By Gauhar Mahmood Azeem
Making it big in football demands not only great love for the game but also great desire, utmost effort and complete determination. Only if a person gives it his all can he become a star amongst millions who desire to do so.
Students in schools and colleges of Pakistan are football crazy. Pitches are teemed with young fellows wearing the jerseys of their football idols and playing the beautiful game. The passion with which they are seen arguing on football matters in the corridors makes their love for the game unquestionable.
So where does it go wrong? Why don’t these schools and colleges provide an unending stream of football talent, using which Pakistan can compete with the elite of world football?
The answer is in the second half of my opening statement for this article. They lack the desire, effort and determination to make it big!
And why would they have these qualities. A life of struggling to make ends meet, no mass recognition, maltreatment and all that with big a risk of injury and the sorts excites me not. All these things are part of the life of a footballer in Pakistan.
People say there is a lack of proper football academies in Pakistan who take care of the youth and that the players are not being trained properly. My argument is that even if you multiply exponentially the academies in Pakistan, a football career here will still be that attractive and no more.
Parents of talented youth would rather see their child pursue a graduation in… well anything but try to spend his life training his heart out to become a football star. After all the game in Pakistan is not professional yet, semi professional at best. And a semi effort with a mediocre motivation might make football players but never make football stars!
What we need to do is bring some money in the game for the footballer; after all he is the one doing it all out there. When Wayne Rooney earns almost Rs. 120 million a month and Muhammed Essa Rs. 40,000 there is a difference, that of cosmic proportions, we observe. This also reflects rather determines the international standings of the nations.
I don’t buy the argument that Pakistan is a poor country. If a doctor in England earns 2000 pounds a month, so do many, many Pakistani doctors. If a South African cricketer gets a central contract of 100,000 dollars an year, so does the top Pakistani cricketer.
And football has a great market. Fans in Lahore, Islamabad, Karachi and all the other big cities buy European Replica jerseys for hefty sums. We should go all out to capture a portion of that market, and that is all possible. Thus not let our money being drained out of the country rather than helping football grow and bring money to our shores from abroad.
What the big companies and sponsors in Pakistan need to realize is that the market is completely un-tapped. Even though millions and millions of people in Pakistan play and watch football, the potential has not been capitalized on. A proper management and intelligent investment will surely return benefits in the multi-fold. Geo Super Football league for example. Everyone knows the role KESC and Geo Super played in its organization.
Or we can think big, maybe on the lines of the disgraced Lalit Modi. The guy has single handily multiplied by many the pay checks of all Indian cricketers. It’s not like India doesn’t have security threats and bomb blasts. But how did he do it? He used his brain and gave it his all, that’s how!
The benefits the Pakistan Premier League can offer to a sponsor are immense as well. The system is there, organization is good and everything is ready for it to be taken to the next level.
That all being said the need of the hour is to bring money and to bring professionalism in Pakistani football. We need to reward the players, not anyone else. We need to give the players a message that if you give it your all and perform well you will have a life to envy.
Only then will parents allow their talented children to pursue football. Only then will the children fight to become stars. Only then we might have a finished article like that of Messi or Ronaldo. Only then will we have done justice to Pakistani football.
We should make adopting the game so attractive so that the question ‘to football or not to football’ is never asked again.
The argument that we have made immense progress should take a back seat even if we have, and in a lot of ways we have. But the reality is that we stand nowhere. We should all be singing ‘there is a long way to go still’ and get our heads down and work our socks off to achieve what we see elsewhere and dream about.
This is a well written article. My idea would be to expand the Geo League into 9 Months. And add atleast 4 more Teams. The Geo League should have more sponsors and thus it would have more money invested in it. It can be played in a home away system. Atleast 10 Youth Players must on a 25 Man Squad. And the Starting 11 should have 3 Youth Players. This would create a League with Pro Players and they could dedicate their lives to Football.
ur thinking is small sorry but is geo all?
geo made 7-9 crores on this league and what did they give pff and players?
first of all find honest people
gauhar tell me how much will it cost to start a 24 hours football channel? which can be aired on satellite ?
