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This is one of the many questions I have been asked a billion times from people around us or on social media. Today, I have thought to answer this and many similar questions, not only for football but for all the sports on behalf of all the unsung heroes of Pakistan.
“Heroes”? Yes, we are heroes. I regard myself as one. What more does it take to be a hero than fighting oneself each day for making compromises to reach your goals? For climbing stairs of success only to be hit by stones but you know what, “you can’t stop me to reach the final point”. My final point is that there isn’t any. Each day, you have to be stronger than before, better than before because this ladder of being the best, never ends. For me, every person is a hero who fights through their dreams and strives to make them possible.
The progress of sports in a country does not only depend on one individual or one team or the sports federation, no, not at all. I have been asked about what our sports federation is doing for the progress of this game. You tell me what are YOU doing? Okay, first tell me, do you even know that Pakistan has a National Women’s Football Team? As far as I remember, I have been playing for Pakistan for the past 8 years and my Twitter followers just crossed 100 (jinn main se aadhay tou ghar walay aur dost hain). It does not take a handful of 12-15 people to compete against the world and win titles or to make a certain sport popular in a country. No, not at all.
It depends on the efforts of millions of people back home who invest in their team, who believe in them, who encourage them, who support them through thick and thin, in order to make their journey possible. It depends on the media to educate people about the ‘positive’ image of Pakistan, about our achievements or when a girls’ football team goes abroad to play South Asian Games and reach Semi-Finals in their second ever international tournament (This is the potential of what Pakistan National Women Football Team holds) against the countries who have been playing football since the past 20-30 years with an absolute structure. The last time I remember Pakistan Football Team going viral on the internet was because of their beauty and not talent, in 2015.
It depends on the celebrities who hit thousand of followers in their first ever commercial appearance (be it a 5-second shot of their face and gets stardom) or those who are the bosses of the field. Why have I never seen you coming out to support your “women in sports” when all of you had been vouching and congratulating Virat Kohli on his marriage or have been sending out wishes and tweets to whatever happens in the world, but women who play sports? Wait, what? Please send an email to my manager about this and he might get you back if he considers it.
I mean yes, SERIOUSLY. This happened when I was making a support video to raise awareness among people about Pakistan National Football Team featuring celebrities back in 2014 and was hit back by such fascinating replies from some of the very humble faces of the industry and even from those who had recently joined the industry – they took stardom, LITERALLY. Still, I would say there are some genuinely amazing people in the industry who did step out, full of excitement and joined the cause (they can be seen in that video present on the internet). But, as I always say, only a handful of people out of billions.
Abiha Haider OFFICIAL talking about football in Pakistan on Capital TV.12th January 2017.
Posted by Abiha Haider OFFICIAL on Saturday, January 14, 2017
It depends on all those multinationals and departments who sponsor and invest in almost everything from “pampers” to a “washing powder” from “lemon max” to “Afridi ki bubble gum” but, would never sponsor or invest in their unsung heroes or their national team because they probably won’t be able to generate enough profit out of us.
Everything is not for profit. I started playing football when I was 12 and it has been 8 years now and it is only for my passion for the game and not to generate money out of it. My passion cannot be calculated in numbers and I know many who share the same line. We invest in ourselves, train ourselves, strive to be better. But obviously, we need exposure and that is what goes out to the millions of people in Pakistan. We have talent, we can go on the field and perform for Pakistan. Else, everything depends on you.
Invest in us in the way you could support us and next time before asking any Sportsgirl about her progress in sports, please ask yourself what have you done for her and for the team. An international training camp or tournament costs much more than our pocket money where all these leading franchises are spending billions on cricket, sending these emerging players abroad such as to Lords so they can learn and gain exposure, organizing leagues and tournaments nationally as well as internationally. Can’t you invest even a half of it in football? 8 years down the track, and I am yet to see any franchise, any multinational, any politician, any celebrity, any women empowerment advocate, coming out in support of football in Pakistan and owning the sport.
Probably, it could be concluded as “Yeh Hamari Larai Hai Aur Isse Bas Hum Ne He Larna Hai” but as I have said earlier, we are unstoppable. On a lighter note, cricket se hat kay bhi aik duniya hay!
