Return of the ugly Indian fan

Rohit Mahajan

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, October 6

The bottle-throwing incidents during the second T20I between India and South Africa at Cuttack show that many of us still haven’t learnt how to lose gracefully. In the past, there has been much more serious trouble, including violence, during cricket matches in India. 

Kolkata had been notorious for this. But the threat of crowd trouble has receded in the recent years. The reason is not that the crowds have become calmer and wiser — it’s just that they’re not allowed to take any object into the ground that can be used as a missile. They can’t take in water bottles, and water and other beverages inside the stadium are provided in polythene pouches or paper cups. 

In fact, you can’t take anything on you into the stadium, not even binoculars, and at some places car keys are also not permitted inside. During the hockey World Cup in 2010 in New Delhi, you had to remove all the coins from your pockets or wallet at the police checkpost at the venue. 

It wasn’t to bribe them — it was to ensure security for the players, for coins can become painful missiles if thrown at the players.

When you amass 50,000 people into a stadium, drive them to a high fervour in support of their team, play the national anthem to add a bit of nationalism in the mix, you create a potent force. There’s every chance that if this frenzied mass of people gets angry at something, there would be trouble. It’s for this reason that sports arenas in India are high-security areas, even at the edge of the playing field. 

Kolkata troubles

Of Kolkata, the last of the serious crowd troubles occurred there in 1999, during a Test match against Pakistan. Sachin Tendulkar was run out on the fourth day after colliding with Shoaib Akhtar, and the crowd got angry. They began to throw bottles at Akhtar, abusing him and calling him a cheat. Play was halted. The next day, as India slipped to a defeat, the crowd threw stones and plastic bottles on the field. Finally, the crowd was evicted by the police and Pakistan won in an empty stadium. 

There was trouble at this venue in 1996, when India lost the World Cup semifinal to Sri Lanka. Sunil Gavaskar was booed and pelted with fruit in 1984 as the crowd held him responsible for dropping Kapil Dev, and Gavaskar vowed to never play in Kolkata again. There was more serious trouble in 1967 against West Indies and in 1969 against Australia. Trouble wasn’t restricted to Kolkata in 1969 — the previous month in Mumbai, crowds at the Brabourne Stadium threw bottles — glass bottles! — on the ground and burnt chairs after an Indian batsman was given out. In 1983, Clive Lloyd took his team off an Indian ground after a stone thrown from the stands hit one of his players.

Over the years, stadiums across India took measures to protect the players. The Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru installed massive nets at the roof, and these could be lowered down to block any missiles in case of a crowd trouble. Most stadiums have huge fences in front of the stands, and many stadiums (like Mohali) have a broad moat between the ground and the stands.

Hooliganism abroad

Sporting contests in the developed world are not free of crowd ugliness — in Europe, the US and Australia, there have been serious cases of hooliganism, rioting and racism. Clearly, a huge and fervent crowd can descend into mob fury anywhere in the world. But in India, there’s an extra factor at work — it’s the fact that going to a stadium to watch a match can be quite unpleasant here. 

You could be caned (as has happened in Kolkata) while queuing to buy tickets at the box office; you have to queue up for hours on match day to get in; the seats can be uncomfortable, and the facilities for the crowd either don’t exist or are horrible. Being a spectator in India isn’t easy — the spectator’s only solace is an Indian win. But when India lose in an abject manner, the frustrations boil over. This must change, but it seems it's futile to hope much.