Munir Dar's All-time Greats
THE National Hockey Team 's victory march across the country is now over, or almost. They were here the other day and were welcomed by dancing, chanting enthusiasts and taken to the Data Sahib's Mazar where they were turbaned in traditional style.
The other night I saw them on television at a civic reception in Quetta , where they were given commemorative medals and other prizes. And well did they deserve the flowers and the garlands and the prizes.
Pakistan 's victory at Los Angles also brings to a stirring end, Air Marshal Nur Khan 's long tenure as President of the Hockey Federation. He told a press conference recently that he would be retiring some time this month.
I am reminded here of Neil Harvey, the great Australian left-hander, who retired from Test Cricket when he was at the peak of his distinguished career. When asked why was he doing so, Harvey had replied: "I want to go while the going is good." There have been other Australians who have followed in Harvey's footsteps. But here in a country, where you have to be humiliated out of office, Nur Khan has set a precedent well worthy of emulation by sportsmen, sports waderas , commentators, and others who have been there because they have yet to be booted out.
However, let us talk some hockey. In a series of articles written on the occasion of the XVI All-Pakistan Police Gold Cup Invitations Tournament, 1983-84, Munir Dar discussed the great players there have been since 1928, and then those the greatest of them all for every position. His is a formidable selection and if gathered together today, would beat the rest of the world in all matches in all conditions. Not that I am in complete agreement with Munir Dar but let us have a look at it because choosing all-time greats is a wonderful hobby, especially at the end of an international tournament.
Munir Dar's choice of the greatest right fullback of all time is his younger brother, Tanvir . He picks him out of Tapsel , Tarlochan Singh Bawa , Baksheesh Singh , Prithipal Singh , Mazoorul Hassan , M. Niaz Khan , M. C. Watters (Australia ), Nunn (West Germany ), Paul Litijens (Holland ), John Abraham (New Zealand ), and Bob Catrall (England ). Munir singles out Tanvir (131 goals in 111 internationals) because he thinks he was the best penalty-corner converter the world has known. Tanvir had entered the international arena at 16, and was out of it at 24 "because of politics." His qualities? Uncanny anticipation and interception, superb passing. A product of the Zaminadara Colleg e, Gujrat , Atif represented Pakistan in four Olympiads. He played as a centre-half at college up to 1956.
From 1956 to 1964 he played as a left back, and was the architect of many great victories at Asian and Olympic level. With his astonishing reach and great clearance, he was difficult to beat, and opponents dreaded him as a tackler.
The right-half top spot is given to Lal Shah Bokhari , who captained India and played in the 1932 and 1936 Olympics . Munir Dar elects Bokhari ahead of Claudius , Jack Britto , Ghulam Rasul Chaudhry , Saeed Anwar , Bell (Australia ), Krause (West Germany ), and Ross Gillispi e (New Zealand ). Munir says it was Bokhari and not the Europeans who invented the scooping pass because in his days, the defenders used to play parallel to each other. The Europeans used to bulldoze their way through the opposition and it was Bokhari who put a stop to it. Again, as Munir puts it, his computerised feeding could not be intercepted.
At left-half, Munir selects Habib Ali Kiddie in preference to Shahzada Yusuf Jan , Gillaballi , Pirumal , Yaqoob , Fazlur Rehman, Horst Wein (West Germany ), Bhaskaran (India ), Cotton (England ) and Julian Pearce (Australia ). Dar dismisses the charge that Kiddie was a defensive left-half. If, as the experts say, the left-half is the last man to be beaten when the apposition on the attack, Kiddie foiled more attempts at the Pakistan goal than any other man in this position that Dar can remember.
Munir Dar gives the outside-right place to Khalid Mahmood but doesn't forget Krishan Lal, Carr, Shahabuddin , Philips , Raghbir Lal , Joginder Singh , Balbir Singh , and Masood Ahmad . The reason: He never wasted any pass and whenever he was not in a position to cross or give a pass inside the circle, he used to get a penalty corner. Dar thinks Khalid Mahmood got more penalty-corners for Pakistan than anyone else.
At outside-left, Syed Mohammad Jaffar Shah would play for the Munir Dar XI. P. P. Fernades, Bhola , Gurbachan Singh , Abdul Qayyum , Latif-ur-Rahman , Motiullah , Shahnaz Sheikh , Raj Gopal , Syed Ali , and Samiullah are all on the nomination list but Jaffar Shah , who played in the 1932 and 1936 Olympiads, gets the Dar vote. He invented the cross of the wrong foot while on the run. He would cut in while in the opponents, 25 area instead of running along the sidelines. Dar says Samiullah was the greatest outside-left but wasn't able to cross the ball on the wrong foot while on the run-the best placed forward.
At inside-right, the nominations are: Hakim , Feroze Khan , Gurmit Singh , Ashfaq , Zakauddin , Abdul Hamid (Hamid), K. D. Singh Babu , Manzoor Jr ., Rick Charlesworth (Australia ), and Hobson (New Zealand ). The Munir Dar awards goes to K. D. Singh Babu. The main thing about him was his adaptability. If the defense was rough, he would never go near it but feed the other forwards with neat deflections. If the defense was 'gentle,' he would pierce it with masterly stick work and body dodges. Dar laments that with his departure from the scene in 1955, India fell away as the leading hockey-playing country and adopted the parallel, rather than the 'W' formation.
Now then, who was the greatest-ever centre forward? You don't have to be a Munir Dar to name him. Who else but the immortal Dhyan Chand ? But Dar also remembers A. I. S. Dara, Abdul Rashid , Hugo Budingir (West Germany ) Jamshed Jr., Eric Pearce (Australia ), Balbir Singh , Abdul Waheed , and the late Latif Mir. But what put Dhyan Chand head and shoulders above everyone else? These seven qualities:
- He used to keep the ball in front of him, and this enabled him to move and dodge on either side.
- He could deceive opponents with tantalising footwork.
- He could score from any angle he wanted.
- His stoppage was marvellous, connection supportive, and distribution flawless.
- His accuracy in taking and giving passes has not been matched to this day.
- He always relied on return passes, which is a complete dodge.
- He had such total ball control that he could beat an entire defense single-handedly.
Among the goalkeepers, we have Allan , Deshmathu , Shankar Laxman , Saleem Sherwani , Zakir Husain , Mitsubishi (Japan ,) Bob Taylor (England ), and Maarten Sikking . Dar picks the last named on the basis of his performances during 1970-80. As the critics say, he was not the Dutch goalkeeper; he was the entire Dutch team. Time and again he frustrated opposition attempts at his goal. And for him Holland would have been nowhere in international reckoning. Since his departure, Holland has not been the same side again.
So here is Munir Dar line-up:
Goalkeeper: Maarten Sikking .
Right Fullback: Tanvir Dar.
Left Fullback: M.H. Atif.
Right-half: Lal Shah Bokhari .
Centre-half: Eric Peoniger.
September 1, 1984
