Young Blood FC gear up for big task

The club qualified for the Pakistan Premier Football League (PPFL) 2010 after winning the second division club crown last year. -File Photo

LAHORE Sahiwal's Young Blood Football Club, that used to play at Ali Rai Nawaz Stadium, near Fareed Town Police Station, is giving those a reason to cheer who wish to see the country's football on par with Asia's power houses.

Founded in 1983 in the small Punjab town of Sahiwal, 180 Kilometres southwest of Lahore, the club qualified for the Pakistan Premier Football League (PPFL) 2010 after winning the second division club crown last year. The hard work and dedication of the club is now bearing fruits and nine players have made it to the Pakistan national team.

December 17 was a terrific day for the club when they struck twice in the last 19 minutes to edge out Quetta's Baloch FC 3-1 in the final of the Pakistan Football Federation League (Club Phase) at Punjab University Ground.

The win enabled them to get the honor of playing in the 2010 Pakistan Premier League for the first time. They also came close to winning the overall PFF League final but lost to Karachi's Sui Southern Gas Company Limited (SSGC) at Sahiwal's Ali Rai Nawaz Stadium on January 6 2010.

This, by no means, is an ordinary achievement for the club of modest means, according to their skipper and keeper Noman Ibrahim, who juggles the responsibilities of goalkeeping and goalkeeping coach.

“People used to play football in the park by hoisting the sticks in place of goalposts and my father - Munir Alam - played a key role in establishing the club,” said Noman who was appointed goalkeeping coach by PFF's President Makhdoom Syed Faisal Saleh Hayat of the National U-14 team that returned from AFC U14 Festival of Football at Iran in May with good results.

Young Blood is the eleventh local club of Pakistan to appear in PFF's event with others being Chaman's Afghan Club, Lahore's Wohaib Club, Faisalabad's Panther Club, PMC Club Athletico, Dera Ismail Khan's Young XI, Karachi's Naka Muhammadan, Mauripur Baloch, Quetta's Baloch FC, Mardan's Mardan FC and Nushki's Baloch Club.

Noman, among coaches who are working under AFC's AID-27 Financial Assistance Scheme and coached Sahiwal to two successive gold - National U-13 Championships at MTFA Ground Lahore 2009 and National U-14 Championship at Jinnah Stadium, Islamabad in 2010, said that the club's secretary, Zia Abbas Shah, financed the activities and later the club also raised funds by organizing various tournaments.

The club also established a marketing committee for finding sponsors and the members led by example with everyone contributing Rs.500 per month. Now the committee members are trying to raise funds for the team's participation in the PPFL 2010.

Besides Young Blood, other 15 participants in PPFL 2010, set to take place from 16 September to 14 December, will be National Champion Khan Research Laboratories (KRL), Pakistan Army, Pakistan Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA), Pakistan Navy, Karachi Port Trust (KPT), Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), Lahore's Pak Elektron Limited (PEL), Karachi Electric Supply Corporation (KESC), Habib Bank Limited (HBL), National Bank of Pakistan (NBP), Pakistan Air Force (PAF), Chaman's Afghan Club, Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC), PMC Athletico Club Faisalabad and Nushki's Baloch FC. - PPI

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