Hockey wins first Olympics medal for Pakistan in 1956
By Ijaz Chaudhry
Before Pakistan’s birth in 1947, the united British India team had won three consecutive Olympic Games hockey gold medals – Amsterdam 1928, Los Angeles 1932 and Berlin 1936. And the Muslim players constituted a significant proportion of all these teams from India. So it was natural that the new nation of Pakistan expected an Indo-Pakistan final in the first post-partition Olympiad in London in 1948. But what to say about gold or silver, the Pakistan side failed to land even a bronze medal, finishing fourth in fact. And four years later, in the 1952 Olympics in Helsinki, Pakistan again ended at the fourth spot. Naturally, there was dejection at home over the second consecutive failure to mount the podium as medal winners.
The people’s anger was further fuelled by skipper Niaz Khan’s statement. Niaz blamed the ‘biased selection’ for the poor performance. He also accused manager Baseer Sheikh to force the team members play with sticks and shoes they were not accustomed to and which hindered their natural play. Baseer also retaliated. Eventually, a five-member committee headed by a senior civil servant Mian Riazuddin – himself a former Punjab University hockey player of distinction – was formed by the Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF). The other four members were all former All India Olympians: Feroze Khan, SM Yousuf, Mohammad Hussain and Ali Iqtidar Shah (AIS) Dara. The last named also captained Pakistan in the year 1948.
This committee took many months to complete its inquiry and by and large endorsed the allegations levelled by Niaz and some other senior players. They found that the selection committee comprised of representatives of all the affiliated units of the PHF. Many of them were even ignorant of the rules of the game! Their only concern was to get players from their own units selected. Then, players were forced to use hockey sticks made of sandal wood rather than their original sticks and that too just prior to the team’s departure for Finland. Likewise, the players were made to put on ‘stud’ shoes instead of fleet shoes. And even they were bought in England, a few days before the Olympiad itself! When during one match, legendary left-in Aziz Malik changed his shoes, manager Baseer forced him to revert to the stud shoes.
On the other hand, the victorious Indian team used the same fleet shoes they’d been using for some time. In addition, the captain’s opinion about team selection was not given any weight at all on the tour. In light of the recommendations of the Mian Riazuddin committee, many positive steps were taken:
1: Instead of the selection committee formed of’ ‘quota’ representatives of all the affiliated units, a new selection committee should be formed which comprises reputed former players only.
2: There will be no undue pressure on players. They can use sticks and shoes of their own choice.
3: The captain’s power and authority was increased.
4: To increase the base of players a lot of tournaments were to be organised in all the provinces under the supervision of provincial tournament committees.
As a result, more than 60 players were chosen in the first phase. Their number was reduced in phases to about 23 players from which the final 18 were to be selected. Mian Riazuddin, the secretary of the PHF, was named the manager. He did not want to become manager since he himself had recommended in the inquiry report that the secretary should not be the manager. But on the PHF president Mushtaq Ahmed Gurmani’s insistence, he reluctantly accepted. AIS Dara was appointed the coach.
The training of the team was conducted in a manner that the team not only developed the much wanted team spirit but was also physically very fit and highly disciplined. For this the credit was mainly due to the skipper Abdul Hameed Hamidi. Being an army officer himself, he first imposed discipline upon himself. Similarly, under his command the team’s fitness was brought to a level where it could play the full 70 minutes at full speed.
Only six persons from the 1952 squad were able to retain their places. So, it was the best-prepared side to leave the country’s shores till then and it did not disappoint the nation. After beating Belgium 2-0 and crushing New Zealand 5-1 they were assured of a berth in the semi-finals.
So, in the last pool match against the rough West Germany outfit, they were instructed to avoid injuries and the match ended as a goalless draw.
In the semi-final, Pakistan faced Great Britain. The Pakistanis were under great pressure as they had lost to them on the both previous occasions – the semi-final in London in 1948 and the bronze medal playoff in Helsinki in 1952. But this time they were better prepared and finally beat their past Colonial masters by a 3-2 margin. Manzoor Hussain Atif, via a penalty corner, Habib-ur-Rehman though a penalty bully and Naseer Bunda were their three scorers.
From the other end, as usual, India reached the final. An epic battle was expected. The huge Melbourne Cricket Ground was jam-packed. It is generally believed to be the largest crowd for a hockey match outside the sub-continent. But Pakistan had a double scare even before the start of the match. First, left full-back Akhtar Hussain informed the management that he had some trouble with his thigh muscle. He was replaced by 19 years old Munir Dar who thus made his maiden appearance in international hockey. Munir played in the right full-back position while the right full-back Atif shifted to the left full-back place. Then Habib Ali Kiddie – perhaps the greatest left-half to play for Pakistan – complained about his calf muscle. Qazi Musarrat was inducted in his place. And the fact that both replacements played outstandingly depicted the team’s bench strength.
India scored the lone goal of the match through a penalty corner. It was a controversial goal as Pakistan had not even lined up on the goal line when the hit was taken and even Randhir Singh Gentle’s hit was not legitimate as it struck the net instead of the board. In those days, instead of the present day penalty stroke, the penalty bully used to be taken. Pakistan got one such opportunity and it was taken by center-forward Habib-ur-Rehman. But it was cleared by India defender Amir Chand Kumar.
According to many observers, Kumar had used the back stick and, going by the rules, a goal should have been awarded to Pakistan. However, Pakistan had fully arrived and it appeared capable of ending India’s long tenure at the throne any time. And the nation had got its first Olympic Games medal of any colour, a silver, in any sport.
Pakistan team: Goalkeepers: Qazi Waheed and Zakir Hussain. Full-backs: Akhtar Hussain, Manzoor Hussain Atif and Munir Dar. Half-backs: Ghulam Rasool Chaudhry, Anwaar Ahmed Khan, Habib Ali Kiddie, Qazi Musarrat Hussain, Aziz Naik. Forwards: Noor Alam, Abdul Hameed Hamidi, Habib-ur-Rehman, Naseer Bunda, Latif-ur-Rehman, Raja Mohammad Amin, Zafar Ali Zafari and Mutiullah. Captain: Abdul Hameed Hamidi. Manager: Mian Riazuddin. Coach: Ali Iqtidar Shah Dara.
Scorers for Pakistan: Abdul Hameed Hamidi (3), Naseer Bunda (3), Habib-ur-Rehman (2), Manzoor Hussain Atif (1), Mutiullah (1). Goals for 10 and goals against 4.
Team positions:
1: India
2: Pakistan
3: West Germany
4: Great Britain
5: Malaya
6: Australia
7: New Zealand
8: Kenya
9: Belgium
10: United States of America
11: Afghanistan
12: Singapore.