Focus on Football now, Please !!!

[Winchester]

This is a good time for this thread as the wounds of World Cup are fresh.

Pakistan missed out on a semi-final berth in the cricket World Cup. This means Pakistan is outside the top 4.

Pakistan is outside the top 4 in a sport which is the number 1 sport in just 4 countries i.e. Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and India.

In Australia, England, South Africa, New Zealand and the Carribbean Countries, Cricket takes a back seat to other sports and is not followed passionately.

There is one other point and an important one. Your principal enemy has a stranglehold on the sports financially. The next two major Cricket tournaments are going to be held there. That country tried but failed to get you banned from that tournament. It doesn't mean it won't be successful next time. India is 80% of ICCs finances and its clout is going to increase over the next few years particularly with touts like Bangladesh and Afghanistan.

Your whole emotional attachment is to a single sport which is financially controlled by your enemy and is not a true world-wide sports.

National sport teams are there to project a soft image of your country as well as give your country name recognition. The most popular sport by far is football. It is also far outside India's influence.

And most importantly, it is a sport followed widely in Pakistan. Everyone knows who Ronaldo is and who Messi is. It is a sport now played widely too.

The foundation is there, a bit of government support and a few academies and it won't take long for football to take off.

Not saying Kirkut should be replaced but for a country of 200 million , its embarassing to just be good at cricket and that too just good enough to be in the 5th position out of 10.

 

[CHACHA"G"]

Wining and losing part of the game …… We have to work on our sports industry (Yes we have to treat sports as industry)…. We need to focus on Football , hockey and many more games …. We have to make sure we have proper infrastructure installed for all the games .. And we invest proper money to get better result (players need education , health facilities , gyms , fitness centers ,coaches , trainers , eqm , etc)

 

[Wikki019]

Agreed we should focus on all big support. At least fire that Faisal saleh hayat.

 

[Chhatrapati]

If it was that easy then China would be leading it. They tried making it popular by building a lot of 'Ghost' stadiums. Buying out expensive players to play Chinese leagues etc... But the people don't seem to be much interested in it.

Similarly, we have ISL a football league with foreign players that has viewership more than EPL. But meh! our football is dismal ranked at 100 or so.

You can't change people, you need to sell the idea of football to a generation where cricket is strong then only you can expect results, it may even take decades.

 

[jericho]

India is 80% of ICCs finances and its clout is going to increase over the next few years particularly with touts like Bangladesh and Afghanistan.

not sure how you came up with 80%?

As for the main point of your post, I agree that we need diversification, and in some cases, revival (squash and hockey)

 

[Hareeb]

Totally agreed. Just today a young Pakistani female footballer completed a hat-trick of Guinness World Records.
Link:

Hajra Khan breaks world records to highlight inequality in Pakistan
By natasha raheel
Jul.03,2019

Women's football captain demands opportunity and respect for female athletes in country
KARACHI: Pakistan women’s captain Hajra Khan was on a mission at the Equal Playing Field (EPL) initiative in France.

While the EPF Initiative has been to include girls from all over the world to celebrate the sport and giving the opportunity, Hajra’s second time at the Guinness World Record event with them was more about voicing what she had been through as a Pakistani female footballer throughout her career.

Hajra was also featured last year at the Dead Sea for the world record of the highest and lowest altitude matches played.

This time, it was beyond her, and maybe beyond the world record itself, but an achievement she hopes can inspire more girls in the country to pick up football, pick their battles and go for their dreams.

The EPF made the world record for the most players to play in five-a-side match that went on for 69 hours starting from June 28 to July 1, with 807 players participating in it, in the five-a-side match, while the final score between Team Blue and Team Red was 404-369, according to EPF social media update.

For Pakistan, Hajra made her country proud scoring twice, playing for three hours in the field to make sure she is among the women who are motivated and determined to change the world through football.

She participated in the second record attempt to have an 11-a-side match with the most nationalities, there were 54 in Lyon. There too, she scored two more goals.

“It’s not about breaking
world records and scoring goals. It’s about why I do it. For Pakistan — for inequality in sport,” the 25-year-old captain told The Express Tribune, who had been seeing discrimination from the Pakistan Football Federation’s administration since 2017, for simply asking for better treatment, equal opportunities for women footballers in the country and for the national team.
Pakistan women’s team last played in 2014 in the South Asian Football Federation Women’s championship in Islamabad, and since then, the PFF never prioritised women’s game, or tried to uplift the already existing structure for women footballers, that is, only having one tournament, a national championship which would last for only a week.

