Patna, April 18: The best way to revive a game and produce quality players is to introduce it at the school and college levels, former Indian hockey captain Zafar Iqbal said on Monday.

"Just introducing physical training and getting students to do some drills is not going to make a difference," said Zafar, who was visiting the state after 35 years to attend a conclave organised by the Advantage group in Patna on Saturday.

"Games have to be introduced like any other subject, say physics or maths. Only then will we have quality players. Or else just a few players who learnt it on their own will be good. The moment a game is taken out of schools and colleges, it dies a natural death."

Zafar also came to reconnect with his native village, Hargawa, 115km north of Patna, where he was born and spent a substantial part of his childhood before relocating to Aligarh.

He promised he would return again and spend more time in the village and state.

Undivided Bihar (before Jharkhand was born in 2000) has produced a few national-level hockey players, like Michael Kindo, Dilip Tirkey and Sylvanus Dung Dung.

"Those days Bihar never had a hockey team. All of us played for other teams," said Zafar, explaining his long absence from the state. In fact, the last time Zafar visited Bihar was in 1980 when the then governor, A.R. Kidwai, had asked then chief minister Jagannath Mishra to felicitate the hockey team that struck gold at the Moscow Olymzpics. Zafar and Dung Dung received Rs 5,000 in prize money.

"I am ready to give my services to the state government if it wants to revive hockey in Bihar. I understand there is a shortage of coaches to teach students. I'll be able to arrange for coaches at a nominal fee for colleges, schools and universities," he said. But the state needs to take care of its players. "If you can't take, why would anyone want to play?"

He said that in the 1970s, a charity match was played to help the magician of hockey, Dhyan Chand, who was living in penury. "But he got just Rs 13,300," Zafar said.

"I myself went with Dhyan Chand from Delhi to Jhansi in connection with a hockey match. We were given third class train tickets. In the overcrowded coach, we had to beg someone to let Dhyan Chand get a seat."

Till the early 1980s, cricket, football, hockey, baseball and other sports were at the same level. "But then Kerry Packer came and commercialised cricket," said Zafar.

"Overnight, cricketers became stars with big money while we hockey players remained amateurs, moving around in buses and trains."