Boycott Indian Cricket? It is about time.
Indian cricket is the richest sporting body in the cricket world. It is also competing with the richest football clubs in monetary terms. However, the Indian cricket follower is hardly reaping any benefits. In sharp contrast, the follower finds himself/herself in miserable situations. The latest case was the beating up a few cricket fans received from the police. Rediff reports - “Spectators had a harrowing time winding their way through a sea of baton-wielding security personnel, who swung left, right and center, causing grievous injuries to at least a dozen youngsters. A badly-bruised boy, shirt soaked in blood, was refused help by a patrolling police van even as people begged to rush him to a nearby hospital.”
Harsha Bhogle pointed out a few years ago in an article that the real share holders of Indian Cricket are the Indian fans themselves. Fans means demand creation. Demand creation means possibility for corporates to sell their products. This in turn brings in money to cricket in general and Indian Cricket in general.
However the same person who is responsible for bringing in so much money into the game is treated like a foster child. Every step, every aspect sees the Indian Cricket Fan marginalized. When he wants to go to the stadium to see a match, he has to stand in the line for hours before he can get the precious tickets. This if the black market hasn’t already eaten up his ticket already. Why can a large portion of the tickets not be sold online? If that doesn’t seem democratic enough or even (scoff) too modern, why not sell the tickets in at least 200 outlets in the city where the match is being held? The Sunfeast Open at Calcutta, India’s first WTA event saw advertisements and posters promoting the event and specifically stating at least 20 outlets where tickets for the even were being sold. I could buy the ticket while shopping or eating a sandwich at an outlet of one of the tournament sponsors for instance.
Parking of the car is the next hassle which has to be endured. If I am not in a *clout* and do not manage to get the special sticker for my car, I have to park my car a long distance from the stadium. Then begins the long distance walk towards the stadium. Is this BCCI’s secret plan to promote other sports? For I do not see them supporting other sports in any way. They do not even support the women’s cricket team. Money isn’t the goal of sport. Money should mean an aid for sport more than any thing. Heck the BCCI doesn’t even pay proper attention to domestic cricket. So to expect them to support other sports is getting a wee bit carried away.
Right. Coming back to cricket. To go inside the stadium, the cricket fan has to leave the newspapers out of the stadium. So he cannot protect his butt from the rough cement seats. The fan cannot carry any food. Who cares about food when the fan cannot even carry water for a day in the stadium which pans 7 hours of live action. Of course this figure excludes 4-5 hours extra the fan has to keep in hand. Firstly for finding a car parking space. Secondly for the marathon walk. Then to go at least two hours early into the stadium to avoid the poor crowd management setup in the rush hours when most people are getting into the stadium. Of course you have to cope with the moody police cop who will give you any seat except the seat you were assigned by the ticket you hold. Of course there isn’t enough space to sit. You get to know how sardines feel. Or better, how the bhaji in pav feels just before you chomp it in your mouth while you watch your heroes play in the field.
Most cricket fans are quite insane in India. Thus they follow the above procedure. Some others try to watch the game on television. There is an advertisement after ever over. Which means an advertisement after every 4-5 minutes. People try to legitimize this by saying that money is good for the game. So the more, the better. Actually I am all for the influx of money into the game. But why should I not get at least 12 minutes of coverage without ads? I want insights into the game between over breaks. An ad every 4 minutes disturbs the flow of the game for the viewer. It feels as if I am watching a bit of cricket between ads when it should feel the opposite. An advertisement every third over is acceptable. Any more ads isn’t.
After years of cricket watching, the fans must be getting used to the ads thingy. So the BCCI announces that a logo of the BCCI will accompany each game India plays. NBA style! BCCI wouldn’t stop there. The commentators will now be hired by the BCCI. So if the commentators don’t speak poorly about their bosses, do not blame them. Also, the commentary standards have been poor. Without naming specific people, I really feel sad when the commentary standards are better in matches played in most other nations IF not all other nations compared to matches played in India.
So why does the Indian fan – the real reason why the BCCI earn so much money, the real share holder of cricket in India and the person who should be enjoying benefits rather than being made a fool of at every step find himself in such a sorry situation? For the South African cricket fan cricket can mean a nice day picnic where he can go in with his wife, take his children free (and get them delighted at getting free toys) and lie on the ‘hill’ and catch cricket. For the English cricket fan cricket can mean drinking beer and singing crazily while backing his team. For the New Zealand cricket fan cricket can mean listening to music and spending quality time with the girlfriend in the stadium. Such pleasures are unknown to the Indian Cricket fan. (Unrelated to most of them being single because their true love is cricket.) The question blares and begs to be answered. WHY?
