Pakistan hockey captain Ammad Shakeel Butt in a shocking revelation has said that on their recent tour to Australia he had lied that things were great for his team in terms of facilities and all.
Now that the Pakistani team is back home from their second leg of the FIH Hockey Pro League in Australia where they lost all four games, Butt listed the many ordeals his team faced upon landing in Australia — how they had no place to go due to a faux pas by the Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF), stranded for hours as their hotel bookings were not fully realised having not been paid, how they had to make do with a local facility where they had to do every thing, from washing dishes to doing laundry to making meals to cleaning, including the toilet.
Butt revealed why he lied before in his videos from Australia, because the news of their misery had reached arch-rivals India, and he didn’t want his country to be smashed by the Indian media left, right and centre.
“If I talk about the Australia tour, I will begin with the flights and hotel arrangements. After landing in Sydney, we were made to roam around near the Opera Street for 12 to 15 hours like helpless people. No one took responsibility for our team. There was no hotel arranged for us, and we were not given food on time,” Butt said.
“From Sydney, we then travelled to Hobart. Let me first clarify that whatever news reached Pakistan is completely true. The videos that were sent from my team and by me were real. However, we were told by our team management that the matter had reached India. When India was mentioned, I personally felt that this was about my country, and my country should not be defamed. So I made a video saying that everything was fine and no injustice was happening with the team. But in reality, that was not true. Whatever messages, videos, and reports came out are all true.”
Upon returning when Butt complained to Pakistan Sports Board (PSB), they said they were not to be blamed as they had done their bit and released the money to the PHF in time. “I don’t know whether the Sports Board is at fault or the Pakistan Hockey Federation is at fault. But one thing is certain — our team management has lied to us repeatedly,” he said.