2) shown only in pakitan?
3) shown in sub-continent?
@artciles: thats the voice of Football lover. Completly agree with the point of view of my partner and he is saying because he knows the ground realities of Pakistan football as he has played in his college and school with street mates all across Lahore. now the problem is who is going to start it.
I think if we have to achieve these goals then we should make long term planing in football.
Unfortunately our PFF has not a very good role. they have not done true marketing of it and has invested money on stupid things.
@Shahrukh: Well Dear its not all about putting team in a tournament. its about prize money the more you raise the prise money the more will be demand of football and love increase and people will start doing preparation to take part in it before a year.
So whts wrong if you give 10 million to the winner of tournament and 5 millions to runners up and 1 million to each team for participating in it.
then believe me in a year you will see a great boost in this game. but you should do all this in fair terms and all matches should be boradcasted live on national nationals and Geo supers so that people come to know what the ultimate rock star are doing on football pitches of pakistan.
and one last things. Home and Away matches are the best one.
promoting football in one area is not gonna work.
the higher in PFF should realize this, if they can do premier leagues on home and away basis then why cnat they arrange 5 fucking** teams on this pattern ..
providing soccer shoes to footballers is not the way football gona run . you should feed them proper food and arrange a proper nutrition program for them and take care of them when they are back home.
and only those coaches should be given chagre of teams who have international exposure and come out of the zonal marking in defense. the world has gone way higher and we have coaches of early 50’s.
I can manage things in good way and give suggestion how you should start. but PFF should handle this effectively and efficiently by utilizing the resources properly .
and i know all this will be forgotten in a day or so :P
completely agree with zaka on the points he makes about prize money, home and away games and health programmes. ultimately it is the guys who have played the game, know the game and have passion for it who need to take the game forward!
good effort gohar
keep it up u r knocking on the heart of Authorties….
i want to raise a point that what is affect to write on FPDC nd news paper like ALI bhai.
can v put our forum and website for decision making.
can malik sb, ali shahnawaz, gohar come on the official side of PFF or ellect a person that v know he is perfect for this seat..
thank you waheed bhai, we are trying our best and at this moment malik sab and shahnawaz and ali bhai are working so hard for pakistani football, we have only joined their wagon
This is always a hot topic in Indian football forum….seems the article was copied from there…but the fact is it is very much true. I agree with the writer.
ive never visited any indian football forum, nor have any intention to do so EVER! and i guess what the fact is, the fact is!
Nicely put Gauhar!
We need to work on many facets at the same time. The best people to do it are PFF officials, Pakistan Sports Board, TV Channels, old footballers and rich football enthusiasts, etc. The multiple fronts which are needed to be addressed simultaneously include:
– Sponsorship for all domestic football events – responsibility of PFF
– Sponsorship for individual clubs (to provide good sporting gear, traveling expense, daily allowance during tournaments,… at least) – responsibility of Clubs’ executives
– Player’s nutrition (particularly young guys, at least a glass of milk + some fruits from club everyday after game) – responsibility of Clubs’ executives
– Strengthening school and college level football. It might be surprising for many people that ALMOST EVERY GOVERNMENT COLLEGE (AND EVEN SCHOOLS!) HAVE DEDICATED FOOTBALL OFFICERS! But sadly they are active mainly on papers. They get salary 12 months a year but spend only one month on football when they paste a notice on notice board, gather some young enthusiasts, let them play with a SINGLE BALL and at the end send them to inter-collegiate. That completes their duty. I strongly suggest that concerned authorities should use these officers around the year for this is their responsibility. It will certainly produce good players from our institutes – responsibility of PFF+Education Boards+Pakistan sports Board+ …
– A dedicated football TV Channel or general sports channel which could cover almost all the domestic events or at least as many as they can. – responsibility of Government, opportunity for investors, etc
– Good and low cost local football gear manufacturing company. Unfortunately Pakistanis are not available with any good local company which could provide good quality football gear with appropriate prices. 10 years back only reliable source was London-in-Lahore (Landa). I was once lucky enough to find an Adidas Beckenbauer with almost 3/4 inch spikes intact in 500 Rs. :) Now we see some chinese products in Pakistan but still market is open for someone who could capitalize it. Some companies who make gear do not know sports requirements, body ergonomics and feet dynamics to make good gear. – opportunity for business comunity
– Proper management and registration of clubs
– Prevention of Football grounds and allotment of ground to multiple clubs rather than single monopoly
Some months back, I think in June 10, I saw some activity in Punjab football stadium. Upon investigating, I came to know that there is some scrutiny going on to register all clubs in Lahore region. I happen to saw the official forms which were sent to clubs by PFF for registration purpose. It had a box to mention SPONSOR. It felt good. Better feeling was that I saw not a single form where SPONSOR was not mentioned :O
awesome! :D
bata have now made football shoes!
