A foreigner is again being sized up by the Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF). Nobody knows who the ‘foreigner’ is, but what has been decided in principle is that the natives are not good enough. As is our wont, a foreigner is now being considered to set things right for us. And if the past is anything to go by — and it is indeed something to go by — we will be the only loser in the equation.

Just a few weeks ago, the PHF had declared that it had achieved all its targets and was on course as far as its own vision was concerned. And then came the news that the coach of the national team could not continue as he had been promoted by his employers elsewhere. A real spanner in the works, one would say. But one would say that only if one had been living on, say, Mars. Pluto actually would be better for it is much farther and would indicate a more effective cut-off. For the mere mortals living on Earth, and in Pakistan, it is nothing but a continuing joke. Unfortunately.

Let’s begin from where the current episode began. When viewed against the backdrop of how things actually unfolded, the PHF target apparently was to lose with record margins and without putting up a fight worth its name. If you think this is getting sarcastic, it is not. It actually happened that way.

It is amazing how in Pakistan we tend to so frivolously promise future glory or talk about regaining the past glory but never have the time for making our present even remotely glorious

The national senior team, participating in an invitational four-nation tournament in Australia, not only suffered its worst-ever loss — a 1-9 drubbing by the home side — during the event, but also went down to Japan twice to finish last. It was an unenviable mixture of defeat and embarrassment. But one has to give it to PHF supremo Shahbaz Ahmed Senior for having enough cheek to tell the national media that “we [the PHF] have achieved our targets”. That was some audacity.

While acknowledging that PHF’s approach of making frequent changes over a couple of years had resulted in the poor — and worsening — performance by the team, he said it was “a strategic move” as the focus was “not to win titles but to create a better team” for the upcoming Asian Games and “somehow we have achieved our targets.” And then came the usual promises. “Mark my words, we will make every effort to show brilliant performance in the Asian Games to book a place in the next Olympic Games,” Shahbaz said.

He was talking of an event in 2018 to qualify for Tokyo 2020. It is amazing how in Pakistan we tend to talk so consistently — and frivolously — about either future glory or about regaining the past glory. We never have any time for making our present even remotely glorious. It is but a social malady and, frankly speaking, it is a folly in itself to expect the PHF to be any different. Those who are supposed to hold them accountable themselves suffer from the same malady — only worse.

Making the most of such an attitude, PHF President Sajjad Khokhar, a retired brigadier, said right after accepting the resignation of the national coach that he would soon be announcing a new set-up to work with the team, adding for good measure that the PHF was considering some foreign coaches for the job. If they were already considering foreign coaches, Farhat Khan would have gone even if he had not been promoted in his own job at Pakistan Customs. The likely scenario is that his hand was forced to vacate the slot so that one of those being considered may be brought in to fill it. And then came the carrot of a slot in the revamped selection committee that settled the deal. Apparently, of course.

Sajjad came out with two pieces of rhetoric that could only be expected of someone in office without knowing much about managing the assigned task. The PHF, he said, was trying to put the national game on track, and that the decision on the next coach will be “purely taken on merit.”

For the sake of absolving the PHF of any mala fide intention, let’s assume for a moment that the Federation’s definition of merit is something close to what it is generally and universally accepted. The logical question that flows from this assumption, then, is quite simple: how on earth can a foreign coach bring about a change that anyone from among the locals cannot? The answer to this innocuous question will determine PHF’s understanding of merit.

For starters, we have travelled the path earlier with nothing to show for it except of course the size and weight of the fiscal burden on what is already a cash-starved body. They don’t understand the language and, more critically, the local dietary and lifestyle norms. The solutions they have are based on modern professionalism and our lads — and the set-up — are anything but.

We definitely need a foreign coach, but only for the junior strings not beyond age 16. Let it happen, and see where they go in four years. But a foreigner dealing with the grown-ups in the current national squad works negatively for everyone except the lucky coach. The locals have this critical input with them and know how to hit the balance.

What we need to have is some local coach with some international standing and stature. Shahnaz Sheikh, Islahuddin, Samiullah, someone who is not taken lightly by the players. It should not be rocket science for the PHF to pick up the record and see who was able to bring what to the country when they were given the charge. The problem with the PHF, historically, is that it is willing to give both the decision-making power and the emoluments to a foreigner, but when it hires a local, it wants people to do it in, what they say, “the larger national interest” and as “their national duty.” This may well be a good selling point in fiscal terms, but what about decision-making powers?

To avoid questions like these, the PHF hires coaches from among those who it finds pliable. If not the coach, then be a selector, you know! And then it uses their failures to blame the lack of home-grown human resource. And while doing all this, they continue to make promises about what wonders they are going to show in a few years. Bringing in a foreigner gets them a few more years in office as they can make promises with a new vigour.

humair.ishtiaq@gmail.com

Published in Dawn, EOS, December 31st, 2017