RAWALPINDI, Jan 2: The Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) organised a forum Thursday seeking suggestions to revive the sport but it appeared to be an exercise in futility as nothing worthwhile could be achieved.

The event conducted by Brig. Musarratullah Khan, the PHF secretary at a local hotel was attended among others by former Olympians Shahbaz Ahmed, Muhammad Ishfaq and Noor Alam with the notable absentee being Abdul Rasheed Junior.

In attendance was the new manager of the Pakistan team, Shahid Hamid Jaffery, who conveniently chose this national stage to blame the media for ignoring the game and not giving the coverage it deserves.

He could only cite the example of the coverage given to a recent series of matches between the national strings. He thought it was inadequate.

His other suggestions calling for job security for the players and that the sport be commercialised had no new meaning to them.

Shahid had replaced Zafar Ali Zafari as the manager in November, and his swipe at the media days after taking over clearly wouldn’t have done him much good.

Shahbaz, who represented Pakistan in three Olympiads from 1988 to 1996 felt that to improve the state of the sport, the national team needed to win big titles. “We could have capitalised on our World Cup success of 1994 which we unfortunately did not.”

He called upon the national press not to criticise the PHF for a string of disappointing results. “It is their bad luck that they do not have quality players.”

Musarrat meanwhile said that the PHF had identified five areas that have led to the decline of hockey in the country. Lack of infrastructure and technical expertise, gradual elimination of schools/clubs hockey, organisational inadequacy and financial constraints were the reasons, he said.

A five-pronged strategy had been adopted and the PHF was now working towards tackling those problem areas, Musarrat said. The physical scrutiny of the clubs was conducted for the first time in 22 years, he pointed out. “At the start of the scrutiny we had 1260 clubs but once it was completed only 650 genuine clubs were left. It may not have been 100 per cent accurate but it is a step forward.”

Musarrat said that Pakistan today had three national strings and there were now between 150 to 200 players available. “This base will be enlarged further.”

“By the end of next year Pakistan would have 10 venues equipped with artificial surfaces. At the moment we only have six turfs that are playable.”

The 2001-2002 calendar of activity, Musarrat said had been implemented fully and the next one too would be followed religiously.

He defended the frequent changes in management saying the managers had been given specific tasks and when these were not completed they had to be changed. “The new management’s term is till the Athens Olympics in 2004.”