What’s this hype about Pakistani footballs?
The story of Pakistani footballs should have an impact on the Pakistan Football Federation or corporate sponsors.
Muneer Ahmed, a U16 football player has one thing in common with his idol, the Brazilian player Neymar: he is playing with a replica of the World Cup 2014 football that Pakistan will be sending to Brazil this year.
That Pakistan-made footballs being used in the Fifa World Cup 2014 is a good thing, but it’s not good enough. Though one might feel a diminished degree of joy upon seeing the world’s top players roll the ‘made in Pakistan’ balls, it’s just a sad state of affairs for football as a sport in Pakistan.
Players like Ahmed should have been at the World Cup, representing Pakistan, or at least that is my wishful thinking as a reporter who regularly gets to witness skills and talent in local players.
Saying that we have potential is like telling a child that the sky is blue. We are a nation of an estimated 182,589,000 people: of course there is potential! But so far, we haven’t qualified for the football World Cup since 1947. This small fact is enough to understand why sending footballs to the World Cup is just a secondary achievement. It’s like we have the hardware, but we don’t have the required software to run the machine. For local football fans, it is actually all the same.
The story of Pakistani footballs should have an impact on the Pakistan Football Federation or corporate sponsors. They should put money in local clubs and make academies. Today, there is no academy regulated by the Pakistan Football Federation in the country. There are independent clubs working in their own capacity, but they do not have the potential or resources to send the talent abroad or even to the national team. And somehow, it is this gap that is keeping the national team from getting more talent; keeping the national team from including players who can win international tournaments.
Football has seeped into our culture more than ever. Most teenagers that I see or know are more interested in football than in cricket. Why can’t we have a better team or opportunities for players like Muneer when there is a market for football in Pakistan?
I covered the Street Child World Cup 2014, and the team’s success, even for winning a bronze at an international tournament, meant a great deal, despite the fact that none of these players were trained professionally. There are sporadic achievements besides this, but we still don’t have any significant international achievement in the sport.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 28th, 2014.
That Pakistan-made footballs being used in the Fifa World Cup 2014 is a good thing, but it’s not good enough. Though one might feel a diminished degree of joy upon seeing the world’s top players roll the ‘made in Pakistan’ balls, it’s just a sad state of affairs for football as a sport in Pakistan.
Players like Ahmed should have been at the World Cup, representing Pakistan, or at least that is my wishful thinking as a reporter who regularly gets to witness skills and talent in local players.
Saying that we have potential is like telling a child that the sky is blue. We are a nation of an estimated 182,589,000 people: of course there is potential! But so far, we haven’t qualified for the football World Cup since 1947. This small fact is enough to understand why sending footballs to the World Cup is just a secondary achievement. It’s like we have the hardware, but we don’t have the required software to run the machine. For local football fans, it is actually all the same.
The story of Pakistani footballs should have an impact on the Pakistan Football Federation or corporate sponsors. They should put money in local clubs and make academies. Today, there is no academy regulated by the Pakistan Football Federation in the country. There are independent clubs working in their own capacity, but they do not have the potential or resources to send the talent abroad or even to the national team. And somehow, it is this gap that is keeping the national team from getting more talent; keeping the national team from including players who can win international tournaments.
Football has seeped into our culture more than ever. Most teenagers that I see or know are more interested in football than in cricket. Why can’t we have a better team or opportunities for players like Muneer when there is a market for football in Pakistan?
I covered the Street Child World Cup 2014, and the team’s success, even for winning a bronze at an international tournament, meant a great deal, despite the fact that none of these players were trained professionally. There are sporadic achievements besides this, but we still don’t have any significant international achievement in the sport.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 28th, 2014.