Hockey, like cricket, became a popular sport with the population. In the start, the Federation’s membership included the provincial hockey federations of Punjab, Sindh, Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Bahawalpur, East Bengal, and Pakistani Armed Forces sports board. Pakistan played their first international game in London. The Pakistan Hockey Federation is the governing body for the sport of field hockey in Pakistan. It is affiliated with the International Hockey Federation. Hockey can be played on a range of surfaces, including grass, artificial turf, watered turf, and more. The game includes hitting a round hardball with large sticks. It has ten players and one goalkeeper. It became a national sport after the independence of Pakistan. Hockey is a national sport that had to be played mostly in the country but unfortunately, it is not the case. Hockey is a forgotten game in the country. Cricket is mostly selected and loved over hockey. People treat cricket as a national game instead. You can easily find people as audiences and players for cricket rather than hockey. A long-forgotten game it is now. We sometimes focus on things not so important and forget to cherish those we should. What is truly worth noting is that Pakistan is the most successful national field hockey team to date in a Hockey World Cup. The team is casually known as green shirts and called the National Hockey Stadium in Lahore as their home ground. This is also the headquarters of the Pakistan Hockey Federation, which is the governing body for both the national men’s hockey team and national women’s hockey teams. Elaborating on the above, Pakistan’s national hockey team won the Hockey World Cups in the years 1971, 1978, 1982, 1994. The green shirts have one of the best performances in the history of the Hockey World Cup and are also one of the most successful national teams in the Asian Games with a total of eight wins in 1958, 1962, 1970, 1974, 1978, 1982, 1990 and 2010.
Pakistan’s hockey team is also the only Asian team that has won the Hockey Champions Trophy not once but thrice, in 1978, 1980, and 1994. The team got the victory in Olympic Games in Rome in 1960, Mexico in 1968, and Los Angeles in 1984. The 1971 Men’s Hockey World Cup was the inaugural tournament of the Hockey World Cup men’s field hockey tournament. It was held from 15–24 October 1971. Pakistan defeated the host team with a 1–0 victory to lift the trophy.
If things stay this way, if we don’t give much importance to hockey, the coming generation would doubt that it is our national sport. The national team was forced to reckon with. Qualifying rounds were for lesser mortals and news of such lowly contests wasn’t considered worthy of being printed. Such news did not get much limelight, it was buried deep in the sports section, even now.
In 2015, Pakistan suffered a loss at hands of minnows Ireland. Pakistan failed to qualify for Olympic hockey. No initiatives are taken to revive the spirit of the game. Public support and interest are dead. It affects a number of individuals that show interest in sports. The financial aspect cannot be ignored. Hockey was never a lucrative game in Pakistan and the apathy towards the sport has made it even less so. It is sad to know there is hardly any institutional support for Pakistan’s national sport. If it stays this way, the coming generation will forget the game altogether. A rumor was spreading that a franchise-based hockey league was being introduced but it appears that the league will not take off due to financial constraints. We need to make hockey as important as a national game should be.
