Saadia Khan
The World Cup Hockey 2006 is being hosted by Germany in Manchengladbach right now. Yet, it is not even a subject of discussion amongst most Pakistanis. That is sad, because once hockey was followed as much by Pakistanis as cricket is.
The current Pakistan team is not a bad one and some believe that it has a realistic shot at winning the world title. Yet,the team gets very little support from Pakistanis.
Pakistan just began its firts match, against Japan. We all hope it will end in victory. India has played two matches and lost both; to hosts Germany and England.
During the FIFA Football World Cup 2006 (see ATP posts on Pakistan and FIFA World Cup here and here), tickets were extremely expensive and hard to get. In comparison, the tickets for World Cup Hockey in Germany 2006 are so cheap that even Pakistani students living in Germany can go and watch the live match and get opportunity to support the Pakistani team.
Luckily there is a good tradition here that some Germans will get the Pakistani flags to support the guest team in their homeland. This is good and I know those Germans who will be holding the Pakistani flag will be happy when the team will win the match. Many Germans say Pakistan is their favorite team to watch. But this cannot compare to the enthusiasm that support from Pakistani fans - in Germany but also in Pakistan and elsewhere on TV and through the press - will mean for the players.
Unfortunately, however, we have forgotten the legends of Pakistan hockey who brought the world cup titles home and made Pakistan one of the most successful Men’s hockey team ever.
In fact, the World Cup was originally conceived and created by Pakistan and even the Trophy was designed and given by Pakistan.
So, sports fans, maybe its time to show your support for the hockey team too!
This guest post was received from reader Saadia Khan, from Bremen, Germany.
Interesting news from Reuters today. Pakistan has asked the world body FIH to tell Pakistan how to increase Pak’s hockey standards.
Details:
http://au.sports.yahoo.com/060925/3/wjqx.html
@Owais: Here is Zahoor’s (Daily Times) cartoon on the performance of our Hockey team.
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2006 9\15\story_15-9-2006_pg3_7
It is not a news anymore but to keep records complete, Pakistan ended the tournament by securing 6th position. Germany won the world cup
Arg 1, Pak 0. looks like ‘khel khatam, paisa hazam’ and ‘lauT ke buddhoo, ghar ko aaye’
pak 2 spain 2
Pak 4 New Zealand 4
[quote comment="2307"]Public attention went down when performance went down.[/quote]
Zakir,
Its not about Performance its about how much PHF is dedicated to national team’s growth. And how much media is willing to show the nation about today’s victory of Pakistan. We all remember Hasan Sardar and Sami ullah, not only because of their good performance but also because of PHF’s better performance.
The real decline of Pakistan hockey was started in late 1980s, since then media never took any interest to show the further victory of Pakistan Hockey team. This is one of the reason that how many of us knew that Pakistan has the monopoly in the World Cup, winning the maximum of 4 titles - 1971 (Barcelona), 1978 (Buenos Aires), 1982 (Mumbai) and 1994 (Sydney).
About our team’s performance, we see more the Walayti media is talking about Pakistan’s current hockey superstar Sohail Abbas, who rated as the best penalty corner specialist in the world. In 1999, Sohail scored 62 goals to set a world record of maximum goals in a calendar year. The previous record of 58 goals in a calendar year was held by Dutch penalty corner striker Paul Litjens.
If PHF and Pakistani media will work together I believe public will automatically get some attenion. We have the good example of UK where the media and all sports authorities are dedicated to promote the games thats why english people love to play and watch cricket, Football and Rugby.
I think we as public will have to accept that building a team is an arduous process that takes time. One big loss might teach us more then several small wins. Also we know that there is no short cut to success.
I also think its a worldwide phenomemnon, sadly hockey has really plunged in the popularity ratings all around the world, though it is such an amazingly exciting sport.