they are making gor the lat 3 decades!
Faisal, I think Service is making from 3 decades not Bata! BTW Bata design is good not sure about quality.
gd write in ths article.
Well said,, but to create a good player you need a coach who is atleast better than him (in coaching). whatever the Football Officer is, knows only the length of ground or the patches in a ball. while football is a game and a science. I will like to mention when i studied a few pages of the review of Robert Graham book, i found that he was unable to do graduation at Portsmouth but did and well did at Totenham. we have to raise the concept of professionalism in football by making it a full time job with good salary and prizes. as a boy complete his graduation (B.Sc or BBA e,g), he also complete his graduation in football and this require full and professional football training. than we will get our boys leaving their B.Sc or BBA to get into football profession (many athletic boys dont like to study ;-) ).
You are right Mubashar. Those Sports Officers for Football which I mentioned as Football officers are BPS-17 Grade officers in Government of Pakistan. Their qualification is a 16 year degree in sports which usually in Pakistan is MA/ MSc Physical Science/ Sports science. May be there would be some specialization in Football in last semester something, but I am not sure.
I agree that they do lack of knowledge in football matters. But during the course of their study, they learn the “spirit” of sports in good detail so they SHOULD show some deal of professionalism if they are appointed for a specific game. Almost every sports in Pakistan is administered by those sports officers. It only need enthusiasm and will to do positive work and fulfill duties honestly.
Being in Sargodha i will give you two examples from there.
1. Osama: 18 year old, represented Paki U-19 last year and has been a regular player of Azad FC for 4 year. He became more famous by scoring the only goal of University Sports Gala Final from 40 meters. I have played against him twice or thrice (he is winger and i am goalie). He told me the previous year that he has been offered by some Saudi club but i could only watch his dream move going to hell and he is doing only B.S Agriculture. i dont courage to say that his play level is decreasing but he is not improving at all.
2. Mudassar Bhai: when i entered university play ground (i fear to mention club name :-))about 4 years ago, i found a palymaking boy who was famous for passes and long range shoots. and when i will enter ground the day after tomorrow, he will be the same 4 years ago Mudassir. but the bad is he neither run for the ball nor fight for it, he only stands in the ground, ask for passes and than feed the forwards. he has not become what he ws going to be. :/)
Well every body is right in my Opinion. Actually we have to make our top management good so that they get best out of Raw footballers. every single child in any corner of world born with two legs the only problem is we have to make him better and strong.
I am not focusing on money much but the problem is its their bread and butter. if you wont give them as much they need then at the end of day they will search some other source of earning.
So by saying things and writing long articles is not the actual thing.
we have to put some good people in the top management of PFF.
now how shall we do it. you guys know better ..
that is fine idea but pff ha limitations and government help is needed to the tune of 80 crores annually.
this cost is not for infrastructure mind it.
very informative and brilliant article! learned a lot
What about Starting a Youth League?
very very nice idea. I would say one of the best ideas so far. I was center back in my club and playing eleven which won first U16 and U19 but it was not under official PFF but rather some PFO.
slam mr gaughar
can i ask that what is procedure for enterng club in pff league
and how much club is taking parts in ths league
cmplete information tel me brthr on my id.
i wil wait.
please e mail malik riaz hai naveed (chief editor of footballpakistan.com) and ali ahsan (pakistan head footballpakistan.com) at info@footballpakistan.com and ali.ahsan@footballpakistan.com and they’ll guide you proper!