Economics has a way to explain most things. Indian cricket apparently has inelastic demand. This means that no matter how poorly the fans are treated, the demand for cricket will remain. If some people do get bugged off, there are always new fans being created. When inelastic demand exists advantages will be taken. Most suppliers go with the maxim: take as much advantage as possible. Who cares about the sport or its fans. The situation becomes acute when the inelasticity exists as far as demand existing is concerned. The demand keeps increasing unrelated to the supply curve ‘cricket’. This means that the only concern the BCCI has regarding the supply part is ‘how it can yield maximum money.’ The fans are not a concern as they will increase no matter what.
I used ‘apparently’ in the above paragraph because this is the perceived notion. The truth is slightly different. How can we assess this given the sheer madness of following their cricket team the Indian cricket fan has shown regardless of the treatments meted out to him? Historical precedents attest that sports fans may appear crazy in their absolute devotions to their teams. However, with the advent of time, eras change and what is passion in one era may be just another golden duck spoilt in another. Indian Hockey had huge following. It is hockey’s bad luck that it existed in an era which meant fan followings could not convert to money for the sport. But the key point is that fans declined. Why? Poor performances and negligence on the part of authorities can be tolerated only to an extent and not beyond. West Indies Cricket has seen a fall in popularity similarly. But then Indian cricket isn’t performing well at all would be the retort. Shifts in interests take time to show in real terms. Already we are seeing lesser number of people watching international cricket games compared to 5 years ago. As generations change, interests of the specific generations can change. Different economic strata of youth have different sports to follow and heroes to look up to.
Tennis has Sania Mirza. The Chess revolution roles on, specially in South India. There is a new shooting revolution with a whole set of shooters. There is Golf and Jyoti Randhawa to idolize for some one who can afford gold. The common Indian who isn’t very rich can still follow football opposed to cricket. The international football games right from the English Premier League to the Champions League to the other big leagues are broadcast live. Zee Sports has signed a long term contract with the Indian Football Association and is providing tremendous coverage for domestic football games. If infrastructure and facilities are improved, football can take over India sooner than you can imagine. All it needs is some inspired performances. India is worse than 100 right now in the FIFA rankings. But I am just giving the football example to show that cricket shouldn’t feel safe despite the situation it finds itself in right now.
So is the Indian Cricket fan absolutely powerless? Not really. As he is the real share holder, he enjoys powers which he clearly does not use properly. The Indian Cricket fan should let his voice be heard. Not by shouting player x should be out of the team, player y should be in the team blah blah blah but in a much more meaningful way. Civil Disobedience! Non-Cooperation! Mahatma Gandhi showed the power people can have if united. Throwing your opinions to people, gathering perspectives from others and gaining momentum for an idea is the easier than ever before. There is the internet to throw your idea. The media is powerful and will latch up to it.
Are the Indian Cricket fans willing to tolerate the ill treatment they are meted out? Or will they become bolder and boycott Indian Cricket till the BCCI (which is just a money churning machine for whom cricket is just a tool for the money churning process and the Indian fan doesn’t even matter) is forced to taken the fans more seriously? Protests in terms of boycott or other means by a small section would not serve the purpose. The share holders are too many for a small portion to have any impact.
What is needed is a movement so that the structure of cricket is changed. The domestic players should get much more money, the people at the top or their backers should be true cricket visionaries and not politicians who are there because of the money game cricket is in our country, cricket should be run by professionals, there should be proper apportionment of wealth for the development of the game.. The list is long. It is about time fans let their voice be heard. However, I really do not know how the millions of shareholders of the game can unify. It is an extremely difficult proposition but it all starts with an idea. Boycott Indian Cricket? It is about time.
Tags: BCCI, Fans, Indian Cricket.
April 3rd, 2006 at 2:37 am
Good article. But the sad thing is we Indians have a tendency to accept everything without much complaints. Otherwise why do you think our cities look so dirty and derelict when you go to the poorest nations in Africa, other parts of Asia or South America and everything will be spic and span. It is not only with cricket but with everything :(. I was reading on the internet that a six year old girl and her mother got seriously injured outside the stadium and are hospitalized. I thought there was some mistake on the paper, but now seems like it was correct.
And, what is BCCI doing? It is thinking of how to hold the matches in some off-shore lands so that it can reap off some 212 million US dollar!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
April 3rd, 2006 at 11:29 am
Already we are seeing lesser number of people watching international cricket games compared to 5 years ago.
Can you give you any evidence of this?
