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| March 23, 2007 | Friday | Rabi-ul-Awwal 3, 1428 |
Restless Indians urged to calm down
NEW DELHI, March 22: Two leading Indian newspapers on Thursday lashed out at violence-prone fans as their cricket team prepared for a last-ditch effort to remain in the World Cup.
India, who were shocked by Bangladesh last week, must defeat in-form Sri Lanka in their last Group B match in Port-of-Spain on Friday to qualify for the second round.
A defeat will send the 1983 champions and 2003 finalists home to what is expected to be a hostile reception from fans who, in the past, have resorted to damaging cricketers' homes and burning effigies.
Mahendra Singh Dhoni's house in the eastern town of Ranchi was vandalised on Sunday following the loss to Bangladesh. Mohammad Kaif suffered similar treatment in 2003.
The Times of India and The Hindu newspapers castigated fans who resorted to violence and urged them to take victory or defeat in their stride.
The Times of India chided fans in an editorial on Thursday, saying “India's cricket fans do not understand the game.
“The cricket fan is a lazy, pampered know-nothing who thinks he owns the cricket teams that he supports,” the editorial went on.
“His sense of proprietorship is so developed that when his team loses, he speaks (or writes) of being betrayed without a tremor of self-consciousness.
“How do these lunatics justify their actions to themselves?
“As cricket fans it's reasonable for us to feel frustrated and annoyed by incompetence, but even chronic incompetence doesn't warrant a reaction as disproportionate as betrayal.”
The paper compared the Indian fan to England's Barmy Army who “in between watching cricket get some sun, sand and sea in.”
“England lose more often than they win, but I don't notice this caravan of supporters killing themselves or threatening to kill their champions.“They are different from our couch potatoes who never leave their rooms, never exert themselves except to find their remote controls and yet treat every Indian defeat as a conspiracy.”
The Times even said it may not be a bad thing if India were to join arch-rivals Pakistan on the sidelines after the first round.
“At least the crazed fans who attack homes and ask for their captain's head will be forced to spend their waking hours doing something else,” it wrote.
“They might take a break from spectatorship and actually play something. Even marbles would do: it would teach them that failure isn't a synonym for betrayal.”
The Hindu said it was more important for fans to demand excellence from politicians than the cricket team.
“The truth is, when our cricketers fail, in the larger context, it hardly matters. But when our politicians, public servants and nation builders fail, it does matter,” the paper said.
“If only we had demanded of these men and women the same level of organisation, unwavering consistency and excellence that we always seem to expect from our cricketers, India would have joined the First World of nations long ago.”
The paper added that the tragic death of Pakistan coach Bob Woolmer on Sunday put sport in perspective.
“A few days after a good man lost his life at the age of 58, possibly because he chose to serve a sport and a team with too much passion and dedication in a dangerously stressful environment, a moment's quiet reflection on the real value of cricket may not hurt at all.”—AFP
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