey. They come in on heavy salaries and go back home without making any contributions to the national team.

“On top of it, when the same coaches go back to their country, they use the knowledge of our players and then use it against us. I genuinely believe that local coaches are far more qualified and have greater knowledge to make it work for the Pakistan hockey team.

“Look at Aikman for instance. He arrived with three years of experience with Japan. His claim was that Japan won the Asia Cup under his coaching. Fair enough. But since he was their coach, he should have had insight into the weakness of the Japanese team which should’ve helped the Pakistan players in the match against them.

“Instead, the Green Shirts were second-best against the same Japan side under their former coach which shows that he does not have the kind of ability to either transfer the knowledge or he is just not interested in doing that job. He must resign or be removed from the position.”

During the matches, Pakistan players looked subpar against nearly every opposition, even against the likes of Scotland and Canada where they managed to secure wins.

Islahuddin was of the opinion that the players must also share some responsibility for what’s happening on the field of play as they are not sharp enough to convert the chances available in front of the goals.

“I think they [players] also have some responsibility. They need to work on their fitness. They need to look at why they look slow in the final third and lack the finishing touch as well. That is up to the players and no one else. If we want to compete at the highest level, the players must take some responsibility as well,” he concluded.