HOCKEY: HOW GOJRA BECAME GREAT
There are towns and cities in the world that are known for producing great sportsmen. Harlem in New York, for example, is known for its boxers and basketball players. There are also towns that have produced quality hockey players. Terrassa in Spain is one such town. In India, Sansarpur, a tiny village near Jallandhar, has 15 Olympic medals to its credit.
There have been many similar sports nurseries in Pakistan. Lyari in Karachi is famous for its footballers, boxers and cyclists. Post-independence Karachi also became the hub of hockey activity. Later, some other towns, including Sialkot and Sheikhupura, produced a number of quality hockey players, too.
But the city that has given the largest number of hockey players to Pakistan’s national teams is Gojra, a tiny tehsil of district Toba Tek Singh, Faisalabad division. Even the tehsil status was given to it only in 1982. Before that it was often referred to as an agricultural village.
No town or city in Pakistan has produced more international hockey players than Gojra. Eos takes a look at how it turned from a small agricultural village into a big sporting centre
Before 1947, Gojra was populated by a big number of Hindus and Sikhs who migrated to India at the time of Partition, and Muslims from India came and settled here.
The story of hockey in Gojra town (current population 650,000) is fascinating. Till the late 1960s no one from Gojra was selected for the national squad. The keen interest in hockey there can be attributed to the invaluable contribution of Government M.C. High School. Although the school was established in the early 19th century, hockey activities began on its premises only after Partition.
The physical training instructor at the school, the late M. Yaqoob belonged to one of the Muslim families that had moved to Gojra from East Punjab. He joined the institution in the early 1950s and is considered to be the father of hockey in Gojra. Though not a hockey player himself, he single-handedly raised the school team. The school’s headmaster Haji Manzoor supported him by providing hockey sticks and balls from the school fund. Still, the team at the time was no match to the established sides of the neighbouring and far more resourceful Faisalabad city. Undeterred, Yaqoob continued with his hard work.