Following a major controversy surrounding the treatment of Pakistan’s national team in Australia by their own board—where they were allegedly made to wash toilets and dishes before playing—Pakistan’s hockey captain, Ammad Shakeel recently came clean on the remarks made in his latest videos. 

Ammad Shakeel Butt made a major splash on the internet on Wednesday when a video showed the Pakistan team stranded on the streets of Sydney, with their luggage. 

Shortly after Butt had publicly heavily criticised Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF), he released a video saying everything was fine, putting down his own big accusations. This move by Butt raised the controversy surrounding the incident further. 

But now that the team is back in Lahore, Butt has admitted that his latest video stating everything is fine was a blatant cover-up manufactured to ‘maintain Pakistan’s reputation in India.’

As per a report by India Today, following his return to Lahore Butt confessed that he only released the video claiming everything was fine because of pressure from the team management and higher ups in PHF. 

As per the report, Butt was told that the “news of their struggle had reached India and was damaging Pakistan’s reputation”. Hence in an “attempt to protect” the country’s image, Butt hid the truth about Pakistan hockey team’s ordeal. 

However, he admitted on Wednesday the situation in Sydney was a total nightmare.

“The videos that were sent from my team and by me showcasing our troubles and struggles in Australia were real. However, we were told by our team management that the matter had reached India,” Butt told the reporters. 

“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,” he concluded. 

What happened to Pakistan in Australia?

Pakistan had travelled to Australia for the second leg of the FIH Hockey Pro League but were left stranded in Sydney, forced to wait for hours with their luggage after their hotel bookings were cancelled. 

The cancellations reportedly occurred because the Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) had not cleared the hotel payments.

Speaking in a press conference at Lahore Airport, Butt confirmed that all these reports were indeed true and players experienced a lot of things not befitting a national-level professional athlete. 

He questioned the federation on how players could actually play well “after cleaning toilets and washing kitchenware”. He also alleged that the players had to wash their own clothes and had to clean washrooms before heading out to play.

“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,” Butt told Geo News.

The PHF has drawn severe criticism after the state-run Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) confirmed it had given them more than 10 million rupees to arrange hotel accommodation for the national team in Australia.

Pakistan’s performance in the tournament

Despite the off-field chaos, Pakistan’s players put up a spirited fight in their opening matches before the physical and mental toll of the situation became apparent. The team lost all of their matches during the Australia leg. 

Pakistan’s hockey team lost miserably to both the hosts (Australia) and Germany. The final scorecard of Pakistan’s second match with Australia reflected the score of 0-3 in favour of Australia.

India also struggled to perform during this period as they also suffered a similar fate as Pakistan when they clashed against the host, Australia. As per a report by Hindustan Times, India’s performance was marked by a struggle to find consistency and a “finishing touch” in close games.