Pakistan was the first nation to bag three gold medals in the grand slams of field hockey — at the Olympics (1968), the World Cup (1971) and the Asian Games (1970). Fazalur Rahman, who passed away March 9, was a member of all these squads and was regarded as one of Pakistan’s greatest hockey players.

During his international career (1965-1972), Fazal, who used to play in the left-half position, also won silver medals at the 1966 Asian Games and the 1972 Olympics.

He was born in 1938 in Banda Phugwarian, a small town in Abbottabad, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Back in those days, hockey was easily the most popular sport in this country. Fazal’s local school, the Islamia High School, had a good team which helped his game flourish.

In the summers, Abbottabad regularly hosted the Khan Memorial Tournament, in which many teams participated from all over Pakistan. With the weather being quite warm in the plains of the country, the mountainous city of Abbottabad offered pleasant weather to host such a tournament.

Fazalur Rahman, who passed away earlier this month, was one of the greatest hockey players and redefined the role of the left-half for Pakistan

Initially playing for the local Usmania Club, Fazal was soon representing Abbottabad in tournaments at the provincial capital Peshawar. It was for the Peshawar Zone that Fazal first appeared in the national championships.

In those days, Mardan Sugar Mills had a very strong hockey team and they were always on the lookout for good players. Fazal was also recruited by them and he represented the Mardan Sugar Mills in tournaments in different parts of the country.

In 1960, he was called up for the national camp. A frustrating period ensued. For the next five years, Fazal’s name was always among the probables. He always attended the camps, but missed the final selection somehow.

It was in 1965 that he finally got to wear the green shirt for Pakistan’s tour of Indonesia and East Africa. That same year, he joined Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), which was already studded with most of the country’s international hockey stars.

For the Pakistan team, he had big shoes to fill. His predecessor at the left-half position was the legendary Habib Ali Kiddie, who was a part of the Pakistan team at no less than four Olympics.

Fazal not only turned out to be a worthy successor, but also redefined the role of the left-half. In the traditional Subcontinental style of the day, the left half was regarded as a purely defensive midfielder, sometimes even covering the goalkeeper, carrying out first-time clearances and not really moving up the field with the ball.

The boy from Abbottabad was a non-conformist. Fazal often went up in the role of a forward. His superb ball control and stick work enabled him to make forays deep into the opposition’s territory. At the same time, the defensive duties were not compromised, as he had the uncanny ability to intercept raids from the opposition’s right flank.

The first title tournament Fazal figured in was the 1966 Asian Games, where Pakistan finished second.

Most of the national team managers were happy to give him the freewheeling role but Brig (retd) Manzoor Hussain Atif was an exception. Atif’s doctrine was of attacking from the right (with the trio of the right-half, right-in and right-out) as opponents were on the weaker left/wrong side and stopping the opponents’ attack from the right by adopting a defensive strategy on one’s own left side.

Fazal’s aggressive instincts didn’t fit in with Atif’s plans. At the 1968 Mexico Olympics, Atif preferred Gulraiz Akhtar, a defensive left-half from the traditional school, and Fazal was made a reserve. He was on the bench for most of the matches in Mexico. Even left-winger Jahangir Butt was told to assist the defence, but not Fazal.

The following year, Pakistan hosted a high-profile international tournament in Lahore, where almost all the top-ranking national teams participated. Pakistan entered two sides in the competition. Again, Atif selected Gulraiz for the senior team while Fazal was the junior squad’s captain. The Pakistan Juniors were the surprise package. They won all four matches to face the Pakistan Seniors in the final.

On the way, the Juniors also defeated Australia, the runner-up to Pakistan at the 1968 Olympics. The final turned out to be an evenly contested affair and, on another day, the Fazal-led junior string might even have upset their seniors. However, Pakistan’s senior string won the final with a goal in the dying minutes.

The next big event was the 1970 Asian Games in Bangkok. Here, the team manager Brig Hameedi played Fazal with Gulraiz on the bench. Pakistan regained the title, defeating India 1-0 in the final.

The 1971 Hockey World Cup in Barcelona, Spain, saw Fazal at his peak. With youngster Shahnaz Sheikh, one of the most outstanding forwards the game has ever seen, playing at the left-out position, Pakistan tore the opponents’ defence from the left flank. The Green Shirts won the title to complete the grand slam and Fazal was named in the Hockey World XI of the time.

The conferment of the coveted Pride of Performance award from the Pakistan government was the icing on the cake of an illustrious hockey career.

At the 1972 Munich Olympics, Pakistan had lost to the hosts West Germany 1-2 in the pool matches, with Saeed Anwar misfiring two penalty strokes. Pakistan managed to make it into the semi-finals, where they faced traditional rivals India. Not even a year had passed since the end of the bitter 1971 war between the two countries. As a result, the atmosphere could not have been more charged.

In the eleventh minute, Pakistan were awarded a penalty stroke. The regular penalty stroke-taker Saeed Anwar’s confidence had been badly shaken after the twin failure against Germany. The captain asked Fazal to step in. In his long international career, Fazal had never taken a penalty stroke, but he obeyed his captain’s orders, moved to the spot and beat India’s goalie Charles Cornelius. An entire nation heaved a sigh of relief. Pakistan won 2-0. In the final, we again faced the hosts West Germany, who won by 1-0.

The Pakistani players were unhappy with the umpiring and misbehaved during the medal ceremony, which led to the FIH taking disciplinary action. Thirteen players and the team officials were banned from international competitions for one year. Many senior players, including Fazal, didn’t return to the international arena.

Popularly referred to as ‘Lala Fazal’, he continued to represent PIA on the domestic circuit for a few years. Meanwhile, he also got engaged in coaching youngsters in his native Abbottabad. Within a few years, another star emerged from the town. He was Fazal’s nephew Naeem Akhtar, a mirror image of his uncle. Also an outstanding left-half with the same aggressive streak, Naeem played for Pakistan from 1982-1988. Emulating Fazal’s feat, he also won the Olympic gold in hockey in Los Angeles in 1984.

After retiring from PIA in 1987, Lala Fazal completely devoted himself to the game in Abbottabad. He ran the Fazal Hockey Club as well as the Fazal Hockey Academy there. Nine players graduated to play for Pakistan’s national and age-group teams from his academy. His son Inamur Rahman was a member of the gold medal-winning Pakistan team at the 2006 South Asian Games in Colombo, Sri Lanka.

Fazal’s contemporaries remember him as an exceptional player. Total commitment and a high degree of confidence were the hallmarks of this most stylish left-half. He redefined the role of the position in the traditional Indo-Pakistan format.

The writer is a freelance sports journalist based in Lahore.
He tweets @IjazChaudhry1 and can be
contacted at ijaz62@hotmail.com

Published in Dawn, EOS, March 19th, 2023