Sports

The Sting

by      Humayun Gauhar

We live in a very convoluted world where thieving is fine as long as you can get away with it. The ‘crime’ is to get caught. The biggest crime of our cricketers was to get caught.

Fast bowlers Mohammed Asif and young Mohammed Aamir took bribes to deliberately bowl predetermined ‘no balls’ with captain Salman Butt part of the scam. It was called ‘fancy fixing’ once, now it is ‘spot fixing’. They were found guilty by a British Crown Court and got what they had coming. They thought they were enabling some punters to make oodles of money, not knowing that they had being inveigled by an even more corrupt newspaper to get a juicy story, helped along by their greedy agent. That was their second big mistake.

An honest writer, however, must have balance even if justice does not. Justice is single-minded, its methodology limited. It is imperative to go behind the media frenzy and pious comments to see how far the malaise has spread in world cricket establishments, governments, rulers and society at large. The malaise infects the weakest link in the illegal betting chain for which the undoubtedly guilty cricketers took a convenient fall. Convenient because they unwittingly took the spotlight away from the sources of the crime – the illegal betting syndicates and their rich, powerful patrons.

Problem is, there are many more cricketers and athletes who should be punished too, but not many are or get away with a mild rap on the knuckles. This includes match and spot fixing in lesser domestic matches the world over, in nearly every sport. Why? One: because the culprits are ‘superstars’ that pull the crowds and big bucks TV. Two: because the possibility that punished cricketers might sing and sink them all is a nightmare. If that happens they would have to be silenced somehow, even killed, which is a messy business. Recall how South Africa’s captain Hansie Cronje paid for it with his life, killed in a private plane crash that conventional wisdom regards as deliberate. Or how one of Pakistan’s most famous bookies, ‘Hanif Cadbury’ was killed in South Africa and his body hacked to pieces?

Sure some athletes have taken the fall, but not many. A few have been banned for life, but only when it became inevitable. Corrupt sportsmen have existed before, exist now and will continue to exist given human nature and the attraction of the Golden Calf. But that doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t try and kill the disease instead of just its symptoms.

If the biggest mistake of our cricketers was to get caught, their other big mistakes were to trust their agent, get caught virtually red handed leaving a trail of video evidence, get caught in the wrong place where justice is ‘blinder’ than in most countries, and commit the crime in a country where its media have been itching to ‘get’ Pakistani cricketers since Waseem and Waqar humiliated England in England in the eighties with their reverse swing. Media there are so ‘free’ that immoral ‘sting’ operations are not only allowed but also condoned, even if done by an odious newspaper that has since bitten the dust because of illegal phone hacking.

Yes, when it comes to phone and social media hacking justice takes an about turn: how pray is phone hacking any worse than sting operations in which they exploit the weaknesses of people, in this case one who had not even achieved majority, and seducing them into doing wrong? They overlook the obvious, that every person has a price tag; the only question is how much and what form of payment will seduce him – the poorer and more uneducated the cheaper. For example, even the most moral person will break if his child is kidnapped for ransom and pay the price to obtain its release. In this convoluted world, kidnapping for ransom is illegal, phone hacking is illegal but immoral seduction that goes by the name of ‘sting operation’ is not? Some justice.

The foregoing in no way mitigates the crime of the three cricketers. But what it cries out for is a comprehensive investigation into cricket’s officialdom – the ICC, cricket boards and their personnel, managers and assistant managers, coaches and assistant coaches, the betting syndicate’s headquarters in Bombay with branches the world over. Investigate parliamentarians, ministers, businessmen, lawyers and even some sports journalists everywhere to get to the bottom of the malaise. Investigate the impotence of the ICC in the face of undue Indian ingress and influence. How, for example, did the ‘purists’ of the ICC legitimize the ridiculous IPL that is better known as ‘Indian Paisa Laundering’, custom-made for illegal betting and ruining techniques? I’m told it raised $50 billion last year? Second only to the scams of banks, what? You will never eradicate corruption by so doing, but you will certainly lessen it.

