Sports Special
New Delhi, 16 July 2014
Whither Sportsmen
Spirit?
AGGRESSION NAME OF
THE GAME
By Proloy Bagchi
Whither sports and sportsmen spirit? The FIFA World Cup is
over but it underscored a mean and vicious side of sports today: undue
aggressiveness to win it all. This violent ugly was underscored during the Brazil-Colombia
football match which turned into a slugfest with Colombian Zuniga’s downing Brazilian
football’s superstar Neymar, thereby breaking the latter’s vertebra and taking away
a bit of the sheen from the “Beautiful Game”.
Undeniably, hostility of this kind does not quite mix with
sports, be it football or any other sport.
Shockingly, the Brazil-Colombia game was particularly rough with as many
as 54 fouls whistled down, of these 31 were committed by the Brazilians. Indeed,
if this is considered as beautiful, one wouldn’t want to fathom what beautiful
is!
Certainly, fouls are committed unintentionally but, as one noticed;
players were either being pulled away or deliberately downed to prevent them
from carrying on with the game. And this happened not once or twice but umpteen
numbers of times in various games I watched.
Clearly, to me, this did not appear like sport. After all, one
plays a game for not only pleasure but also to extend pleasure to spectators.
It is neither a matter of life and death nor is it a matter of national
prestige. Then why go and do something like breaking somebody’s back ---
literally?
True, football, hockey, rugby, ice hockey et al which are
known as “contact sports”, whereby, players of two teams need to have physical
contact with each other. In rugby and ice hockey sportsmen even wear protective
gear to ward off injuries given that retrieving the ball from the opposition
and scoring goals is the primary objective. In the process players have to
tackle the opposing side wherein in doing so they could hurt each other. True,
that would be incidental to the game.
However, what we saw in the World Cup matches was deliberate
contacts with an opposition player only to deprive him possession of the ball
or keep him away from it. In this byplay everything seemed to be fair including
bringing his opponent down, stepping on him with nailed boots or, for that
matter, kneeing him on the back.
Questionably, in my opinion, if one thinks of preventing the
opposition from playing ball, why play the game at all? But then, even sports
have become highly competitive with a lot of money thrown in and of course, prestige.
Bringing things to such a pass that it is virtually a soft kind of war, highly
hyped up.
I suppose, that is why some of the ‘no-contact sports’ like
cricket and tennis have been described as “Gentlemen’s Game”. Cricket used to
be and continues to be gentlemanly.
One sees these traits especially in test matches. When a
batsman or bowler attains a milestone he is congratulated by players of the
opposing side, or if a bowler takes more than five wickets in an innings play he,
instead of the captain, is made to lead the team back to the pavilion.
Moreover, there are hardly ever any protests against an umpire’s decision.
Besides, there are many such healthy, gentlemanly
conventions which are observed even today highlighting the spirit of
sportsmanship. Sadly, however, aberrations are creeping in and healthy traditions
are gradually yielding place to aggression. Especially in the limited-overs
matches.
Expressions of extreme exuberance verging on being
aggressive and intimidating after capturing a wicket have been noticed in
numerous limited-overs international games. An example: Showing the way of the
pavilion haughtily to a batsman after taking his wicket, a show of brazen
immodesty, is surely not gentlemanly.
Pertinently, during the Indian Premier League (IPL) limited
over cricket matches, I noticed on any number of occasions bowlers aiming the
ball in “death” overs close to the line which indicates a “wide” on the Leg
Side far away from the batsman. But on the Off Side such a ball would not be a
called a “wide”. There must be some reason behind this wacky rule but that is
how it is.
Obviously, the bowlers’ intention is to keep the ball as far
away from the batsman as possible so that it is beyond the latter’s reach. This
practice is adopted more in matches that progress towards a close finish. If
the bowler’s intention is not to allow the batsman to even touch the ball,
leave alone score runs off it, then I ask the same question again: Why play the
game at all? True, the bowlers could claim to be bowling within the rules but
not the spirit of the game.
Alas, aggression is on occasions seen even in tennis which too
is deemed as a gentlemen’s game. One can often witness assertive exuberance in
players after winning a crucial game or a set. This wasn’t so earlier. Although,
with the onset of “boom-boom” serve and volley game, tennis seems to have lost
that softness of yore. But, then today the game is played with intense passion
after years of preparation of the mind, body and huge investments given there
is a lot of money appended to professional tennis.
The game has produced numerous millionaires. And, yet I find
seven-time Wimbledon Champion Roger Federer not quite gelling with the crowd.
He is different. A legendary tennis player, having been conferred with numerous
awards, even off the tennis courts, for qualities of head and heart. Add to
this, his equanimity after a win is admirable.
The tennis maestro’s exuberance after hitting a winning
volley and scoring a point is always subdued, never jarring or strident. Even post
a victory his elation and exultations are mostly to acknowledge spectators cheers
and appreciation. Perhaps, Federer internalises his wins allowing it to seep
within. Clearly, this is how a sportsman should conduct himself. But, that
would be idealistic in today’s day and age wherein all kinds assemble in a
sporting arena contributing to the rough and tumble of competitive sports. And
that possibly makes things more interesting in the present world! ----- INFA
(Copyright,
India News and Feature Alliance)
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