Blinding nationalism: Sport makes way for feverish jingoism
Rohit Mahajan
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, March 22
Sport is the medium through which civilised nations engage in warfare and acrimony in modern times. This sporting warfare turns the rabid supporters into something very obnoxious and uncivilised. This has been demonstrated again during the India-Australia Test series, in which men have played brilliant cricket but behaved like petty, small-minded teenagers.
The antics of the players of the two teams have polarised opinion in the two countries. The infantile behaviour of some players has rubbed on to the watchers and writers. India’s fans and media have become blind to the faults of their own players; Australia’s fans and media are unable to see the misdemeanours of their own players. Since it’s the age of the ease of expression, people are spewing hatred on Twitter and other social media outlets. This is leading to a rapid regeneration of venom.
Vehicle for nationalism
Becoming an extremist fan is the easiest way to assure yourself that you’re very patriotic. You wave the flag, you place your hand on the heart when the national anthem is played, you shout “Jai Hey” thrice at the end, and you can be smug in the belief that you’ve performed your patriotic duty.
The sportspersons, forever surrounded by this ultra-nationalistic atmosphere, themselves become convinced that by playing for the country, they’re great patriots. But the plain truth is that they’re pursuing a passion and a career that reward them with great wealth and honour. Would they play for the country if there’s no money to be made, or if there’s more money to be made by playing for a T20 club? Just ask Chris Gayle, who has preferred to play in the T20 leagues rather than for the ‘national’ West Indies team.
Ask Sachin Tendulkar, who preferred to play in the IPL in 2011 but pulled out of the tour of West Indies. He preferred to rest when he was needed for national duty, not during the domestic T20 tournament. In 2008, a survey by the Australian Cricketers’ Association showed that nearly half the country’s cricketers would consider retiring early in order to play in T20 tournaments.
There are several cricketers who’ve played for two countries — what of their patriotism?
Why get angry?
The extreme fans get passionate and angry, as do journalists are writers. The adversary fans and journalists are easily able to interpret once single incident differently, viewed from their nationalistic prism. For instance, the Indian media is convinced that Steve Smith was cheating when he sought help from the dressing room on the DRS, while the Australians are sure he was not cheating — one Australian newspaper referred to his look at the dressing room as “appearing to glance towards the Australian dressing room”.
Having travelled to several Australian cities on many occasions, one can vouch for the fact that Australians are very nice, easy-going people. But there are some not-nice Australians, too — I’ve heard from Italian and Greek immigrants about racism they’ve faced there, and from Indians too, of course. I’ve also heard about racism of Greek schoolchildren in a Greek school against Indian children attending it. In Australia, having been called a “black” something or the other, I’ve learnt to be my guard on the weekends, when the latent racism of some, spurred by alcohol, may emerge. No doubt Greek Australians can tell stories of Indian racism, too.
In short, Australia has its share of bigots, just as we in India have them in extremely large numbers. Darren Lehmann, the Australian coach, may have been a bigot at one time — in 2003, he was accused of calling Sri Lankan players “black c***s”. He apologised, later calling it “the biggest mistake of my life”.
Reading the tirades against Kohli, him being compared with Donald Trump, and Arjuna Ranatunga being called “villainous”, and the frequently patronising tone adopted by some writers on the novelties they see in India, one wonders if a bigot or two haven’t made their way into the press box.
