Early life
Rehan was born in Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan (6 July 1980) as the second child of an ethnic Kashmiri family. His father Saqib Butt was a film producer by profession. Rehan's elder brother Rizwan also played hockey and they both used to go to the Noble Hockey Ground to play while Rehan was in fifth grade. There Rehan was spotted by the sports teacher of Govt. Model Town High School, Lahore while playing on artificial turf and offered to play for the school. Rehan and Rizwan helped the school win an inter-school trophy after seven years.
After completing his matriculation from the school, Rehan got admission in the Government College University, Lahore based on sports scholarship. In his first year, he helped the college reach the final of inter-college tournament where they lost the final to M.A.O. Graduate College who were 22 times champions. Rehan asked his teacher to allow him to select the team for the following year and promised him to win the trophy, his teacher agreed. The following year, Rehan was in-charge of team selection and for the position of goalkeeper he picked a tall young lad, Salman Akbar, who went on to play for Pakistan.
International career
Junior team
Rehan was picked for the Pakistan junior team in 2001 for the tour of Germany. Rehan showed impressive performance with the junior squad and scored seven goals on the tour. Rehan was picked for the senior national team camp the following year under head coach Tahir Zaman but was not played for quite a while.
Debut and early years (2002-03)
After impressive performances with the junior squad he was selected for the tour of Europe in 2002 where he made his debut in the series against Spain. [4] He scored in the opening match of the series in a 1–1 draw. He scored three goals in the four-match series, which Pakistan won 3–0. Despite impressive performance he was not part of the next campaign of the tour in England at the Commonwealth Games in Manchester. [5] He was back in the squad for the 2002 Champions Trophy in Germany where he was substituted in the last eight minutes of the third-position game against India, Pakistan were trailing by 3–2 but Rehan scored two goals in quick succession to win the match for Pakistan. This match earned attention for Rehan back at home where he was interviewed by leading sports newspaper.
Butt appeared in all the tournaments for Pakistan in 2003. The team won the Azlan Shah Cup in March, finished third at the Champions Trophy in Amstelveen and were runners-up at the 2003 Hockey Asia Cup in Kuala Lumpur. During this period, Butt and Shakeel Abbasi built a young strong combination of forward line-up. As the team management rested senior players for future events, Butt and Abbasi became the key forwards for the team.
Olympics and later year (2004-05)
He was part of the squad for the pre-Olympic tours in Europe where he appeared in different tournaments in England, Spain and in a series against Germany. At the 2004 Olympics, he appeared in all games and scored four goals as Pakistan finished 5th at the event.
He played in the test series against India later on and in the Champions Trophy at home in Lahore at the end of the year.
Pakistan toured Europe in 2005 where they won the 2005 HockeyRabo Trophy after defeating Olympic Champions Australia in the final. Butt scored the equalizing goal as Pakistan won 4–3. This was Pakistan's first high-profile tournament win since their World Cup win in 1994. [6]
2006 Hockey World Cup and Asian Games
Pakistan started the year with the bilateral test series against India. Butt had made a reputation of a prolific striker against the traditional rivals India by now. He played in all of the tournaments in lead up to the World Cup in Germany in September. He scored a hat-trick at the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, Pakistan finished runner-ups after they lost the final to Australia.
He scored three goals at the 2006 World Cup but Pakistan had a disappointing finish of sixth place. The team finished with a bronze medal at the Asian Games later in the year.
Captaincy and Olympics (2007-08)
Butt was named the national team captain for the first time for the 2007 Sultan Azlan Shah Cup. [7] He retained captaincy for the tournaments in Europe and China in preparation for the Olympics the following year. In 2008, Butt was the top scorer at Azlan Shah Cup with six goals. In a dismal Olympics campaign for Pakistan in Beijing, he only managed to score one goal.
Later years (2009-12)
He maintained good individual performances despite Pakistan showing mixed results from disastrous campaigns at the 2010 Hockey World Cup and Azlan Shah Cup. He was part of the Pakistan team that won became champions at the Asian Games for the first time after 20 years. Butt scored a goal in the 2–0 victory against Malaysia in the final. Butt was named in the All Star Team for the second time in 2010. [8]
From 2011 he was largely out of the team due to injuries and disciplinary issues. After the tour from Europe in July 2011 he was dropped from the team for the remainder of the season because of behavioral issues but Butt denied these claims. [9] Despite the team's poor results and calls for his inclusion he was not picked for the team. [10]
In 2012 he was recalled to the squad along with other senior players for the European tour before the 2012 Olympics. [11] He scored the opening goal against Spain in the 1–1 draw at the first match of the Olympics. [12]
Though he didn't announce his retirement he was not considered for any future event. He later took up role as a player-coach after his playing days. [13]
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