Log In | Register
Football – the beautiful game – has remained a truly global sport for decades. While it often depicts regional competitiveness, it has the capacity of uniting the whole world – even it is only for 90 minutes.
From the broken down alleys of the African and South American slums, to the state-of-the-art gigantic arenas of Western Europe – it is a multi-billion-dollar-a-year industry and the heartbeat of sports fans across the world.
Pakistan is no different. This country also shares a colourful, albeit underachieving, football history. Often regarded as the 'poor man's sport', it is strange how despite football's simplicity and widespread appeal among the masses across the country, the game has failed to reach the same heights as hockey and cricket.
It is not strange to ask a common Pakistani about the national football team and receive a blank stare and a shrug in return. They cannot be blamed given how football has been an obscure sport that not many seem to care about.
A history of football in Pakistan Part I | Sport | DAWN.COM
Article Source: Dawn News- Enjoy this article? Help vote it up the 'Vine.
- Public Discussion (2)
Humble origins
For a game that was introduced to South Asia in the mid-19th Century as a morale-raising exercise for British troops during the British Raj, its simplicity and grace started capturing the imagination of the inhabitants of the Subcontinent. So profound were its effects on British India that 3rd the oldest running football competition, after the English FA Cup and Scottish FA Cup, is the Durand Cup that is still contested annually in India ever since its inauguration in 1888. Initially an annual competition involving the various British regiments based across India, it slowly started allowing local teams, especially from the Bengal region, to take part. Soon in early 20th Century, there were local football leagues centred on Calcutta (Kolkata) and Dacca (Dhaka) that gave the rise of teams like Mohammedan Sporting Club (its branches based across various Bangladeshi cities), Mohun Bagan, and East Bengal. South India, specifically Goa because of its Portuguese influence, also took up the game and established own local competitions.
- 1 vote
#1 - Thu Dec 23, 2010 7:44 PM ESTInstead of seeding part 2, I'll add the link here.
http://www.dawn.com/2010/12/15/a-history-of-football-in-pakistan-%e2%80%94-part-ii.html
The first part of this series highlighted the humble beginnings and background of football in Pakistan, and how it emerged in the fledging Asian football circuit with limited finances but a steady supply of talented players. It was an era that held a lot of promise for the future of the game but the circumstances did not allow for Pakistani footballers to realise their true potential. Lack of professionalism, dedicated football clubs, league competitions, sponsors and media coverage meant the game needed a lot of improvement. Cricket and hockey dominated the sporting headlines, while football attempted to make an impact.
Asian football was also quite inconsistent and while healthy competitions (Asian Games and Asian Cup) were held, it was mainly the financially sound teams, who managed to make foreign tours. The action was often restricted to East Asia and sometimes Iran. The rest of the Middle East was still considered a backwater for football, while South Asia, despite its much deep-rooted football history, was slowly coming to terms with the steady progress being made in Asian football.
Failure to qualify for the 1960 AFC Asian Cup was the first of many ups and downs Pakistani football would face as it entered arguably its ‘golden era’ of the 1960s.
1960s: The golden age
Sport in Pakistan made a spectacular start to the sixties as the hockey team won its first Olympic gold when it broke the Indian juggernaut with a 1–0 win at the Rome Olympics. Cricket was slowly capturing the imaginations of the public through radio commentary about the exploits of Hanif Mohammad, Fazal Mahmood, Javed Burki and others. Squash saw the rise of the Khan dynasty as Roshan Khan and Hashim Khan put their opponents to the sword in the British Open.
- 1 vote
You're in Easy Mode. If you prefer, you can use XHTML Mode instead. |
