A hockey match

          Last Sunday, I witnessed a very interesting inter schools hockey match, which played between “The Educators School System” and “City Public School”. Both the teams were well prepared and qualified in their pools for final match. It was an inter school match but its standard was like a national team. Mr. Ali and Zafar acted as referees of the final hockey match. Both the referees were competent, disciplined and professional. This hockey match was played at ground of National Stadium.

           The school administration made proper seating arrangements for spectators. A large number of students and teachers had come to see the final match. The referee gave long whistle and the team captains of both the team come forward. A coin was tossed in the air for selection of favorable side. The Educators School System team won the toss and chose their favorable side.  Both the captains called their teams and issued motivational instructions to them. Both the teams were in their proper uniforms. The Educations System players had blue shorts while the players of City School had white shorts.

           The match started at 5 PM. It was quite brisk from the very beginning. The Educators System pressed hard but could not score a goal. They got two short corners and one plenty corner but failed to score. Their center forward moved at an amazing speed but he was checked by the full-backs of the competitors. They passed and re-passed the ball among their players like a shuttlecock but could not score a goal. So, the first half was finished event-less. The coaches of both teams come forward in half-time interval and briefed their teams.

           The hockey teams changed their sides after the half-time interval and the game began again. The players of City School scored a goal from short corner. The supporters of City School began shouts and whistles of joys. The players also gave congratulations to each other. They throw their sticks up in the air. The Educators System scored an equalizer during the next few minutes. Shouts of joy from the Educators System side dominated the sky and the game became more interesting. The captain of The Educators System School played very nicely. He ran with the ball into the D and hit it hard in the corner but the goalkeeper of rivals was very active and alert. He checked the ball and blocked all the attempts of the rival team. The spectators raised shouts of joy.

          The time of second-half was almost over. Each side tried it hard to win the game but all their efforts came to a naught. The referee blew the long whistle and declared that the game was over. However, it was a final match and cannot declare it as tie. Therefore, they were given an extra time for decision. Now, each side tried hard to score a goal but could succeed. The referee blew the long whistle again and declared that the game was over. At last, five plenty strokes each were given to both teams. The Educators School System scored all plenty strokes and become the champion of inter schools hockey championship. It was really a well contested match.