At its height Pakistan’s sporting success was a miracle. At its low, it’s been a disaster, an utter disappointment. Last week, in the first part of this piece I discussed six of the major reasons which I believe have contributed to the sorry state of our sports. From taking success for granted to becoming indifferent to a vital sport like athletics, we have committed a series of grave mistakes and are now suffering the consequences. Other reasons included lack of planning, failure to systematically use infra-structure, irregular support from the government and our inability to keep pace with rest of the world.

It was heartening to see that last week’s piece in the TNS encouraged many sports aficionados to come forward and share their views. It was heartening because it meant that there are still genuine, diehard sports fans in our society who care about the dismal state of Pakistan sports. This week I will conclude the piece with six more reasons why our sports decline continues unabated.

Rise of vested interest elements

It is hardly a coincidence that the golden period of Pakistan sports was initiated and then sustained during a period when the likes of Justice Cornelius and Air Marshal Nur Khan were at its helm. It is said that the very essence of leadership is having vision. Those gentlemen had vision and helped shape great things for Pakistan in the field of cricket, hockey and squash. Unfortunately the same cannot be said about many of our sports chiefs, who succeeded the likes of Justice Cornelius and Nur Khan. While Justice Cornelius was a well-respected chief justice of Pakistan during the best part of the sixties, Nur Khan was a highly decorated air force officer. The duo believed in giving to Pakistan sports rather than taking from it. It has mostly been the other way round during the last three decades or so. Over the years, we have seen a rise of vested interest officials in all spheres of Pakistan sports. I’m talking about the ones who are there in the Pakistan Cricket Board, Pakistan Hockey Federation, Pakistan Sports Board, Pakistan Olympic Association (POA) and many other sports federations and associations for personal gains more than anything else. Some are there because the job pays well with minimum responsibility/accountability. Some are there to make money by using whatever means that are available to do that. Others are there for the perks and believe me there are many for many of them. I saw the late Anwar Chowdhry, the Pakistani boxing official who rose to the rank of International Amateur Boxing Association (AIBA) chief, getting perks fit for a king at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens and four years before that in Sydney. Once you get used to how the cash-rich International Olympic Committee (IOC) treats members of the ‘Olympic family’ you cannot just let it go.

Lack of professionalism

I’ve talked about people keen to be part of the various federations or boards. There is nothing wrong about looking for a job there. But there is everything wrong about landing a job there without possessing the sort of credentials required to fulfill it. Over the years, I’ve seen many people either parachuting their way to the top of the pyramid in a certain federation or board or climbing up the ladder, slowly but surely, without having an iota of qualification required for that particular position. In some cases, it’s the government that handpicks a certain person to head either the cricket board or the hockey federation. Such practice has, over time, made sure that there is minimal professionalism in the world of Pakistan sports. The problem compounds when a handpicked man takes over an organisation as he almost always tries to bring in his own team of more handpicked men and women. What about having professionals? Well, who cares!

Shrinking role of schools, colleges and clubs

Much of Pakistan’s early success in sports was dependant on the grassroots level. Schools, colleges and universities in many parts of the country were once hubs for sports. Then there were clubs that provided lifeblood to sports like hockey and cricket. Due to one reason or the other, all of that has withered. Today very few schoolchildren in Pakistan have access to proper sports facilities like grounds, tracks, gyms etc. The role of colleges and universities has also diminished. The club structure in almost all major sports is in disarray across the country. Unless we probe into this particular aspect and then take remedial measures, sports in Pakistan will never flourish again the way it did in the past.

Tolerance for dishonesty

When three of Pakistan’s leading cricketers were caught red-handed in a spot-fixing scandal in England, a sports official asked me what the fuss was all about. "It’s just a matter of a few no-balls. Why can’t we just forget it and move on," he said. That’s the sort of tolerance for dishonesty which has contributed towards our decline. It’s a common practice in Pakistan sports that overage players compete in age group events by faking their documents. Everybody knows it and accepts it. Several years ago, the organisers of national junior (U-19) hockey tournament carried out wrist tests to determine the ages of the participating players. The age of one of the players was determined around 26. He was disqualified. Later, I came to know that the boy’s elder brother managed to play in that same tournament, unnoticed.

Lack of proper jobs for sportspersons

Pakistan, as we all know, isn’t a rich country. An overwhelming majority of our sportspersons hail from modest backgrounds. For many of them sport is not just a passion but also a means to earn their bread and butter. Back in the sixties right up to nineties, there was seldom any worthwhile sportsperson without a proper job. All departments and major banks like PIA, Railways, Wapda, Army, Navy, PAF, Custom, HBL, NBP invested substantially in sports. They had full-fledged sports departments that hired players. In some cases, the departments had their own training/coaching programmes. With all of them boasting strong teams, national level competitions featuring the departments used to be prestigious affairs. Things have changed. Barring departments like Wapda who continue to patronise sports, most organisations have, over the years, closed their sports wings. It has really affected the standard of sports in our country. Our business houses should take a leaf out of UBL’s book as the bank has recently revived its sports department and is planning to pump tens of millions of rupees in it.

We take little pride in what we do

In the end, it is also all about passion. No matter how well you train your athletes, if they don’t have fire in their belly they won’t go much far. Legends like Jahangir Khan, Hassan Sardar and Wasim Akram were men with great passion which is why they managed to make the seemingly impossible happen. Many of our modern-day sportsperson lack that sort of passion. I’ve talked to many a sportsmen including elite cricketers, hockey players and others and concluded that take little pride in what they do. For most of them it’s about making money and becoming famous. There is nothing wrong with that but what about passion and pride? It’s next to impossible to become a world-class athlete without possessing these qualities.