The below is from an email I sent this morning to a friend in reply to an email over the World Cup. Just some random thoughts.
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With reference to cricket or any other sports, I really fail to see why any country (or atleast in our own context, why India) should have any 'national team'? Let me explain
Whether cricket or football or hockey or even Kabaddi, it is a game played by n number of players for their own recreation. Possibly these games are watched for recreation or 'pass-time' (or worse, time-pass) by whoever need the 'recreation' or 'time-pass'.
Further, with the due commercialization each individual sportsperson is a business-man or professional out to earn his income - no grudges to that. Each sport is hence only a mechanism or vehicle for that businessman to achieve his business goals.
Now the question comes: Do we have a national business? Are there world-cup competitions of engineering (bridge-building or running railway trains or making roads) or of the medical profession ( treating ordinary colds to high precision surgeries in the most sensitive parts of the body)? Do we have competitions of 'selling chappals' or of 'auditing corporate finances'?
Now consider these sports businesses. Hundreds of people go crazy with saying "Indian" team and "Pakistani" team and whatever. Songs are written about football teams ("Braazzziiiil ... ara ... ra.. rara .. rara .raaa) :-)
But what is worse is using national flags and symbols - even use of anthems and national songs. Who gave any crowd the right or the moral ground to burn flags whether our own or even of Pakistan (our highest visibility 'enemy' in India) in the name of sports? Consider any high profile match ... people wave about national flags, then when they are tired these same flags are kept to a side without any respect and sometimes people even sit on them. Finally at the end of the match there are incidents of flag burning and desecrations. So why?
People often give the argument that BCCI is a profit making organization and is not taking subsidies from government. Same is not the case with other sports businesses. Even in case of the profit making ones, how much are they then paying the Government or the People of India to use and insult the Indian national flags? Does our flag have a price?
It works both ways when 11 people go and win the 1983 world cup or when another 11 people go and lose to the Bangalis in 2007, why should the nation feel either pride or sorrow or why should the nation be affected at all? Is the Nation smaller than the abilities and priorities of the 11 people out there? Sad is the day when a loss on a sports field is taken to affect the destinies of millions of people in the country.
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Okay so ramblings ... but I wonder if there are people who think on similar lines ...
Cheers
Gautam
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1 comment:
You have some point here. I dont like the extra competitive spirit in playing games - beyond a limit, it takes away the fun. Of course, if there is no desire to win, the game becomes boring also.
Today, games are beyond games - they are a business. There are lots of people who make money from it - accessories, advertisement people, bookies, what have you. So, the implications of loss/gain are magnified manifold, whether you like it or not.
When a company puts up a note congratulating a team, it is often not a congratulation message, but a ploy to attract readers to the company. And so on.
The notion of a national team is not too bad - they are supposed to represent a country, in a competition. It creates some structure and order in these events. A limited amount of passion is healthy - as long as it is limited.
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