Those that speak the truth are trashed. When a star like Sarfraz Nawaz raises alarms he is labeled a ‘nut’ because he speaks Urdu (and English) in Bhati Gate Punjabi. Surprising how Rashid Latif, Basit Ali and Aamir Sohail have been crying wolf for years but have not yet been labeled ‘conspiracy theorists’ like all truth tellers are. Why was the Justice Qayyum Commission report ignored? He named certain superstars who should never be allowed near a cricket field yet the Pakistan Cricket Board gives most of them lucrative jobs that put them in such close proximity to young, impressionable cricketers in awe of them that they are in danger of being polluted. What lessons do young cricketers learn then: that if superstars can get away with it, why can’t they; if the country’s leadership can be corrupt top down and yet gets crowned again and again, why can’t they? The whole thing is ridiculous and criminal. It seems that the most important item on the agendas of all national and international cricket authorities is to somehow ensure that money keeps flowing via the illegal betting syndicates.

Once when my friend Izzat Majeed was flying PIA from London to Lahore, nothing on the plane was working. When the food tray of the Pakistani-British passenger sitting next to him fell on his lap, he turned to Izzat and declared plaintively, “Vaat is airline, that is country.” Similarly, “Vaat is cricket, that is country” – not just Pakistani but the whole jing-bang lot. The quick buck culture has overtaken everything, which is why the world’s economic and political systems are in meltdown. Why not cricket, once a ‘gentlemen’s game’ that has now become a casino? Money, big money, has hijacked the people’s game.
humayun.gauhar786@gmail.com

Dedicated to the cricket world cup spirit!

Sports have long been a tool of rearing pleasant rivalries and catering political games between nations who refuse to join hands otherwise. And when it comes to a cricket match between teams from Pakistan and India, the spectacle is overwhelming. From the media to the team players and obviously the fans, all are looking ahead to the day of magnificence. The state leaders, film stars and pop sensations would show up to support their teams and make the event irresistible and tempting.

Back down memory lane, it was one of the rare occasions when both the rival teams confront each other in the final match for a tournament either of the home grounds. It was in the land of the pure and in my own city, this time. The game was the talk of the town. The streets were decorated and well guarded with protocols. Hype in media, paparazzi following and the influx of many Indian supporting spectators for the event was facilitating an aggressive selling of many businesses. On the day before the match, restaurants, bazaars, cafes were breading grounds for one-on-one interaction, witnessing the spirits of positive competitiveness within the residents of two states.

I, my sister and eight other friends of mine decided to watch the One-Day match on a big screen at another friend’s place, as we were unable to get tickets. The match was due to start 10:00 am and I was to pick up 3 of these friends so me and my sister woke up early got casually dressed and drove off. Of course, we didn’t want to miss the decisive moment of the game’s toss. Still, on the way we drove by the stadium just to get the real feel of the incident. The united sounds of the crowd were an utmost inspiration and we could not rest our souls after. As soon as we entered our friend’s home and saw the rest of our gang sitting there in their casual clothing, legs crossed and laid back in peace, we started spelling out our intent to go and witness the real thing. By the half time of a really exciting first innings, all of us wanted to jump into our shoes and get in through the stadium gates. We started cleaning up ourselves, and calling our resources to get us tickets and to get in during the break before the second innings starts. We hit our luck with a secret admirer of a friend of mine who worked in the cricket board. The first innings Pakistan scored an easy chase for India. And after that our honor was all dependent on the bowling efforts of the Pakistani team in the second innings. It was a crazy and eventful afternoon that game break, onwards.

We drove to the stadium during the break; the admirer called our friend and told her to meet him at the Mohammad Farooq enclosure gate (No. 2), and we started screaming in enthusiasm as it was one of the most prestigious enclosures. We started day-dreaming of meeting models and media stars inside. Gadaffi cricket stadium Lahore is a beautiful red brick and hugely round architectural master piece. We started walking and high on adrenaline we passed by gate 1, 17, 16, and onwards until we reached 2 aimlessly; only to realize in the end that clockwise tiring walk around the huge stadium could have been avoided by just keeping our eyes open to the destination rather than the details of the journey. Now that I think back it occurs to me that the day would not have been so eventful if we didn’t walk passed by observing all those individual statements, groupies’ distinctiveness and cultural encounters. There I witnessed a mass gathering with all its collective glory and an essence of individual splendor. We reached the gate and all of us were escorted in by our friend’s admirer in groups of three with VIP passes. It was the game break between the two halves when we reached inside.