Similarly the women footballers would be paid less than their male counterparts, albeit never getting the same opportunities to play as men.

The women’s football has always been a formality for the PFF.

“[I played] for the $2 we get paid at the national camp, it’s plea for opportunity and respect. It’s about getting more and more girls in Pakistan to play,” said Hajra.

The EPF initiative took place around the same time as the on-going Fifa Women’s World Cup to celebrate the sport and raise the issues that women face.

 

[masterchief_mirza]

This is a good time for this thread as the wounds of World Cup are fresh.

Pakistan missed out on a semi-final berth in the cricket World Cup. This means Pakistan is outside the top 4.

Pakistan is outside the top 4 in a sport which is the number 1 sport in just 4 countries i.e. Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and India.

In Australia, England, South Africa, New Zealand and the Carribbean Countries, Cricket takes a back seat to other sports and is not followed passionately.

There is one other point and an important one. Your principal enemy has a stranglehold on the sports financially. The next two major Cricket tournaments are going to be held there. That country tried but failed to get you banned from that tournament. It doesn't mean it won't be successful next time. India is 80% of ICCs finances and its clout is going to increase over the next few years particularly with touts like Bangladesh and Afghanistan.

Your whole emotional attachment is to a single sport which is financially controlled by your enemy and is not a true world-wide sports.

National sport teams are there to project a soft image of your country as well as give your country name recognition. The most popular sport by far is football. It is also far outside India's influence.

And most importantly, it is a sport followed widely in Pakistan. Everyone knows who Ronaldo is and who Messi is. It is a sport now played widely too.

The foundation is there, a bit of government support and a few academies and it won't take long for football to take off.

Not saying Kirkut should be replaced but for a country of 200 million , its embarassing to just be good at cricket and that too just good enough to be in the 5th position out of 10.

Agreed with much of your post. But cricket does not take a "back seat" in those countries you mentioned; rather it is one of several sports that they maintain focus in. No reason why Pak can't reinvigorate hockey and squash, and also make concerted efforts to build up a new sport (I.e. football), but also retain its traditional place as a mature cricketing nation.

 

[Gangetic]

Football's good because of the large viewership worldwide.

Pakistan, especially Sialkot produces most of the world's footballs (50%+ for the city), so why don't they donate some footballs to kids so Pak football culture rises?

 

[Asian.Century]

Actually you are true after seeing match fixing in ICC Worldcup, it left everybody disgruntled. ICC has become the most corrupt organisation.

As far as Football, last 10 years in Pakistan almost every young teenage Pakistani is interested in playing Football, and more and more young boys are leaving cricket to play football - Football grounds have increased from 10s to 100s in Lahore City alone...with every cricket ground is a football ground and as predicted Cricket will vanish from Pakistan by 2025 itself.

 

[Syed1.]

First need to get rid of Faisal Saleh Hayat....

 

[newb3e]

First need to get rid of Faisal Saleh Hayat....

why is faisal saleh hayat still a thing!

 

[thunderkaka]

I wish to see Pakistani soccer team in FIFA World Cup one day.

 

[newb3e]

Actually you are true after seeing match fixing in ICC Worldcup, it left everybody disgruntled. ICC has become the most corrupt organisation.

As far as Football, last 10 years in Pakistan almost every young teenage Pakistani is interested in playing Football, and more and more young boys are leaving cricket to play football - Football grounds have increased from 10s to 100s in Lahore City alone...with every cricket ground is a football ground and as predicted Cricket will vanish from Pakistan by 2025 itself.

icc has destroyed cricket cricket should be renamed like wwe did its entertainment now more than a sports of skill!

 

[888jamie888]

Laudable but easier said than done. Loads of countries pump money into football and very few are successful.
It's bizarre how China, with such huge resources and population, are absolutely terrible.
But then Brazil produce amazing players fresh from the favelas. I think culture plays a huge part and it'll take a while for that to change.

 

[Death Professor]

Foot ball, Boxing, MMA, hockey, Tennis, Olympic sports and also e-sports. Please ffs, stop with this mad fascination for a single sport. Now this sport is controlled and managed by BCCI under a sham veil of ICC. It's time we give other sports some much deserved love.