Is Bangladesh cricket fan's apology for attack on Indian genuine?
When Sudhir Gautam - India's most celebrated cricket fan - claimed to have been attacked in Bangladesh, the nation was shocked. How did an innocent fan, who had come to cheer his country from a foreign land, affront the Bangladeshis to deserve such harassment? People have been up in arms on social media against the incident. There now seems to be a frantic effort to soothe ruffled feathers and mend a dented image with a Bangladeshi fan apologising to Gautam on camera (see video) on behalf of those who had attacked him after Bangladesh's first-ever ODI series win over India bringing the gentleman's game to disrepute.
Is the apology a mere eyewash? Was it staged to salvage some face after a few infantile and unsporting fans embarrassed the country after its cricket team did it proud with a historic series win over the mighty two-time world champions? Or was it a genuine expression of apology? The answers to these may not be immediately available, but if we can for a moment, cease to be a naysayer, the apology shows that for all the rowdiness, there will always be sane individuals who would keep the moral fabric of humankind intact.
It immediately jogs one's memory back to the World Cup 1996 semi-final between India and Sri Lanka at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata. The crowd, heartbroken by an abysmal performance by their heroes on a pitch perhaps not fit for a match of such stature, went on the rampage as the end of India's World Cup seemed nigh, and the proceedings had to be called off and the match awarded to the Sri Lankans. However, on that night too, there was a sane individual in the stands, who held up a placard reading, "Congratulation [sic] Sri Lanka - we are sorry". At least somebody had his head firmly on his shoulders on a night of complete pandemonium and was acclaimed the world over for the gesture.
Crowd violence during sporting events is not new though. Clashes have taken place between rival fans from time to time in various parts of the world. Football fans have regularly engaged in bloody brawls and there have been numerous incidents of racism. One such incident which readily comes to mind was the one involving fans of the English football club Chelsea who prevented a black man from entering a train in Paris earlier this year. Players have also not been immune and from Andrew Symonds to Mario Balotelli, a number of them had faced the brunt of racism. Indian and Pakistani fans have clashed during cricket matches and in what was perhaps the darkest day in the history of Indian sports, 16 lives were lost in violence and stampede during a match between the Kolkata football clubs East Bengal and Mohun Bagan on August 16, 1980.
One understands that sports have the capacity to exhilarate people. The sight of stumps cart-wheeling or a disdainful hit for six, or indeed a stunning goal can bring about an adrenaline rush, and mixed with intense nationalism or affection for one's team, can make people react violently. Often an ugly on-field incident can spill over to the stands, and given that sporting stars are seen as role models (and in the Indian subcontinent, cricketers especially, are hero-worshipped) the result can be disastrous.
Sudhir Gautam was possibly attacked as he stood as the symbol of not just Indian fandom, but Indian cricket itself (with his way of dressing and indeed his fame), which the Bangladeshis wanted to denounce, and their emphatic series victory provided an opportunity for them to express themselves. They are probably still smarting on account of the controversial umpiring decision that went aganst them in the World Cup quarter-final against the same opposition, which they believe was one of the turning points of the match. They have also been enraged by Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni forcefully pushing aside a young Mustafizur Rahman during a mid-pitch collision, and they tried to get back at the Indians by attacking their most recognisable fan.
However, as the Bangladeshi fan in the apology video says, whatever happened was not right, and at the cost of sounding repetitive, it must be said that people must learn to stop treating a game as war. Till that happens, Sudhir Gautam and his ilk will take heart from the fact that saner voices have still not died down. However, more than the apology, what we really need is a change in the mindset of the fans where they start to respect each other.