New Indian Express: Coach Turns Player Ifs and Butt Pivotal

The 35-year-old Rehan Butt had not played a single game since he hung up his boot four years ago, after the London Olympics. The once-feared Pakistan forward had been focusing on coaching the side and was assigned the role of assisting Saqlain Muhammed, the main coach, during their trip to India for the SAG.

But the Lahore man finally ended up playing for his side after Indian government refused accreditation for Samiullah, another forward, who was in the Pakistan’s scheme of things.

As per rules a side has to line-up 16 players for a match and out of that 11 will be in the playing team. With Samiullah unable to join, Saqlain was left with no other choice than ask Rehan to take the field. Finally, Rehan ended up playing in the first-11 in patches as he was physically not prepared to play throughout the time.
Having abstained from even domestic events, Butt was not in the peak of physical fitness, but the experienced striker ably orchestrated the attack much to the satisfaction of the coach.

“I made him play in patches because he is right now not in a condition to play full time. But whenever he played, he was making a positive difference,” Saqlain said.

Rehan was also impressed with his first outing in four years and said that he will perform in the coming games here as well since they don’t have a replacement. “If I knew I had to play, I would’ve prepared much better,” he said. Rehan added he decided to take the field here because he loved playing against India. “Whenever India and Pakistan play, we see quality hockey and that’s why I wanted to play this game,” Rehan said.

Neighbours Bat for Regular Exchange

When asked about his opinion on the decision of Hockey India to ignore Pak players in HIL, Saqlain said more games need to be played between the sides. “We need more hockey between the two countries. When the players interact with each other more, they will develop a bond and trust. What we need at this time is peace between both the countries. Hockey can bring that.”

He said that the players need to keep their cool while playing in high-voltage games. Celebration and gestures should be within the allowed limits, he said in a vague remark to the incident that happened between the two countries in Bhubaneswar last year.