Daily Times

LAHORE: Rob Lathouwers of the Netherlands, one of the most respected umpires in the hockey world, passed away two years ago. Rob whistled in international hockey from 1978-1994 including three Olympics and two World Cups. He had a long-standing bond with Pakistan. Rob visited the country 12 times. In the 1980s and 1990s, umpiring assignments brought him in Pakistan. In this century, Rob’s link with Pakistan was mainly because of his affiliation with the Dar Hockey Academy, Pakistan’s biggest production line of talented players regularly contributing to the national teams. And Rob’s contribution had been tremendous. From 2010-2019, Dar Hockey Academy visited Holland six times, Belgium thrice and Germany also thrice for training tours. Rob arranged all these trips. During the last decade or so, the only two visits by strong international teams that brought some excitement to Pakistan hockey lovers were largely due to the efforts of the great umpire. In 2012, Rob brought a team from Holland in Pakistan.

Flying Dutch Veterans included Olympic gold medallists and World Cup winners. The team played three matches in Lahore, including two in the jam-packed Johar Town stadium. Then in January 2017, through Rob’s efforts, a star-studded World XI played two highly publicised matches at the Abdul Sattar Edhi Hockey Stadium, Karachi, and National Hockey Stadium, Lahore.

In remembrance of this great benefactor of Pakistan hockey, Dar Hockey Academy is organising a high-profile four-team tournament titled ‘Rob Lathouwers Hockey Series’ at the National Hockey Stadium, Lahore from December 27 to 30. As always, Dar HA`s dynamic President, Olympic gold medallist Tauqeer Dar has roped in several sponsors. 80 boys have been selected from four prominent hockey academies: Dar HA, Rana Zaheer HA, Khawaja Junaid HA (all from Lahore) and Guru Nanak HA (Nankana Sahib). Each side is named after great names of Pakistan hockey: Khawaja Mohammad Aslam (Olympian 1952), Ghulam Rasool Chaudhry (Olympic gold medallist 1960), Afzal Manna (Olympic silver medallist 1964) and Khurshid Azam (Olympic silver medallist 1964). A unique feature is the inclusion of two girls, one outfield player and one goalkeeper, in every side. At least one girl will be on the pitch for the match`s entire duration. To ensure that both the girls are played in every match, each girl will have to be entered for a minimum of one-quarter.

Very distinguished coaches will mentor the teams: Danish Kaleem (World Cup winner, 1994) has been coach/assistant coach with Pakistan’s national and junior sides. Khawaja Junaid (World Cup winner, 1994) has coached Pakistan’s national and junior sides several times since 2000. Rehan Butt (Asian Games gold medallist, 2010) has been coach/assistant coach with Pakistan’s national and junior sides. Rana Zubair Riaz, head coach of the Rana Zaheer Academy, attended national camps and has played in many foreign leagues as a professional. The four teams will play each other in a single league. The top two teams will then play the final on December 30 preceded by the 3rd/4th position playoff between the bottom teams of the league.