Seldom has a year started on such a bleak note for Pakistan hockey. After a disastrous 2013, the country’s national game is hoping against hope that things will change for the better. But unfortunately there are little signs that Pakistan hockey’s fortunes will change in 2014.

There are several reasons behind such a dismal forecast. Firstly, the various factors that caused Pakistan to lose ground at both senior and junior levels in world hockey during 2013 continue to haunt the game. In fact, things have only worsened on several fronts.

Secondly, there are little expectations from the people at the helm of affairs. There has been a change of guard but effectively the same old faces, who have failed in the past continue to run Pakistan hockey.

Let’s first discuss the various factors that have contributed towards the downfall of Pakistan.

One should begin with the pool of players that has shrunk over the years. It’s not that nobody plays hockey in the country. There are still pockets in various parts of Pakistan where hockey continues to be played and followed. But if you compare it with the past when Pakistan used to be the biggest powerhouse of world hockey then there is a huge difference. Unlike the past, hockey in Pakistan is a sport with a minority appeal. There was a time when it used to rival cricket in terms of popularity but today it lags far behind a sport that is Pakistan’s national pastime.

Over the years, hockey has lost its mass appeal in Pakistan. It all began in the eighties when the country’s golden run in world hockey ended and the national team even started losing against teams like Korea, then regarded among the minnows on the international circuit. A drought of titles followed and though Pakistan did win the World Cup in 1994 in Australia, they slumped in international rankings.

Victories like the triumph of Shahbaz Ahmed and his men twenty years ago have become a thing of the past. In many other sports-loving nations such a slump might not have dealt such a fatal blow on the future of a sport but things are different in Pakistan. Here most of the sports fans worship success which means that if a particular team stops winning then it is bound to lose its fan following. Our hockey team stopped winning major titles a long time ago and has unfortunately lost a vast chunk of its fan base.

Fan following is not the only asset that hockey has lost over the years. With the fans it has also lost sponsors’ and media support. I know that, on and off, the Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) manages to get hold of sponsorship but only through government pressure. Media, too, covers hockey but the coverage is far inferior to the one given to cricket.

There are other factors too but primarily the responsibility for the downfall of Pakistan hockey rests on PHF. The federation has failed to make concrete plans for the revival of Pakistan hockey and has instead fooled the nation by the help of mere lip service.

I won’t dwell too much into the past. Just take a look at what has happened in Pakistan hockey since 2008 and you will know what’s wrong with it. Since 2008, PHF has received hundreds of millions of rupees, most of which came out of tax-payers’ pockets. Massive funds were released by the government to the PHF which claimed that it was investing the money in various academies. PHF bosses claimed that the academies will produce world class players who will help revive Pakistan hockey’s lost glory. But on the basis of results one can say that most of those claims were a bundle of lies. During the last five years, Pakistan’s hockey team has achieved undesirable distinctions like a last-place finish at the 2010 World Cup and poor results at two Olympic Games (Beijing in 2008 and London in 2008). But the worst results came in 2013 when Pakistan even failed to qualify for the World Cup. PHF officials consoled the few remaining fans of Pakistan hockey by saying that they should wait for the Junior World Cup which took place in New Delhi during the twilight days of 2013. Shockingly, Pakistan’s Colts flopped miserably at that event, too.

At the moment, PHF officials are again busy making big promises in order to get hold of substantial government grants. They have the right connections in the PML-N government and will soon obtain huge funds. But that will be insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. One hopes that better sense prevails.