How to change the national game?

[Mostar95]

Re: How to change the national game?

@Afat

during the early years of Pakistan’s history ..well upto the mid 80’s … Pakistan simply exploded to the top in everything…

be that Sports ,Hockey , Cricket , Squash , Atheletics , Gymnastics , Boxing , Rowing , Kabbadi … ..except perhaps Football … we were either at the top or near the Top … especially Hockey , Cricket , and Squash …

Hockey till the 80’s was played in every nook and corner of the country , since 1956 when we won the Silver in Australia and then Gold in Rome in 1960 .
I myself played hockey in the streets of Nazimabad , then in the ground that were used to play all sort of games …it was a craze … People just don’t have any idea now , how popular and kinda " awami " hockey was … Cricket came to colors first when Hanif , Fazal and Imtaiz were stealing the show…the it dipped …during Burki well upto early 70’s …it rose again …when Frist Asif Masood , then Sarfraz Nawaz and then later on Imran Khan emerged on the scene …I remember well … emulating them …in the streets…then during the Aus tour trying to be Lillie and Thompson …and strangely ended up … emulating Wasim Bari , Alan Knott or Rodney Marsh …
..but … hockey …that was well ahead of cricket in popularity then … till the late 80’s , there was not a single title , which we did not had …Olympic, World Cup, Champions trophy , Asian Cup , Azlan Shah , Common Wealth , SARC…we were number 1 …not even 2 … and that a pretty long stretch of over 25 years…

…yes … After Islahuddin’s team … it was the journey downward…with an occasional hickup win here and there… so with it … Hockey lost it charm … and that why its even being questioned as the national sport…

thats my two cent …two bits… all are welcome to disagree with it .

Very best summary! During the 70s (my childhood) my mamoo was an enthusiastic player of hockey - there used to hardly any Sunday when we did not have a match - he even used to repair and refurnish his and teams hockey sticks!