The Decline of Sports in Pakistan

Decline of Sports in Pakistan

Sports builds courage, discipline, leadership qualities, and a sense of unity in

an individual thus leading to a prosperous nation. It doesn’t matter what
sport: it could be the conventional physical sports we’ve been playing since
the dawn of history or it could be e-sports which have just recently taken
birth. In Pakistan, sports have been at a decline, not from the ones who play
them but from the ones who should encourage, fund, and organize them.

Quaid-e-Azam, on the occasion of the first national games of Pakistan in

Karachi, said “Dedicate yourself to sports promotion, for when you and I are
gone, leadership will go into the hands of Youth, and Youth is our wealth, a
raw material, that must be hammered into shape, into burnished steel to
strive and smite in defense – the defense of the integrity and solidarity of
Pakistan – the defense of the ideology of Pakistan.

There is no doubt of the Pakistani youth’s talent, inbuilt physical potential,

and mental robustness for every sport. When the youth were provided the
resources and motivation, Pakistan made some of the greatest sporting
legends, and still many of the talented people of Pakistan are making
a name for themselves regardless of having financial support from the
government such as Muhammad Asif (Snooker) and Jahangir Khan in Squash.
Pakistan’s Kabbadi team also won the Kabbadi World Cup in 2020.
The Sports Board of Pakistan handles 41 federations under it. Due to
corruption, mismanagement, politics, and indifference by the government, it
has never been able to function properly. Rather, it ultimately caused the
sports federations to be dragged down.
India has a fully functioning sports board that has control over 56 sporting
federations, and it has actually helped to bolster the country’s sporting
structure at all stages. Similarly, other South Asian countries have also built
some good club-based sports infrastructures for their youth at all levels.

Hockey

The Pakistan Sports Board has been a victim of so much corruption and
politics which has abysmally permeated into the sports federations to the
extent that factually it is at a stand-still and has worsened over time. Let’s
start with our country’s national sport hockey. Pakistan has triumphed
countless times in hockey in the past, bagging 4 world cup titles to its name,
which, too, are the most titles won by a country to this day.
Unfortunately, dark days were to come for our national sport when our
team failed to qualify for the hockey world cup in 2014; it is equivalent to
imagining a FIFA world cup without Brazil or other great teams of football.
Although Pakistan did qualify in 2018, the country could not perform well.

Football

Football has been destroyed completely due to political scuffles and the
vested interests of certain individuals and groups since the set up of its
Pakistan Football Federation (PFF). Although Pakistan may be the largest
producer of footballs which are used at the international level in matches
conducted by FIFA, the irony of that is its own team’s footprint seems to
have vanished completely.
Just recently, the Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) has been banned by
FIFA due to a take-over by a group headed by Syed Ashfaq Ahmed. FIFA had
already installed a normalization committee in PFF, but the Supreme Court of
Pakistan interfered and advised to hold an election, and due to the results of
those elections, Ashfaq Ahmed had the mandate to be PFF president till
2022.

This group was not recognized by FIFA, as FIFA already had its own
normalization committee functioning. This resulted in the suspension of the
PFF. The normalization committee was set up by FIFA to bring stability into
the federation after its previous suspension. It was instructed to carry out
elections but, unfortunately, even the normalization committee failed to
deliver on time.

This resulted the Ashfaq-led group taking over the PFF by forced means.
What does the suspension result in? Firstly, the suspension means that the
Pakistan National Football Team would not be allowed to participate in any
International events organized by FIFA. No qualifiers, no friendly matches, no
technical support, no funding, nothing.

Second, the domestic matches and events being organized by PFF will not be
recognized by FIFA, which means that the players playing in them are
literally playing for nothing, their records are not accounted for, and they will
not be given any future opportunities. While the powerful people fight for
their greed to secure their personal interests, the dreams of thousands of
football players across the country have been crumbled.
The British introduced football when they arrived in the sub-continent. It
became very popular with the Baloch and Hazara communities as well as
people from the Pakhtun areas. As a matter of fact, our Quaid, Muhammad
Ali Jinnah really liked the game and used to enjoy it during his years in
Britain. The Britons even organized the Durand Cup which still takes place to
this day in India.

The Durand cup was established right after the well-known FA Cup and that’s
why PFF was the first to emerge in 1948 when Quaid-e-Azam was still alive.
Pakistan has immense talent for football, the sport is inexpensive, which
enables most of our youth to play it but, yet again, as mentioned above, the
structure is disoriented.

Squash and Snooker

Then we have games like squash, snooker, and track and field. There was
once a time when even squash was dominated by Pakistan’s great Jahangir
Khan. He won the World Open six times and the British Open a staggering
ten times. Since he retired, Pakistan has never found such a jewel again.
Squash turned into another game neglected by the government of Pakistan.
In snooker, Pakistan does shine from time to time even today. In 2019,
Muhammad Asif, a Pakistani cueist won the IBSF World Snooker
Championship. The Pakistan Billiards and Snooker Federation in light of their
massive achievement requested the government to give them an increase in
funds but unfortunately, the government rejected their plea

Fall in Olympics

Pakistan’s performance in the Olympics has deteriorated significantly in the

past twenty to thirty years. In the 2016 Olympics, Pakistan could not manage
to win even one gold, silver or bronze, medal. Our track and field athletes
have access to very poor equipment and they were put up against some of
the best athletes from the world; it is a miracle that they managed to even
qualify for the Olympics.

The blame is solely on the representatives of the people and the local
governments who have been unable to bring out the talent from our great
nation. China was nowhere to be seen at the top in the Olympics before the
1990s. If we look at the trend, some of the most advanced countries have
the best athletes, for example, the US, Germany, Japan, China, and England
Cricket

The present government has introduced the concept of a clubs system in

cricket. Our Prime Minister is a great sportsman himself and he has tried to
bring reforms in our sporting community which is still being resisted by the
mafia. However, this concept would not function in Pakistan as it requires
massive amounts of money and defeating mafias which is an uphill task.

The concept of clubs in western countries is successful because of rich local

community resources and sponsors. Here, though it is a good idea to be
implemented, it will take extra effort to bear its fruits. Therefore, we have to
continue with departmental sports until the clubs can take over in the future.

I must mention our PM has set a personal example by making a cricket

ground in Bani gala for the local youth. However, the government will need
to coordinate for appropriate supporting measures for different games as per
the area potentials. We also need to pay attention to school games with the
provision of adequate sports facilities

Recommendations

If we look at the history of Pakistan, in the beginning, schools and

educational institutions were specially focusing on the sports field and we
saw dividends paid in the past not only in games but also in nation-building.
It needs yearly based forecasts of sports programs to be conducted
consistently under an organized body.

A dedicated Sports Commission should be set up to frame, coordinate,

oversee, and be accountable for all sports activities at all levels right from
nurseries, emerging to the national level. A highest level inquiry committee
should tackle the football issue for its immediate corrective measures for the
future of the football game and player’s good prospects

We require a comprehensive and pragmatic sports plan involving the

community, educational institutions, departments, private enterprises, and
sponsors to come forward and play their role for nation-building through
sports spirit.

Nelson Mandela once said, “Sport has the power to change the world. It has
the power to inspire. It has the power to unite people in a way that little else
does. It speaks to youth in a language they understand. Sport can create
hope where once there was only despair. It is more powerful than
government in breaking down racial barriers.