The Hindu : Sport / Generalia : Sport is not war, but occasionally feels that way

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Dec 01, 2005

Sport

Sport - Generalia

Sport is not war, but occasionally feels that way

Performance over, the gymnast would step down to where his rivals sat coiled on chairs, and now and then someone would proffer a hand or nod in congratulation. Amidst the muscular competition at last week's World gymnastics championships in Melbourne, it appeared a courteous brotherhood still existed.

These gestures of respect were small, fleeting, but perhaps we cling to them because we are becoming somewhat accustomed to disrespect in the arena, sometimes from athletes, too regularly from crowds. Sport is not war, not even a substitute, but occasionally it feels that way.

Often, as if to reassure us about the idea of nations in competition, we are instructed that sport brings us closer. At the Olympics, the two Koreas will march together and officials will preen about "one world." There is a grand conceit to such proclamations, not just a glossing over the jingoism and parochialism that stride sporting fields, but also an overestimation of the role sport plays in the scheme of life.

The other side

As much as we believe sport unites, it owns a powerful capacity to divide. Of course, splendid moments occur in sporting arenas and are not to be ignored. Adelaide's constant ovations last week in celebration of Brian Lara were moving, and Andrew Flintoff's pausing of celebrations to comfort a disconsolate Brett Lee during the Ashes stirred the spirit.

But respect is being drowned out by chauvinism. Uruguayan supporters booed Australia's national anthem during the recent World Cup qualifiers thus giving legitimacy somehow to Australian fans to repay the insult. The Swiss and Turks exchanged slurs in their encounter and if sport is about pleasure little was to be seen.

Passion is used deftly as an excuse for all manner of crassness from crowds, heat of the moment, you know. It is a feeble justification and surely it is in the heat of the moment when character is most clearly revealed. Why else do we not forget the Chennai stadium's generous applause of the victorious Pakistanis in 1999?

Competing under a national flag is an honour we are told, though, of course, it is just fine to dishonour another man's flag. Most want their team to win and why not, but appreciations of skill appear reserved almost exclusively for the home team. Though in Kolkata recently, the Indian cricketers may well have wondered briefly who the home team was.

Parochialism

Jesting and clever slogans have been replaced by a vile parochialism. Last week in the Italian league, a young Ivory Coast player Marc Zoro was reduced to tears by monkey chanting from visiting Inter Milan fans, but this was no aberration. It is one thing to say this is an entertainment business where ticket-buying fans are allowed to express themselves, but how far are we going to move the line of acceptable behaviour?

Debate within Indian cricket, for instance, has descended into staggering name-calling. A journalist friend who runs a cricket blog on a well-known Indian website threatened to close it recently because some of the posts were, in his words, "absolute filth."

Intelligent discussion on the Indian captaincy issue remains, but so does offensive talk of Dravidians and Aryans, Southies and Bengalis, any praise of one man churlishly interpreted as damning the other. Surely cricket cannot be so important.

Unacceptable

The behaviour of parts of the Kolkata crowd during the recent one-dayer, and it is a city from where I come, was unbecoming. Worse, politicians and actors pandered pathetically to the audience while some newspapers produced reporting that was distressingly provincial. Later, abuse of some fielders was explained away as common when Indian teams lose as if that is just fine. A selector was even apparently reviled for not putting Bengal ahead of India when it came to Ganguly's selection.

How desperately ironic then that all this was in defence of a former captain who was celebrated during his tenure for rejecting parochialism.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Sport