By our Lahore Correspondents
During the PFF League Club Phase Super League 2010 round between Wohaib FC and University FC Faisalabad game at Punjab Stadium on 12th Dec 2010, FPDC staffers Gauhar Mahmood Azeem, Majid Ur Rehman, and Zaka Ahmed Gondal caught up with former PFF General Secretary, Wohaib FC Chairman, and parliamentarian of the Jamaat-i-Islami (Punjab) Mr Hafiz Salman Butt
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OVShM4nX1J8[/youtube]
In his interview he discussed the problems faced by Pakistani football, his own experiences of the game, and what the future holds.
Hafiz Salman Butt was PFF General Secretary between 1990-1993 and is often hailed as the best General Secretary by Pak football followers and journalists. He helped organise the National Football Championships during his tenure on a more league-style basis and even managed to land a valuable sponsorship deal for the NFC with Lifebuoy Soap. However a clash of interests with then PFF President Mian Muhammad Azhar forced Hafiz Salman Butt to resign from his post and Pak football’s progress made during his time got eventually lost.
Back in the 1980s, Hafiz Salman Butt founded the Lahore club Hafiz Wohaib Butt Memorial Football Club (Wohaib FC) in memory of his late younger brother Hafiz Wohaib Butt who was a keen footballer back in the day before his untimely death at a young age. Wohaib FC has established itself as one of the most important and ever-present private football clubs in Pakistani football ever since, and has participated in the old Asian Cup Winners’ Cup competitions back in the late 1980s and early 1990s as well.
Wohaib FC was one of the founding members of the Pakistan Premier Football League back in 2004. However they were relegated in 2007 and have since been striving to win back promotion from PFF League.