A sudden twist in India-Pakistan tale: Love in Adelaide, hate in Sydney

Rohit Mahajan

Tribune News Service

Adelaide, February 16

Evidence in Adelaide suggested that it was all love and brotherhood among Indian and Pakistani fans here in Australia. But Sydney provided an ugly picture — men watching the match on screen in a bar got violent, throwing chairs, cutlery and glasses at each other.

The bar was lowered significantly in Sydney — in a bar, naturally, though the bar management claimed that the incident was not “alcohol-fuelled”. The bar/club that was the venue of the fracas seems to be fitted with cameras at every conceivable point — there are 200 cameras all over the place. The police are examining the recordings and arrests are expected to be made soon. The clash involved around 40 people, and four of them had to be taken to hospital.

“The tensions rose as the evident winner was going to surface,” Bryn Miller, the CEO of the club, said in an interview. “Some 20 minutes beforehand there was some pushing and shoving by overexcited fans and it was calmed down. Pakistan hit a six and the crowd went very vocal and cheered and a person raised a chair and threw it at someone.”
This man then fled from the club in a hurry, accompanied by a friend. There was no indication from their clothes about the team they were supporting. Miller said that soon, other people began punching each other, throwing furniture at each other, even as the security guards of the club tried to break up the fight.

“It lasted about a minute but in a minute it was an unbelievably ugly scene,” he said. “When the police came, it put oil on troubled waters.”

Miller said usually, Sunday nights are very quiet. But, for this eagerly-anticipated match, there were lots of inquiries.  “People mightn’t be able to pay the $400 to go and watch (live at the venue) but they certainly like being able to watch in the company of others,” he said. An amateur video posted on facebook shows glasses and crockery being thrown by the two groups, and one man is shown lying unconscious on the floor. One man who was at the bar later claimed that the first chair was thrown by an Indian fan “at a Pakistani dude who was just sitting down minding his own business”. The ugliness of this incident showed that the fans in Adelaide were positively saintly yesterday — they shouted with fervour for their team, but they also hugged and cheered each other even as the teams fought it out in the middle. Australian officials love the sight of so many overseas fans coming in, bringing in their rivalries and passion and lighting up the tournament. James Sutherland, the CEO of Cricket Australia, says: “I’ve heard stories of people flying in for the weekend to watch a game in Melbourne or Adelaide, then fly back to Singapore or Mumbai or where they came from. It’s quite remarkable really, and I think we’re going to see that continue throughout the course of this event.” For many ordinary Australians, the fight in the Sydney bar is an ugly aspect of multiculturalism.

“Deport them... Do not bring India-Pakistan conflict to our shore. If you guys want to fight, then go to Kashmir,” was a comment on the website of a popular newspaper here.