- Butt rejects pressure claims, demands reforms within PHF.
- Says players denied proper facilities during Australia tour.
- Squad forced to cook, clean, manage meals independently.
Pakistan national hockey team captain Ammad Shakeel Butt has broken his silence regarding the Australia tour, levelling serious allegations of mismanagement and mental torture against the team management and the Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF).
Speaking to the media after arriving at Lahore airport, Butt confirmed that all the disturbing reports emerging from Australia were entirely accurate, stressing that they were subjected to conditions no professional player should endure.
Butt revealed that the players were forced to do menial labour, including cleaning kitchens, washing dishes, washing their own clothes, and scrubbing washrooms before heading to the field.
“These are the boys who work strenuously for the sake of their country. How can restrictions be imposed upon them? And, how can they play after cleaning toilets and washing kitchenware?”
He alleged that the management had turned the players into “mental patients”, adding that the management told the players that they would have to cover their three meals within meagre 115 dollars.
Butt also highlighted that what Tahir Zaman and others have said was “unfounded and a pack of lies”. “I am fully satisfied with the performance of my team,” he noted.
The captain expressed his frustration with the federation’s approach, claiming that efforts were made to divide the squad by asking players to choose between the captain and the management.
“The federation asked every player separately if they are with the federation or the captain,” he stressed, adding that the entire team is standing by me.
“We were told not to speak to the media or face a ban,” Butt said. “I do not accept the PHF’s code of conduct. I am under no pressure.”
“We know the wrongs committed against us,” he added.
Reacting to players’ grievances, Noorish Sabah, Director General of the Pakistan Sports Board (PSB), who showed up at the airport to receive players, confirmed that the PSB had arranged and paid for hotel bookings in Australia, which were subsequently cancelled by the PHF.
Speaking to the media at the airport, she stressed, “The team management lied to us.” “If food and accommodation are not up to standard, performance will inevitably suffer.”
She clarified that while the board had taken steps to provide facilities to the players, the responsibility for the fiasco lay with the federation.
Sabah assured that a comprehensive inquiry report would be dispatched to the Prime Minister, emphasising that such mistreatment of national athletes would not be tolerated.
The PSB official also demanded that the higher authorities take notice of the wrongs committed against the players.
Despite all the chaos, Butt, however, maintained that the Pakistan squad had the potential to win the World Cup and Olympics, but stressed there was an urgent need for a foreign coach to rectify the team’s trajectory.
