The Baloch Eleven Football Club, having all ‘Makrani’ players in the playing squad, toured East Pakistan to participate in the National Football Championship and played a well-organised Dhaka Football League in the 1960s. Hafiz Uddin Ahmed, one of the well-known football players of his time, vividly remembers how the Sheedi players led Karachi to dominate the game.

“Some top Pakistani footballers, such as Abdul Ghafur, Turab Ali, Moosa Ghazi, Abdullah Rahi, Abid Ghazi and Hussain Killer came and played for the Dhaka clubs, such as the Mohammedan, Victoria SC, Dhaka Wanderers, Central Stationery, Fire Service, etc,” recalls Ahmed, revisiting what he refers to as the ‘golden era’ of Pakistani football.

However, among the squad of Baloch Eleven, were two well-known defenders, Ustad Amin Baloch and Abdul Ghafur, the latter famously nicknamed the ‘China Wall’ by his colleagues and ‘Kala Ghafur’ by the Bengali fans.

Surviving footballers from Pakistan and Bangladesh from the 1960s recall the heyday and and the downfall of a footballing nation

THE LYARI WALL

Dodging Ghafur for any forward player was a herculean task and, if a player could beat him, he still had to pass the young and skillful Ustad Amin Baloch. Baloch and Ghafur rendered the Baloch Eleven’s defence line almost impassable.

Their inimitable ability to lay an invisible offside trap gave them mastery over their defensive line, making it difficult for any opposing forward, who had to put into play his best plan, employ the best tactics and dribble past them but, more often than not, they still came up short. Eventually, both defenders were offered to play seasons in East Pakistan.

Apart from being a part of Pakistan’s national football team during the 1960s, Ustad Baloch played seasons for the Dhaka Wanderers for seven years. In 1966, after the establishment of the Pakistan Industrial Development Corporation (PIDC) in East Pakistan, he played for it till 1971.

In his 80s now, Ustad Baloch lives in Gul Muhammad Lane in Karachi’s old city area of Lyari. After the separation of East Pakistan, he decided to abandon the game, embarking on a career to train young players from Lyari. He later also held the position of coach in Pakistan’s national team.

But Ustad Baloch’s dissociation from playing professionally was also motivated by other factors. The debacle of East Pakistan’s separation in 1971 had plenty of negative socio-economic and political repercussions, and the fate of sports in Pakistan was also adversely impacted. In particular, Pakistan football teetered on the edge of an abyss.

“The football infrastructure was adequate and sophisticated in East Pakistan,” Ustad Baloch recalls his heyday playing as a young professional during the 1960s. “It was at par with the West. While playing for the Dhaka Wanderers, where I played for seven years, I had adequate financial support. I was signed for 6,000 rupees to play a season for the club.”

Ustad Baloch frequented the erstwhile East Pakistan for playing league matches, while the entire cost of his travel, including the airfare, was borne by the club. But he regrets that such incentives for playing as a professional remained an elusive dream in Pakistan after 1971. According to him, there was a steep slide in financial support for professional football players post 1971.

“All the major football events, such as the top-notch Aga Khan Gold Cup, the Dhaka Football League, and many others, were played in East Pakistan. They attracted a huge fan following, as one could witness the football grounds being jam-packed with spectators,” Ustad Baloch tells Eos.

THE GOLDEN ERA

Hafiz Uddin Ahmed held the captaincy of the Pakistan Army football team in the East Bengal regiment and was a regular member of the Pakistan national football team in the 1960s. He played in the Asian Cup in Burma (now Myanmar) and the RCD tournament, a tri-nation football tournament played between Pakistan, Iran and Turkey.

Ahmed remembers how football progressed in Pakistan in the 1960s. “On the international level,” shares Ahmed, “Pakistan defeated Thailand with a staggering score of 7-0 in the Mardeka tournament in Malaysia. This led Pakistan to beat Japan 3-1 in the same tournament. However, Pakistan Football Federation withdrew from the 1962 Jakarta Asian Games, allowing the Indian side to lift the trophy,” he remembers.

“At the Asian level,” recalls Ahmed, “Pakistan football remained consistent in holding a sway over the game. In 1959, Pakistan beat Iran 4-1 during the Asian Cup qualification round. Pakistan beat India in the round by 1-0, and struck a draw with Israel by 2-2. These results indicated the strength of Pakistan football at the Asian level.”

In the Pakistan National Championship, the East Pakistan team won the trophy in 1960 and 1962. Although East Pakistan, particularly Dhaka football, dominated the competition, Karachi surpassed its counterpart by winning more national championships between 1960 and 1966. It won the National Championship three times, giving an edge to the team over the competition.

A TWIN DECLINE

If Pakistan did not fare well in football after the secession of East Pakistan, things were not particularly rosy in Bangladesh either.

In 2006, on the occasion of its 15th anniversary the Daily Star of Bangladesh ran a special report, featuring the memoirs of Golam Sarwar Tipu, a former national team player. Tipu shed light on issues that started to haunt the game soon after the creation of Bangladesh. From the lack of logistical support, the lack of individual skills, to a lukewarm response from the management towards the game’s betterment, Tipu reflected on many issues.

Tipu played for the Bangladesh national football team after the country’s birth. In the 1980’s, following his retirement, he was appointed as the head coach of the Bangladesh national football team.

“Bangladesh could emerge as a strong footballing nation in Asia — indeed, that was the dream, but as time progressed, that dream started fading away,” Tipu tells Eos. “In the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s, Bangladesh produced a lot of talented footballers, but never

made a strong football team that could make an international impact.

“It was so unfortunate that, before Bangladesh, United Pakistan, and even countries such as Nepal, could clinch the regional SAF Games gold in football. Bangladesh, however, got the first SAF Games football gold [only] after India, Pakistan and Nepal.”

Like Tipu, Ustad Baloch also regrets that Pakistan has failed to take the game ahead after 1971. “Today, our ranking in FIFA’s list of footballing nations is 197, lagging far behind even Bangladesh and Bhutan,” says Ustad Baloch.

REASSESSING THE PAST, LOOKING TO THE FUTURE

But even in undivided Pakistan, despite possessing footballing skills and infrastructure, the country could not progress at the international scale. “The participation of the Pakistan football team in the international arena was confined to friendlies and that RCD tournament,” admits Ahmed. “Pakistan withdrew from the 1962 Asian games, and never played any Asian games later on.”

Shahrukh Sohail, a sport management professional and analyst, shares a similar thought. According to him, he has always felt that the Pakistan football team was not as good as some former players often believe. “Even during our peak era, from the late 1950s and the entire 1960s, Pakistan never won a medal in the Asian Games, let alone qualification for the Asian Cup or the FIFA World Cup,” he says.

“Indeed, Pakistan were a competitive team, but not an Asian football giant. The team could reach that level as Asian football at the time was still in its developing phase and reliance on natural talent was high,” Sohail adds.

However, there is some silver lining in the dark clouds. “Football in Pakistan still has a long way to go, but the potential is immense for both the sport and its commercialisation,” says Sohail.

“Pakistan’s recent win in 2023 at the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers against Cambodia was the first since we started playing in the qualifiers in 1989, and resulted in the team pulling big crowds in Islamabad [with an average attendance of 16,000 plus]. We broke the attendance charts for our group featuring Tajikistan, Saudi Arabia and Jordan, with 20,124 watching KSA in Islamabad,” he points out.

Ayaz Khan is a member of staff

Nayir Iqbal is a senior sports journalist based in Bangladesh

Published in Dawn, EOS, September 22nd, 2024