Beyond the turfs: Why Holland is hockey's home thenews.pk

T here is a particular photograph that hangs behind Tayyab Ikram in his office in Lausanne - or in this case, taped to a white cupboard in a temporary media centre in Amstelveen. It shows a women's team lifting a trophy, CHAMPIONS, FIH Pro League 2023-24. It is a reminder of where hockey has reached. And for Pakistan, a reminder of where it once was. A group of journalists met Tayyab Ikram, the Pakistani who now heads world hockey as FIH President, a day after the Government of Pakistan announced the Tamgha-e-Imtiaz for him. The man who has spent three decades in blazers and boardrooms still folds his hands and says 'Bismillah' before answering. 'This Tamgha-e-Imtiaz is a very, very big honour for me,' he says, his voice measured. 'I thank the Government, the Prime Minister and the President. For me, it is not a full stop, it is motivation. The work has not stopped. We have to take it further.' It is an important line. Pakistani sport has a habit of celebrating awards and forgetting the work that earned them. Ikram is clear he doesn't want that. We are in Holland and Belgium, co-hosts of the World Cup. If you have never been to a World Cup here, you will not understand what Ikram calls 'the second home of hockey'. It is not the stadium. It is what is around the stadium. 'Go outside,' he tells us. 'You will see 15 small turfs around the main ground. Five-year-old children with sticks bigger than them. Parents who have come straight from office to coach them, and then stay to play veterans hockey themselves at 9 pm. An average Dutch family spends four days a week in hockey. This is not a sport here. This is a family commitment.' He pauses. 'This engagement - 5 to 10 thousand sponsors, partners, families coming daily to the venue - you will not see anywhere else in the world. We give money to players. Here they give time. That is the difference.' The conversation inevitably moves to the match everyone was talking about - India vs Pakistan at the World Cup. In a World Cup struggling for neutral crowds, the India-Pakistan game was sold out. The stadium was full. Ikram, the administrator, immediately calls it what it is: a property. 'India-Pakistan is a very important property. For both countries, for Asia, for global hockey. When they play, it is a different demonstration of skills, a traditional rivalry. Viewership, media, broadcast - everything gets engaged. Like cricket, it benefits hockey financially and in viewership.' The message is subtle but clear to the two boards: Play more. And then, the question that every Pakistani fan asks - the League. Pakistan is perhaps the last major hockey nation without a professional league. India has HIL, Belgium and Holland have thriving club leagues. We have announcements. Ikram is diplomatic but firm. 'League is not just something for show,' he says. 'Its advantages are many. Our local players get to play in an international environment. You showcase them with professional broadcast. You give them a platform.' 'For people who have not been able to see hockey in Pakistan for a long time, this is a chance to bring them closer. To revive hockey. There is no such thing as being late. A thing only succeeds when you start it.' It is perhaps the most important line of the interview. As we walk out of the media centre, we see what Ikram was talking about. It is 7 pm. Under floodlights, a father is tying his daughter's shoelaces on Turf 7. She can't be more than six. He is wearing an office shirt. On Turf 8, a group of 60-year-olds are playing a veterans game, laughing. No one is paying them. No government is supporting them. They are there because hockey is important. That is the lesson Ikram wants Pakistan to take home - more than any trophy, more than any Tamgha.