Tuesday night might have been a bit cold at the Goulburn hockey turf but the crowd who turned up to see the Pakistan under 18s hockey team take on Goulburn’s Capital League side quickly forgot about the temperature.
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The red-hot speed of the game had everyone’s attention from the initial hit off.
Most people on the sideline were prepared for the cold with beanies and warm jackets.
On field the temperature was a bit of a shock for the visitors but their speed and skill kept them from feeling the cold.
Pakistan opened the scoring, catching Goulburn with its international state and national representative players napping.
These lads were in Australia to boost their skills and to help bring Pakistani hockey back to the skill level they had known in world hockey in the past.
Recently the lads won the National under 18s Championships in Tasmania and they have been playing with various Sydney clubs.
They then come together for exhibition friendly matches, like in Goulburn.
Glenn Turner who had arranged for the match said that Pakistan was keen to learn from Australia about structured play and the changes that had taken place in the game in recent times.
“They are determined to improve the skills of their player base and that is why they chose to come to Australia,” Turner said.
“The Pakistani players were keen to have a chance to play against me too as they knew me from my international playing.
“Hockey is really big over there and it is hard to explain how much they appreciate the opportunity to play against players they look up to. I think our guys were surprised by their speed and style of play but they certainly lifted with the first goal from the visitors.”
The game was fast end to end hockey from start to finish. At one stage it looked like Goulburn might claim a victory but toward the end a couple of errors allowed the Pakistani lads to capitalise and the game ended four all.
Goulburn was playing with their recently arrived Indian international player Anup Valmiki, who is staying with Glenn Turner and here to learn more about Australian Hockey plus pass on his skills to the Goulburn players.
“Tuesday night was a great opportunity to showcase Goulburn Hockey to the wider community particularly after so many under 13 boys and girls have been selected in the NSW teams, Turner said.
“They are the future of Goulburn hockey.”
Goulburn men play Old Canberrans at the Goulburn turf on Saturday at 1.30pm.