Without foundations hockey in Pakistan will continue to fail
Will FIH Pro League participation lead to success for Pakistan? I doubt it...
After several years away from the world’s podium Pakistan was invited back into the fold of the Pro League by the FIH. Not because of any merit on the field. Main reasons are first and foremost financial and secondly emotional. I get it. Both make sense, even if as a true sports lover, you would say they have not earned their spot.
Even before they finally did accept the invitation to rejoin the FIH Pro League it was already clear Pakistan was and is not ready for sustained success. We have never seen anything remotely close to a plan for sustained successful domestic and international hockey. Never mind the successful execution of any plan. It’s still about politics, power-moves, blatant corruption and poor management it seems.
I know I should not be comparing the Pakistan to European or other successful set ups too much. On the other hand, you would expect people to learn lessons from what does work elsewhere… if the goal is to grow hockey.
But even from inside Pakistan they knew this renewed attempt is bound to fail. Pakistani media announced the attack from the Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) on the administrators from the Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF).
A short summary of the allegations made by the PSB vs the PHF administrators:
Failure to Hold Elections: The PHF President has not made any progress on conducting federation elections, despite this being the fundamental mandate of his ad-hoc appointment over a year and a half ago. The PSB considers this a breach of trust.
Financial Opacity and Unauthorized Accounts:
The PHF has failed to act on a PSB inquiry report regarding an unauthorized bank account and has not provided its details.
It has not submitted certified bank statements for its accounts, despite receiving nearly Rs 120 million from the government.
The federation has not disclosed its total income, including rental income from national assets like the Abdul Sattar Edhi Hockey Stadium.
Improper Use of Funds:
The PSB alleges that office bearers are receiving “unauthorized perks” and that funds have been used for “inadmissible and administrative expenditures”.
While funds are being used for these administrative costs, players’ daily allowances remain unpaid.
The federation has been asked to justify its tour expenditures and the costs associated with establishing an “unauthorized office” in Islamabad.
The PSB’s letter asserts that sports federations are public bodies and that all funds, whether from the government or corporate sponsors, are public money requiring full transparency and accountability. And all of this was even before the PHF went ahead and jumped on the costly Pro League train again. Unprepared, without a plan and without the people able to make sure mistakes would be avoided beforehand this time. So some weeks ago we saw the Pakistani team kicked out of their hotel in Australia for unpaid bills and when their captain blew the whistle he got a two year suspension from his PHF, the coach and yet another administrator were fired. A new administrator steps in, contacts a new foreign coach and within days is replaced by yet another administrator who appoints a new Pakistani head coach without any serious credentials. And the circus starts again…
From a European perspective I’m inclined to say: “What’s new?” In my opinion there are two reasons for the decline of Pakistan hockey, both domestic and international.
One, the political instability of a country which is at “war”. Maybe the country should be focusing on other priorities right now?
Two, the glaring corruption of the administrators who, in a country where accountability is not a priority, get away with deflecting governmental funds instead of using it for the development of the sport
Both reasons are obviously intertwined.
Just like any serious hockey fan from all over the world I would love to welcome Pakistan back on the international scene. The derbies between them and their neighbour India are spectacular. Not the best hockey, but often the best show. However, you can not start building a new house if the foundations are not good.
As always there are many solutions possible to get out of this situation. None of these are an instant fix. All of these will take at least a decade to grow sustainable roots for an enduring solution.
Because I think we all agree, the quality of players is there. The love for the sport from fans is there. The trust in the administrators is not.
My solution? Build the foundations for your house first…
Step 1
The PHF should get new leadership:
A CEO from a successful hockey nation, with an assistant from Pakistan.
A CFO from outside of Pakistan, with an assistant from Pakistan.
A CSO (Chief Sports Officer) from a successful hockey nation outside of Asia, with an assistant from Pakistan.
All of these people should get a mandate for 8 years. After 8 years the Pakistani assistants take the lead and get new international mentors to help them settle in their role and prepare for the next generation of Pakistani officials to take the reins for step 3: an independent PHF ruling over a healthy hockey sport.
The Pakistani government provides the funds for a minimum of 12 years after agreeing upon the budget proposed by these administrators. The CFO transfers the full amount of this to a third party outside of Pakistan. The third party has no ties to the sport or to the institutions running the sport. It should be a notary or one of the major law firms or auditors. Their only role is to safeguard the funds and pay out these funds according to contracts and agreed verifiable specifications. Before the start of year 4 the administrators would hand in a new budget proposal for the next 4 years and once agreed upon by the government they provide the extra funds needed and these are transferred to the third party mentioned above again. Same thing for the 8 year mark. The CFO makes sure all budgets are spent according to agreement and reports on this.
Step 2
The budget should allow for the following set up as a minimum. If we take a look at this from a top down perspective it should look something like this:
Two national team programs: men and women. Each with a large team of 50 players in the program with 4 year contracts. From these 50 a core team of 30 is selected every two years to prepare for either Olympics or World Cup. From these 30 a selection 20 is announced in the lead up to every major event. The 50 players all get the same base salary every month. All selections are 100% at the discretion of the head coach and his/her coaching staff with only an advisory role from the CSO. The core team of 30 get a bonus every month on top of that. The 20 in an event selection get an additional bonus on top every month. Coaching staff includes a foreign head coach, two foreign assistants and a foreign S&C coach. For every foreign coach the CSO provides two Pakistani assistants. All of them have 4 year contracts, renegotiated before the end of year 3. All of them paid directly by the independent 3rd party managing the funds.
In order to select the 50 in the national team program you need a domestic top league with at least 250 semi pro players for each program, men and women. These players and their coaching staff are all at least semi pro, meaning they get paid a sufficient amount to compensate for their time spent on the sport but they do have the freedom and possibilities to pursue other careers or studies as well. Similar to the national team programs, contracts should go for 4 years. These players should play in a domestic league that allows them to train at least a few times per week for a minimum of 30 weeks every year with at least 25 high level competitive games every season.
In order to feed the domestic top league you need an U18 domestic top competition for both men and women with each at least 250 players and adequate coaching staff and below that the same for U16. So that is 500 youth players for both boys and girls playing and training in a controlled high level environment. In a western country we would expect the parents to cover the costs of these leagues. In Pakistan I guess it should be funded to a degree as well by the PHF and therefore according to the same regulations as the above leagues to prevent further corruption and loss of funds.
I believe this is the only way for a country like Pakistan to return to hockey glory in a sustainable and healthy way.
But yeah… I fully understand this is from a western, a European perspective. The Asian perspective might be a different one. That said, I do believe the countries that lead the way in a healthy growing sport of hockey are the European countries I know best: the Netherlands and Belgium. Some others in Europe or also Australia, the UK and Argentina for example have done similar set ups in their own way with success as well. So, while I do recognize there might be different paths to a healthy hockey sport in different cultures. I know for a fact the above would work.
I think most hockey fans from around the world would agree: we all would love to see Pakistan return to hockey glory. I think it would be good for our sport from a global perspective. But today it does not seem likely. If you build a house without foundation, it will fall apart… Let’s hope I’m wrong ;)