After coming out of the excitement for reaching the game after half day of struggle, we realized that 36 nations are watching the game on satellite TV worldwide, and none of our families knew we are here. To save ourselves, we started calling up our parents one by one going down in the basement away from the stadium noise.

What followed that day was a splendor in continuation. I was awed by what I saw that evening. I saw the power of love for a game; bringing citizens of rival nations come together. The same citizens who applaud their national guards flying boots into their adversary while marching on the Wahga border at everyday’s dawn & dusk. Who look forward to their state representatives; reassuring the news channels that the L.O.C firing always started from ‘the other side’. Who love watching movies and listening to songs that rekindle their national spirit in opposition to the people living a few hundred miles away across the barbed wires. The same citizens were sitting together sharing their pizza’s and chips laughing and hooting the challenger team’s players. On the lookout for a Sixer or a run out to show each other down with mere sarcasm instead of guns, political statements, cold war and what not. There were pop stars, film stars, politicians, corporate companies and many more interest groups making muse of the live collaborative energy of the occasion. It was as if the crowding brought with them the whole past history and future hopes for their homelands. Yet, all of them have come with this acceptance at heart that winning and losing is a part of the game and what matters is who out lives these moments the most.

This game of cricket was surely a dramatic spectacle bringing to my attention a unique socio-political experience and ‘it belonged with the theatre, ballet, opera and the dance’ as quoted by Cyril James in Beyond the boundaries.

Watch the: Same day, Same place, Same crowd as mentioned above and re-live the experience with me.

El Classico-The legacy lives on

Spanish La Liga is arguably one of the most followed football leagues in the world and it has for years, produced games which the football watching fraternity reminisce often to appreciate the immense talent that this land of Bull Fighting and exotic cuisine has.

Tonight, time would again come to a stand still for 90 minutes, when the two European giants, Barcelona and Real Madrid face each other at Camp Nou . Better known as “El Clasico”, tonight’s match is bound to be a clash of the titans as it has been year after year. There may be many a games in the world of football every year with ferocious rivalries but none of them are as highly anticipated as the “El Clasico” purely because of the class and talent that is on display on the pitch. A lot of the people would eye this as a contest between Lionel Messi (Barcelona) and Cristiano Ronaldo(Real Madrid) who have been in flawless form this season but there is a lot more to it then just these two. The legacy which these two footballing giants share needs to be lived up to every time they face each other and even though recent history favors Barcelona, Jose Mourinho, the Real Madrid manager has been hired just to put an end to the catalan dominance.

No matter how much we predict tonight’s result, no matter how much we argue about who is better of the two sides, but one thing is for sure, things would  be getting really “MESSI” at Camp Nou tonight!

Federer vs Nadal- the Rivalry

“Game-set-match, Nadal”…I still recall these words sending a shiver down my spine the first i heard them at the end of  final of the French Open way back in 2005.

At that point in time, Roger Federer seemed the invincible force in tennis  but with his cruising performance past him Federer, Nadal sent out a clear message to the world that he had arrived to topple over the reigning champion. Since then, both have entered the tennis courts globally to face each other 22 times and the advantage rests clearly in favor of Nadal who has won 14 of those matches. By no means have any of these matches been a one sided affair and Federer has always given Nadal, a run for his money. Both players having diverse playing styles cater to a vast audience globally. Though some like the finesse and class that Federer brings to the court, others prefer the persistence and  powerful ground strokes that Nadal boasts about in his arsenal.

Although, the world is divided over the supremacy of the two giants of the sport but this only adds up to the flavor and excitement every time these two are pinned against each other on the tennis court. Hopefully, if we are lucky enough, there are still some memorable matches that we might end up witnessing between these two great ambassadors of the game.