KARACHI: Hockey which was and is still our national game is in doldrums because Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) has lost direction, and is being run by people who have little or no background of the game.

The President of (PHF) Gen Mohammad Aziz Khan who holds one of the most important posts in our defence establishment cannot devote himself full time for the promotion of the game.

He can at best provide the guidelines and help the PHF Secretariat run the day to day affairs.

To expect anything more than that from the general will be asking too much.

It is an irony that he picked Brig Musarratullah Khan as secretary who for all practical purposes is the executive head. He has failed so far in every department except that he is too willing to accompany the team on foreign tours.

His act of taking over as manager of the team just about a week before the Sydney Olympics was nothing but sheer folly.

Musarratullah did not know what is the importance of a manager at the world level competition.

The PHF after the Sydney debacle made some changes in the setup bringing in new selection committee and new coaches to prepare the team for the Kuala Lumpur World Cup. One of the coaches, Shahbaz Ahmad, manipulated to become a member of the playing team.

This was a history created by the PHF as never before a coach had donned the national colour.

The result was a foregone conclusion and everybody in the PHF showed full faith in the team which finished a dismal fifth.

Every country as a matter of principle works out a plan for the next Olympics or the World Cup by infusing new blood. Nothing of the sort was done by the PHF as it recalled all the team members of the Kuala Lumpur World Cup.

As if it was not enough it recalled even those players who were not selected for Kuala Lumpur in preparation for the Commonwealth Games scheduled to be held at Manchester (UK).

The PHF appointed a new selection committee headed by the minister for sports Col (Retd) S.K. Tressler with Abdul Rashid Jr and Islahuddin former Pakistan captains.

I can bet that the selectors cannot recognise the players that they have called for the camp.

Rashid Jr was away from the country and therefore has no following at present. Islahuddin is perhaps the only selector who has some background of the players.

The PHF perhaps is bent upon creating history. It has appointed Tahir Zaman as the coach of the team. First of all what is the qualification of Tahir Zaman.

According to Pakistan Hockey Federation he is a qualified FIH coach. It may be a sacred thing for the PHF but the fact is that it has no credentials.

Nobody knows what is Tahir Zaman’s ranking if at all it is taken into consideration. His only achievement as a coach is that he was coach of the junior team which failed to qualify for the Junior World Cup.

The so-called FIH certified coaches has four categories — Trainer, Coach, Coach Grade I and Master Coach.

The coaching certificates are awarded by the FIH after every two years following a seminar which hardly last three days. Is just three days training at a seminar good enough to train a national team?

Another flaw in the appointment of Tahir Zaman as coach is that about half a dozen players have been his teammates which is bound to create disciplinary problems.

The PHF set up should know it that though Pakistan dominated world squash for decades it never got the recognition of national game.

It was hockey and will remain so unless it remains in the hands of people like Brig Musarratullah and Brig Khalid Sajjad Khokhar who appears as the king pin of every sport.

One day Khokar becomes manager of the hockey team and the next day he takes over the management of boxing and then becomes a senior office-bearer of tennis federation.

Former secretary of the PHF and vice-president of the FIH Brig (Retd) M.H. Atif played a major role in the decline of Pakistan hockey when he took over the reins in late 70’s after the Buenos Aires World Cup.

He gradually reduced the Pakistan hockey to camp training.

The entire structure of the game was gradually destroyed and as a result of non serious domestic competition, the talent of Pakistan hockey was reduced to at the most 36 players.

This situation is continuing now for almost a decade.

Unless some one picks up the courage and has farsightedness and plan, the state of Pakistan hockey will never improve.

In fact it is declining day by day and one cannot see any ray of hope with the present PHF set up.