Sports won’t stand bullies

The stone pelting at the Australian bus is the latest in a line of violent reactions to cricketing losses. Experts in the field of sports tell us if it is time fo stricter measures.

The aftermath of India’s loss against Australia in the T20 match in Guwahati turned ugly, when a stone was hurled at the Australian team’s bus, shattering the window. This is hardly the first instance of violence when it comes to the cricketing. Everyone remembers the 2007 World Cup, when India came back earlier than expected, and skipper M.S. Dhoni had his effigy burned, even as he was mobbed when the team got into the country. Further back, the 1996 semifinals saw bottles being thrown at the battling teams — India and Sri Lanka — during the semi-finals at Eden Gardens, Kolkata.

While it’s disgraceful, sports is no stranger to violence. Football sees similar instances in Europe and South America. However, football associations and clubs take it on themselves to ban or fine clubs and districts whose fans indulge in this. Sometimes matches are even played behind closed doors as punishment. The idea is to penalise clubs, and thereby fans, to avoid instances of this sort.

With emotional cricket fans always ready to fly off the handle, — especially in the Indian subcontinent — perhaps it is time that the same were done in the world of cricket as well.

Former cricketer Aakash Chopra says that it should depend on the situation, and on how many people were involved in the violence. “I was at Guwahati for the same match, and the crowd was very sporting and I liked them. But then it came as a shock when the stone pelting happened. So, to blame the city and eliminate it completely from the cricket map is not fair because we shouldn’t punish them all for one person’s fault. The thing he did is deplorable and it should not happen, but a ban on the whole city would still be too harsh for an individual’s actions,” he explains.

The India vs Australia match

The world of cricket has also had such bans before, Aakash reminisces. “Cuttack was banned from hosting cricket matches for a very long time, because once a South Africa game was stopped as the crowd threw bottles at the players. The venue was banned for a few years and there was no international game for a while. When it is a huge crowd that is a part of the violence, a ban should be in place,” he firmly adds.

Former India national football team goalkeeper, now the CEO Chief Executive Officer at the Western India Football Association, Henry Menzes says that things are much stricter in the world of football. “It’s common in football that when there is violence inside a club’s stadium, they are penalised. It is the responsibility of the club to see that everything is in order, be it the spectators or the security. When a club fails to adhere to the rules and regulations, strict actions are taken. In an Iran-Iraq football match, when there was a threat to the teams, they played to empty stadiums. FIFA passes these sanctions because they are very strict on the safety aspect of things. I feel that such sanctions are necessary to prevent any chaos. There has to be one body to be responsible and take actions when such incidents happen,” he asserts.

While it may just seem like violence in India is restricted to cricket, Indian football too has seen its share of violence, especially in cities that have football fanatics galore. Mumbai FC player Steven Dias recalls an instance. “In football, such instances happen mainly in Calcutta because football is followed very religiously there. I remember, once we were playing a match against East Bengal and we won it 2-0. After the match, we entered our bus and suddenly, East Bengal fans surrounded us and pelted stones at our bus. We had security and the perpetrators were quickly stopped. After this incident, the security was tightened up for precaution. We can only request fans to control their rage, and rely on a security for our protection,” he shrugs.

Former cricketer Vinod Kambli says that the blame lies squarely on the crowds, who should learn to behave responsibly. “It was really unfortunate what happened at Guwahati, but this has always been the case with cricket. In a match that we were playing in Pakistan during Sourav Ganguly’s captaincy, stones were pelted at us and some hit him, as well as me. It got to the point where we had to stop the match and resume it later. You may try and block off stadiums, but then who’s to stop people from mobbing cricketers outside, or burning effigies, or incidents like what happened in Guwahati? The only way forward is stricter security for cricketers overall and only the police can do something,” he warns, grimly.