As promised, during this World Cup season I’ll be serving up some desified football-related posts for that arse. Today, my bhai Davy hips me to this fascinating AFP story on “Pakistan’s Black Pelé,” Abdul Ghafoor. Apparently, he was the leading light of Pakistani football in the 1960s, a midfielder on what was a reasonably strong national team:
The midfielder was part of Pakistan’s setup when it was a credible footballing nation, grinding its way into Asia’s top 10 with players in demand from league clubs in India.
Ghafoor played in Dhaka in the 1960s and later represented Mohammedan Sporting in the Calcutta league in India.
It was in Dhaka, which became the capital of Bangladesh in 1971, where he met his wife Sabiha, who also has a penchant for football.
“My husband has been a football hero in Pakistan. There was a time when we couldn’t go out because hundreds of people would gather outside and want to see their Pelé,” said Sabiha …
In a strange new-world-order twist, Ghafoor’s son Ghani is in prison in Pakistan on terrorism charges that his father vehemently denies:
Ghani, who played football for domestic teams, was arrested in early 2004 from his home in Karachi in a crackdown against extremists and remains under lock and key.
The employee of a state-owned bank was accused of planning terrorist acts and is awaiting trial at a Karachi prison.
“My son’s only fault was that he grew a beard and he played football,” claimed Ghafoor.
With Pakistani and for that matter all subcontinental football mired in mediocrity, Abdul Ghafoor is left to reminisce about the old days and root for every Third Worlder’s default team, Brazil:
Ghafoor now stays away from football grounds but avidly stays in touch with the English Premiership and Brazilian soccer.
“Now I just watch Brazil and remember our good old days,” he said.
I tried to get some background on Abdul Ghafoor and his glory days, but found next to nothing. So here’s a call to historians, football fans, or any uncles or aunties who might have memories of Abdul Ghafoor, or more generally, sub-continental football in the 1960s.
A brother. A desi. A footballer.
Very cool indeed.
Uh…the black Pele of pakistan? He does indeed look somewhat African (aside from his hair), but Pele is black as well. I wonder how that name came about.
He must be Makrani. The Makran coast (streching even in Iran) is home to an African diaspora from the slave trading days of the Arabs, but they also came as sailors, traders etc. They’re actually known in Pakistan for their passion for soccer. One of my cricket coaches was Makrani, and I swear I thought he was West Indian before he opened his mouth.
From a BBC news article
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/1077982.stm
I thought that India won the gold medal at the inaugral Asian Games in Delhi in 1951 and they finished fouth at one of the 60’s olympics……..decided to check the web and wiki threw up the following:
“The national football team was also quite successful until the 1970s, qualifying for Olympic tournaments and the FIFA World Cup. The team qualified for the 1950 World Cup finals in Brazil, but could not appear as they still played in their bare feet at that time.
The Indian team also won the 1951 and 1962 Asian Games gold medals in football. In 1956 the team finished fourth at the Melbourne Olympics.”
Hell, we qualified for the “BIG ONE” in 1950……..yeahhhhhhhhh!!!!!
Well, those were the good old days when Indian football was at its peak, with people like Sailen Manna, Neville D’Souza, P K Bannerjee, Chuni Goswami et al.
Every Third Worlder’s default team – it has as much, if not more, to do with the way the Brazilians play, I guess. European teams haven’t even tried to imitate, even though Holland in the Cruyff days was pretty darn attractive. Btw, I think every third world team may just have had its own Pele at one time or other. I remember Abedi Pele of Ghana and a certain Saudi footballer whose name I forget (he was the desert Pele).
Reminds me of former Pakistani batsman Qasim Omar, who was quite a favourite among my friends when I was a kid, who was in all likelihood of African descent.
alybaba,
fascinating stuff. here’s the original bbc article. it makes sense; i figured it would be an arabian sea/indian ocean trade link. but now i’m interested in learning more about these folks.
peace