Remembering Brig. Atif and His Services for Pakistan Hockey
By Asif Javed, MD
Williamsport, Pennsylvania
If the history of sports in Pakistan is ever written, it is almost impossible not to have Brig. Atif’s name at its top. For the game of hockey, he did what AH Kardar did in cricket, only a little more. In fact, at one stage, his name became synonymous with hockey. It is depressing that not enough tributes have been paid to him on the occasion of his death recently.
I was too young to see him play hockey in the late-fifties and early-sixties. If I recall correctly, he had retired from hockey after the Tokyo Olympics in 1964. In 1971, when he was a prisoner of war in India, Mrs. Atif had become active in the campaign to get POWs released. I remember she addressed a large gathering of students and staff in the famous Bokhari Auditorium of Govt. College, Lahore. Being Mrs. Atif, she was treated like a celebrity.
I have never had the privilege of meeting him in person although I did manage to see him on a few occasions. I distinctly remember his rather late arrival in the university ground Lahore sometime in the late-seventies while a hockey match was in progress. Brig. Atif quietly walked to an empty sofa on the high pavilion where about 20-30 people were sitting. Such was his aura that without being asked, almost everybody stood up, including the chief guest to greet him. On that day, I noticed that he was a tall and handsome man and possessed an imposing personality that may have been a legacy of his long years in the army.
His accomplishments in hockey are well known. Here, I would like to recall an incident now almost forgotten that may have cost Pakistan the gold metal in the 1976 Olympics. Atif had taken perhaps the best ever hockey team to Melbourne and Pakistan was a hot favorite. In the semi-final against Australia, Pakistan was leading by one goal and appeared to be dominating when Shahnaz had his arm broken by a vicious hit by an Australian player. Shahnaz should have been replaced by Hanif Khan who also played left-in like Shahnaz. Instead, Atif sent in Mudasser Asgher whose usual position was right in. The flow of the game changed dramatically after this unfortunate substitution. Atif did replace Mudasser with Hanif later on but by then the game was almost lost. He took a lot of heat for this decision. This only proved that he was human after all. This is one of the very few bad decisions made by him that I can recall. Such was his deep understanding of the game of hockey.
I also witnessed another rather amusing incident at the Rawalpindi Medical College in 1981. The Pakistan team had won the World Cup that year and was invited to the college where Brig. Atif’s daughter was a medical student. There were many speeches made by the players, including Hassan Sardar and Akhtar Rasool. The principal of RMC in his welcome remarks got carried away (which unfortunately has become a common trait in our society) and while praising the team, made a prediction of the dominance of world hockey by Pakistan for years to come. The audience listened in pin drop silence when Atif rose from his seat and in his calm and dignified style cautioned against such euphoria. He then went into details of the real state of our hockey then and mentioned the lack of astroturf fields in particular. He reminded us of how quickly the European and the Australian teams were catching up with us and how difficult it would be in future to compete with them. How right he was.
For all your accomplishments in hockey, which brought so much joy and pride to our generation, I would say, thank you Brig. Atif. May God bless your soul.