Your club first and foremost needs to register itself with your local District Football Association office as well as the Provincial FA office.
That will allow you to compete in ANY official district tournaments. If you can win the district championship, then your team can take part in the inter-district provincial championships. The top teams from that provincial championships will then be invited by PFF to take part in PFF League Club Phase.
Happy footballing ;)
in our Faisalabad district two finalist team of district football league qualify for provincial.
Not sure in all District are with same pattran.
Very informative & very true………. The idea is to inject some cash flow into the Pakistan football… it has to do with the improvement of the player’s wages. And it has to be shown to the public that even football can be considered as a full-fledge career in pakistan.
The wages system has to be improved to the club levels.
I have another suggestion, Pakistani clubs should be asked to hire foreign players & should let atleast 3 foreign players in the playing 11 during the league matches. Just like the league system here in Dubai.
There are alot of good players in poor African/middle east countries or even Latin America who could travel to pakistan & play here for less money along with their transportation & accomodation arrangements.
This would strengthen the football clubs, hence attracting more crowds & creating interest all over the public.
This than also needs to be televised on atleast the National Channel, which would than attract more sponsors as well & create awareness.
thanks mr ahsan
the problem here is that politics corrupt people has ruined every thing. Pakistan have a lot of talent. The pakistan football teamcoaches should go to watch the football matches being played in different places in karachi for choosing the players to play in national team.The pakistan football team coaches should go to different academies and clubs for selecting the players for national team!..There is no proper system of scouting players. Majority of players are much passionate for football. And they love to represent their national team!….SO IF U NEED BETTER PLAYERS…REMOVE THESE CORRUPT POLITICIANS AND MAKE A GOOD SCOUTING SYSTEM!
Yeah, this is one good point. We need good scouting system for sure. Currently PFF is not getting the best what Pakistani youth can offer.
@ FootballPakistan:: why not we preapare a monthly report named “what fans say or Fans voice or other and present it to PFF on the behalf of FootballPakistan..
i have been visiting this site for more than 1 and a half year but at this time it is at full swing, might be due to Asian Games. i fear if we all dispersed again. so why not to lure the fans by memeber of the month and the post of the week like nominations. but i suggest that voice of footballpakistan is the must do thing and we can start even with November report. what you say.
mubashir thats my point too..
agreed with u.
Go on, everybody is free to contribute. We will publish it for sure. ;)
Nice to apreciated by Wahed Nagra and he Admin as i am also from Fsd. Thanx
Thanks Gauhar for dropping by my article on Bleacher Report. Appreciate that.
” Why don’t these schools and colleges provide an unending stream of football talent, using which Pakistan can compete with the elite of world football?” <—- See this is the problem, and I think that solution lies there.
Mostly, in foreign countries, they start playing and join academies in their tender ages. Ajax have their set-up where children are sent to learn football right at the age group of 4-6. That's bloody awesome, eh? And mostly, most of those children retire from playing when they are 16!
If, we carve out some stage or provide a platform for the young generation to excel in this sport and promote the values with some mammoth advertising and video archives of some greats of the game (I don't mean Cristiano Ronaldo or Messi here but I mean the true greats like Cruijff, Maradona, Pele, Beckenbauer, Lev Yashin, Franco Baresi) then it's obvious, at least seems to me, that those feeble minds of children will take the influence and will opt for this sport.
If, when they get out of their homes and see others playing cricket then they do the same when they grow up. But if we give them some inspiration right out of this game then I am sure there will be some improvements.
Liked the post mate, Cheers. Keep it up.
We all can make some difference. (At least that's what we can do with our write-ups for now)
thanks for the comment mate, agreed and well put, we have gotta work for that! and yes the ajax model is one to follow!