Last week, a private company hit the football arena with plans to hold football matches, train talented players and build 100 football grounds in Pakistan.

Though cricket is in the blood of the nation, football can also be made a popular sport in the country. Only serious and effective plans are required to bring about changes in the status of football in Pakistan. At present, football is nowhere because of cases pending in courts. Pakistan, of 210 countries, is in the last 10 countries. The ranking shows where we stand in the football community.

The Leisure Leagues (LL) is a UK-based company, known for holding short format football matches of seven-a-side. For this format, small stadiums are required. Its plan of setting up 100 ground, however, seems somewhat exaggerated. The chief minister’s special monitoring unit with the Sports Board of Punjab are also helping the LL. Again, without a technical people at the helm, no such plan will be successful.

A function was held in Lahore this last week by the LL, where cricket stars like Inzamamul Haq and Mushtaq Ahmad, Pakistan head coach of hockey team Khawaja Junaid and Pakistan Cricket Board executive committee chairman Najam Sethi were present on the stage. No footballer or any official of the Pakistan Football Federation was present on the stage. This speaks volumes.

The LL has announced inviting acclaimed footballers Nicolas Anelka (France), Ronaldinho Guacho (Brazil), George Boateng (Netherlands) and David James (England) to Karachi this summer.

The arrival of such high profile footballers to Pakistan will boost the youth to adopt the game of football, besides improving the soft image of the country the world over.

The Punjab government, which has yet to come up with a solid plan to promote sports in the province, is making tall claims about the promotion of the football. Only time will tell what it has done to promote the culture of sports.

Currently, Pakistan has no authority in the world of sports, which once it had at least in cricket, hockey, squash and boxing. India, however, has become a dominating force in many sports. The only way forward is making concrete plans by the federal government to bring back glories to the field of sports.

This week, local cricket activities will be dominating the scene besides the spot-fixing case as its day-to-day hearing will start from Monday. Four cricketers - Sharjeel Khan, Khalid Latif, Shahzaib Hasan and Nasir

Jamshed - are facing spot-fixing charges, which erupted in the second Pakistan Super League held this year in Dubai and Lahore.

Other than the case, Muslim Gymkhana Club will hold its annual match between Inzamamul Haq XI and Ahmad Shahzad/Taufiq Umar–XI on Wednesday at the LCCA ground. The three ace cricketers were the product of Muslim Gymkhana Club, being run by Mian Aslam, former ICC Test umpire.

Earlier, on Monday, the final of the first Hamza Shahbaz Cricket Tournament, by the Lahore Regional Cricket Association, will be played between the Lahore Eagles and the Lahore Shalimar at the LCCA ground. Provincial sports minister Jahangir Khanzada will be the chief guest.

He is likely to announce date for the installation of the floodlights at the LCCA, a project which has been pending for the last two years. Budget for the installation of floodlights is around Rs60 million.

The project hit delays because of red-tape; if its cost increases, it will not be easy to get more funds and ultimately the project would be history.

The Khizra Cricket Club has announced holding the first Aamir Hayat Rokhari One-day Club Cricket Championships from May 17 in the three affiliated units of the Lahore Region Cricket Association.

The late Rokhri was a great lovers of sports, who died from heart attack six years back. He served the Lahore Region Cricket Association as its president for almost three decades, starting from 1978.

When he came to cricket, he launched his own Shaheen Cricket Club and offered his club cricketers motorcycles and monthly stipends. In 2003, he also patronised badminton and formed his own New Khan team.

He recruited top seed players of that time on hefty monthly salaries, which neither Wapda, Army or National Bank were offering to them. Later he was elected as secretary of the Pakistan Badminton Federation, too.

Published in Dawn, May 14th, 2017