We are out of the Asia Cup before the Super-4 round and regrettably couldn't qualify for the World Cup yet again. A routine blame game is the successor of failure, as always. Reasons are many, internal and external; hockey lovers often express their anger and ask who is responsible for this fall. We probably will have to wait till the day of resurrection.

I have never been a renowned player but my unbiased observation is at par with some of the hockey veterans. My family has served the game for decades and I am from the generation which had hockey running in its blood.

Stimulated by the observers on the reasons for the current drastically eroded state of our hockey, I am endeavouring to express my views.

Virtually we have ruined the erstwhile structure of all games except that of cricket. From the '60s to the '80s, children would play in their 'muhallah' club, aiming for SSC board, HSC board or university teams. Those with talent would be picked up by private sector sponsors for ultimate selection into regional and national teams. There used to be hundreds of hockey clubs in big cities. District, divisional, provincial and national-level tournaments were part of a routine game development plan. Education and sports were concurrent in the institutions. Now, only a few hundred boys play hockey in Karachi, a city of 25 to 30 million people. For children, objectives of promotion have vanished and ghost (voting) clubs are flourishing.

Organisational structure for hockey development seems to be non-existent from national level down to the grassroots level.

It is a one-man or maximum two-men show. Capability and capacity is immaterial. Inept but well-linked individuals are given control of a national asset.

Sports management is a specialised, full-time job, but we have been giving this job to part-timers. Sports management is an independent faculty in the modern world which involves specialised fields of game development, infrastructure development, marketing, media coverage, sports economy/finance, etc. Each needs qualified and experienced handling for a daunting task in hand.

Former players are good for coaching and game strategy. The rest of the fields require paid expertise. The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) with a broad-based management is an example.

Now, it appears to be more of a veterans' war, a game for the thrones and not for hockey. Rivalries of their playing days continue even after retirement amongst our former stalwarts. There were lobbies in the past too but then the game had strong foundations. I am deliberately omitting their names here for fear of missing out on some of them. Our stalwarts have brought laurels to Pakistan by sheer personal commitment, devotion and relentless individual hard work. We have no dearth of talent; but structured tapping mechanism, rejecting the lobbyism and imposition of merit are indispensable.

In the past, hockey was a middle-class game as our upper-class would opt for cricket. Natural hockey playing fields on the streets, rough and grassy grounds produced innumerable players as every family had hockey-playing lads all over the country. Introduction of synthetic artificial turfs and unresponsive approach of authorities discouraged young boys, institutions and departments from opting for hockey as battlegrounds. Today Karachi, one of the megacities of the world, has only 2-3 playable turfs while smaller cities have one odd; an incomparable ratio with countries currently at the top in world hockey.

With paucity of resources in government exchequer, public private partnership is essential for infrastructure creation and maintenance and players' support. Through legislation, it should be entrusted to the private sector and departments which should consider it their corporate social responsibility (CSR). The structure and handling of domestic hockey must not be compared with cricket; today's hockey needs resuscitation; departments must take over the primary responsibility of grooming players and regions should organise competitions for domestic honour.

I am not inclined to subscribe to the view that changes to the rules is a reason for our downfall. Rules are the same for every hockey-playing nation.

Directionless incumbents, absence of transparent practices, lack of proficient management, lobbyism and nepotism, non-availability of modern infrastructure, indifferent private sector, deficiency of patronage and financial allocation are causing frustration and apathy among the current players.

I sincerely request the President, the PM and the CMs to initiate actions immediately. We would not be visible on international hockey canvas if immediate corrective actions were not taken.

tsuri794@gmail.com