If we count number of persons playing in the fields, football is the number one sport, but it is true by no means is cricket the most popular sport despite Hockey is our national game.
After Pakistan gained independence, field hockey quickly became the most prominent sport, easily accessible, and earned widespread popularity. The Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) was formed in 1948, just one year after the independence.
Pakistan’s national hockey team became a powerhouse on the international stage, especially after three Olympic gold medals (1960, 1968, and 1984) and four Hockey World Cup titles (1971, 1978, 1982, and 1994), and numerous gold medals at the Asian Games.
These successive victories brought immense international recognition and national pride to the young country, solidifying the sport’s status as a symbol of national achievement and unity, the first Olympic gold in 1960, is often cited as the point when field hockey was effectively declared the National Sport of Pakistan.
Cricket was introduced to the Indian subcontinent during British occupation. Initially, the game was primarily adopted by the local elite, princes, and high-status communities like the Brahmans and Parsis, who saw it as a way to gain favor with colonial rulers and display their ‘modernity’ and proximity to the British ruling class. After the independence in 1947, Pakistan inherited the established cricketing infrastructure and an initial fan base. Pakistan gained Test status in 1952, just five years after independence. Cricket is easily adaptable for “tape-ball” street play, requiring minimal, inexpensive equipment.
Key victories on the world stage, such as Pakistan’s 1992 Cricket World Cup win, were watershed moments that galvanized national support, turning cricket from a popular sport into a national obsession. Massive media coverage, lucrative sponsorship deals have transformed cricket into a multi-billion-Rupees industry, ensuring continuous investment and visibility.
For decades, successive governments have treated public well-being as an afterthought and nowhere is this negligence more visible than in the total disregard for recreational spaces. Just as the state has failed its youth in education and healthcare, it has failed to provide even the most basic infrastructure necessary for physical and mental development. Urban residents, millions of them are boxed into suffocating concrete jungles where children are forced to play in narrow streets and traffic-ridden lanes, risking their safety every single day. Their talent is not merely overlooked, it is systematically crushed.
Master plans across major cities originally allocated land for playgrounds and open spaces, yet these plots now stand hijacked by land mafias and conveniently converted into commercial plazas and real estate projects all under the silent watch and facilitation, of authorities. Over 90 percent of private schools operate without any playgrounds or extracurricular facilities, functioning as profit-making factories rather than educational institutions. Government schools are no different they often possess open land but leave it barren and undeveloped.
(Insert Lyari children image produce via AI)
Urban planning standards demand that every town, village, and neighborhood must include accessible green and recreational zones for public health. Yet statistics reveal a horrifying reality, not just cities but even hospitals are being built without designated open-air or therapeutic recovery spaces, ignoring basic medical science that proves fresh air and mobility accelerate healing.
This is not mere oversight, it is a policy failure rooted in greed, incompetence, and skewed national priorities, resulting in the shape of our bad performance in recent international events like World Cup and Olympics. A nation that refuses to create space for its youth to breathe, play, and grow is actively writing the obituary of its own future.
The Painful Truth
Government priorities in Pakistan have long reflected a startling disconnect despite the immense popularity of football across the country, Pakistan does not possess a single FIFA-approved, world-class football stadium. Jinnah Sports Stadium in Islamabad was once only conditionally approved by the Asian Football Confederation merely for a qualifying match. A national embarrassment for a nation of 240 million. Cricket, gets a little more attention has four ICC-approved Test centers, Karachi, Lahore, Rawalpindi, and Multan while Faisalabad, Quetta, and Peshawar once hosted Test cricket but have since been neglected and downgraded
The state of other sports infrastructure is equally disheartening. The Swimming pool of Sports Complex in Islamabad is practically non-operational, the AKUH Sports Complex in Karachi and the Punjab International Swimming Complex in Lahore claims as “Olympic class,” yet none are listed by World Aquatics, the official global authority. Pakistan has only one ITF-approved tennis venue, located in Islamabad a humiliating fact for a country of Pakistan’s size and history. Worse still, Pakistan does not have a single permanent, IBA-approved boxing ring or venue capable of hosting all categories of international boxing championships.
The only sport with an overdeveloped elite infrastructure is golf. The Pakistan Golf Federation lists 48 golf courses, of which 25 meet international standards holding several championship-level 18-hole and 27-hole courses, all concentrated in major cities and largely inaccessible to the general public. The painful truth is, sports in Pakistan serve elites, not the people. The infrastructure mirrors the priorities exclusive, outdated, and globally irrelevant.