ISLAMABAD-Former Pakistan hockey team captain Shakeel Abbasi Wednesday accuses federation of giving him and other senior players step-motherly treatment and deliberately keeping them away from serving the green shirts.
Talking to The Nation, he said he was in top form during his stint in England’s Hockey Premier League in Birmingham where he finished with 14 goals in five matches and finished as top scorer but the PHF ignored him gain.
He said he also excelled in Bangladesh League and scored 9 goals in 11 matches and was working very hard on his fitness levels. “I am fully fit and playing at the top of my game and enjoying hockey as much as I enjoyed when I played three Olympics for Pakistan.”
Shakeel said Pakistan hockey needs aggression, right people, fresh ideas and determination if it wants to excel again in the game.
He said the days of school, college hockey have been numbered and now if we want to excel and go to the top, we should start investing on leagues just like India and other hockey-playing nations.
“Unfortunately, Pakistan started the international hockey league in 2005 when Brig Musarrat took the initiative and top players from India participated in that inaugural league. But after that, the idea was dropped. If Pakistan had continued this trend, today green shirts would have been world’s best hockey playing team. Pakistan was the one, who started league hockey but nobody followed. People like Sardar Naveed had worked very devotedly to make that league a super success.”
He said that he along with Irfan, Kashif, Shafqat Rasool, Tauseeq and other players were playing international leagues world over. “International leagues don’t offer contracts to unfit players. It shows we are playing at the highest level that’s why world leagues are hiring us. In top hockey playing nations, senior players are kept with the team to groom youngsters. Despite playing number of international tournaments for Pakistan we had learnt nothing from coaches. All we had learnt is playing alongside senior players as coaches can’t transform junior players and senior players presence is a must to groom young talent.”
Shakeel admired federation for providing jobs to youngsters as departments always play key role in promotion of sports and hockey was given huge boost by the departments. He suggested that rather focusing on school, club or district level hockey, the federation must work on revival of hockey at departmental level.
Giving his own example, Shakeel said he could not ask youngsters to chose hockey as career as despite representing country at numerous international top events he was jobless for the last two years. “My department SSGC terminated me from services as I went abroad for playing international leagues, which I was doing for last 10 years as only one tournament is held every year. I represented my department in those tournaments. Despite that I had tendered apology and requested the SSGC management to restore me keeping in mind my services for the department and country. But despite running from post to pillar and assurances from different quarters, noting was done for me. It is highly injustice for players like me, who had given their entire lives to hockey.” He also requested IPC Minister, prime minister and SSGC top management to have mercy on him and restore him on his job and assured that he would be extra careful next time.