From powerhouses to ghost fields: Fall of university sports in Pakistan

Mushfiq Ahmed

KARACHI, Pakistan (MNTV) — On Saturday, as campuses worldwide mark World University Sports Day with games, tournaments, and campus celebrations, Pakistan’s universities will stand largely silent.

Where once there were fierce rivalries, raucous crowds, and a conveyor belt of future champions, many sports grounds in Pakistani colleges and universities now lie abandoned, their grass overgrown, their stands empty.

It wasn’t always this way. Inter-college matches once defined Pakistan’s sporting calendar. From these contests emerged cricket greats like Majid Khan and Zaheer Abbas, and hockey icons such as Shehnaz Sheikh, who became household names.

Matches between Government College and Islamia College in Lahore were fought with the intensity of Test cricket, drawing thousands of fans. Institutions even declared holidays so students could watch. Young athletes were courted like stars, offered scholarships and fee waivers, and celebrated for excelling in both the classroom and on the field.

Today, that pipeline of talent has collapsed — and experts warn that without rebuilding the school-to-university pathway, Pakistan risks losing the ability to produce world-class sportspeople altogether.

Veteran sports journalist Ijaz Chaudhary recalls a time when sports were the heartbeat of student life.

“The rivalry between Government College and Islamia College was legendary,” he says.

“People would pour into stadiums, and the atmosphere was electric. It wasn’t just a match, it was a cultural event.”

Back then, scouts visited schools, identified promising players, and brought them into college teams. Talented students were given fee waivers, special coaching, and a chance to compete at higher levels. The system created a structured path from playgrounds to professional sport, allowing Pakistan to dominate hockey and cricket for decades.

Now, Chaudhary says, most schools organize just a token annual sports day. Many universities struggle to form teams at all. “In some classes, you won’t even find a single student who has ever played hockey,” he laments.

How the system broke

Major Amir Bilal, a sports management expert, traces the decline to institutional changes.

“Sports used to fall under a single federal entity: the Ministry of Education, Sports, Culture, and Youth Affairs,” he explains. “Because it was tied to education, sports were played in schools, colleges, and universities in an organized manner. That pipeline produced educated athletes.”

But once the ministry was dissolved and its functions split across multiple departments, the chain was broken. Education became one ministry, sports another, and culture and youth affairs yet another. With no unified oversight, universities stopped prioritizing sports. The feeder system from schools collapsed.

For a while, Pakistan survived on the momentum of its past. Players trained in earlier decades continued to shine internationally. But by the 1990s, the pipeline had dried up. The cricket and hockey stars that once emerged from educational institutions stopped coming.

“Today, universities struggle to find quality athletes because the entire pipeline underneath them has vanished,” Bilal says.

The consequences are visible everywhere. Smaller schools and colleges no longer maintain grounds. Physical training instructors have disappeared. Talent scouts who once combed classrooms are nowhere to be seen. The culture of inter-college rivalries — once central to student identity — is gone.

Even large universities that retain some facilities struggle to use them. “Without rivalries and competitions, grounds become ghost fields,” Chaudhary says. “You can’t build players without matches, and you can’t have matches without teams.”

This decay isn’t limited to infrastructure. It reflects a shift in mindset. Parents and private schools now focus almost exclusively on academics, treating sports as a distraction rather than an essential part of education.

Hollow push from top

Governments have tried to revive sports, but experts say these efforts miss the mark. “Recently, the Punjab government allocated funds for university sports,” Bilal notes.

“But that won’t solve the problem. You cannot produce athletes at the university level if there’s no feeder system from schools and colleges. You’re trying to build the roof of a house without laying the foundation.”

Oversight is fragmented. The Pakistan Sports Board is now under the federal Ministry of Inter-Provincial Coordination, but its role is limited. Provinces technically control sports after devolution, yet none have comprehensive sports policies.

“Punjab has no sports policy, no framework for university or school-level sports. And Punjab is supposed to be the powerhouse,” Bilal says.

By contrast, in many countries, sports are embedded in education policy. In the United States, universities provide scholarships to athletes, creating incentives for young talent to pursue both academics and sport. In England and Ireland, every school maintains large playing fields, and sports are part of daily life.

“In those systems, universities don’t create athletes from scratch,” cricket historian Dr. Salman Faridi says.

“They recruit talent already nurtured by schools and colleges. That’s the model Pakistan needs to restore.”

Consider how American campuses celebrate sports. Football games fill stadiums, basketball dominates national television, and scholarships attract international players. An Irish visitor once marveled at how ten girls from Ireland were studying in U.S. universities on hockey scholarships.

Even in smaller countries, universities remain central to sports development. In Ireland, rugby and athletics thrive because schoolchildren play them daily on well-kept grounds. In England, inter-college rivalries feed directly into professional leagues.

In South Asia, India’s universities have begun integrating sports more deliberately, with scholarships and leagues that feed into national teams. Sri Lanka has preserved some of its cricketing pathways. Pakistan, once the region’s powerhouse, is now the laggard.

What was lost

The loss is not only about professional athletes. It is also about culture, identity, and health. Inter-college competitions once fostered school spirit, built confidence, and gave young people a sense of belonging.

“Students who excelled on the field were often brilliant in the classroom as well,” Chaudhary recalls. The discipline and teamwork of sport shaped leadership skills.

That has now been replaced by rote learning and exam pressure. Without sports, universities lose a vital dimension of education.

What needs to change

Experts agree on the solution: rebuild the pipeline from the ground up.

Dedicated funds: Educational institutions should earmark funds for sports, not just token budgets but significant allocations that cover facilities, coaches, and competitions.

Curriculum integration: Sports should be integrated into school and college curricula, not relegated to optional activities.

Regular competitions: Cricket, hockey, basketball, netball, badminton, table tennis, and athletics must be played regularly across schools, colleges, and universities.

Scouting and scholarships: Talent scouts and coaches should identify young players and offer incentives to bring them into higher education institutions.

National policy: A written sports policy is needed at both provincial and federal levels, with clear frameworks for development at every stage of education.

“The goal is not only to produce elite athletes but to create a culture of sports,” Dr. Faridi stresses.

“Every child should have the chance to play, compete, and grow. Champions will naturally emerge from such a culture.”

Race against time

For Pakistan, the question is not whether reforms are needed but whether they will come in time. The country’s once-proud tradition in hockey is already in ruins. Cricket remains popular but is now driven by commercial franchises, not by schools and universities. Other sports like athletics, basketball, and football struggle to find any foothold.

Unless sports are reintegrated into education, the silence on university grounds will deepen. The crowds that once roared for college rivalries will remain memories.

And Pakistan will keep waiting for champions who may never come.