April 3rd, 2006 at 1:07 pm
Excellent article. It is heartening to say that cricket fans are now seeing the game in a rational manner. BCCI is the richest sports body so it should spend some money for the benefits of spectator as well.
The most puzzling thing about BCCI is that why it is not registered in India but in one tax haven. Why it wants to save tax while a common citizen of India earning 10k per month pays tax ? If BCCI is not registered in India then how come it controls the national team of India or is it BCCI cricket team?
April 3rd, 2006 at 9:13 pm
But the sad thing is we Indians have a tendency to accept everything without much complaints. Otherwise why do you think our cities look so dirty and derelict when you go to the poorest nations in Africa, other parts of Asia or South America and everything will be spic and span. It is not only with cricket but with everything
You are absolutely spot on KL. I have felt the same myself. The Indians can and should voice their individual and collective voices and things which irk them. We take a lot of crap which is a poor and docile way - some thing I am not comfortable with at all.
April 3rd, 2006 at 9:22 pm
Krishna: I do not know regarding over all figures. However numbers watching from stands in India have definitely reduced. Stadiums are half fully, sparcely populated for international games on ocassions. I could not have ever imagined a half full Eden Gardens for a test 5 years ago. It did occur in a test match 1 or 2 years ago. Also, the interest certainly isn’t as strong. So many cricket matches has a part to play in this. What I do see is less of a tendency to leave every thing to watch every other cricket match India plays- some thing which was very much prevelant a till a few years ago.
Satya: Thanks. Speaking of taxes, most sporting bodies are exempt from taxes but the BCCI is being asked to pay taxes for the last few years because they allegedly do not fill all criterias. The amount being asked is huge. The case is being fought as of now. Will be interesting to see what happens. I do get the feeling that it is indeed the ‘BCCI Cricket Team’ rather than an Indian Cricket Team.
April 4th, 2006 at 5:05 am
[…] Pratyush K is rightfully indignant about the way Indian cricket treats its fans in spite of being the world’s richest sports body [hat tip: Krishna]. […]
April 4th, 2006 at 9:39 am
Well. That is one side of the story.
What does a normal Indian cricket fan do? He boos at cricketers, throws bottles and stones when the team is playing badly. And not just that. Burn effigies and put slipper garlands over photos of cricketers. Send forwarded mails and abuse cricketers to the maximum with the help of media. And whenever a match happens, crowd the area around the stadium thereby causing terrible hardship to people who have genuine tickets.
In football, if there is crowd trouble they vacate the entire stadium, and the match resumes. Or sometimes the club/country is punished so heavily that they wont get any matches in near future. Does BCCI do any such thing?
Or can it afford to do any such thing?
The problems the Indian fans are facing is of their own making. Though BCCI people are a bunch of jokers, we cant blame them in this regard. The facilities what the indisciplined cricket fan is getting is more than what he/she deserves!
April 4th, 2006 at 9:06 pm
It is indeed what he/she deserves Prabhu. I agree with you in this regard but not the reason behind why you feel the same.
For me they deserve what they get because they do not voice opinions against lack of standards meted out to them. As the saying goes while explaining democracy - “A country gets the leaders it deserves.”
Indian fans have no right to behave irrationally like they do. But that does not justify the torturous treatment meted out to them as far as I am concerned.
April 5th, 2006 at 10:30 am
Pratyush,
Oh yes I agree with you. Just that am bugged with the attitude of indian cricket supporters. Double standards, hypocricy and what not? :-)
April 5th, 2006 at 7:57 pm
Why are supporters being called hypocrites because of just some booing done by few people.
And, why should we hold such respect ,for them? Do we hold immense respect and worship all the people who manufacture everything for us, clean the roads, do we worship each and every woman, man and child in India (because of whom our country is running, functioning and developing), the way we do to our cricketers?
Also, Tendulkar is one of those richest Indian now, crorepati, I would gues. But, he can’t pay taxes for a car that he won, and has to request the Indian Government!!!!!!!!!! Does he think that all those government money come from taxes (even taxes paid by many middle-class people)? What sort of lesson is he teaching the younger ones those who look upto him as their idol???
Saurav Ganguly is another of those filthy rich people - his family own the largest press in WB; then, he earned god knows how many millions through the game; yet, when he has to find a land for his cricket academy, he has to request the government so that he can get it for free!!!!!!!!!!!!
Recently, I was reading an article (sorry I didn’t save the link) where some charities were lamenting that foreign cricketers come to help them; while Indian cricketers charge fees to charities when they visit them for appearances. If that is true, then it is the most disgusting thing.
Also, how much hours they spend doing any sort of charities - I am not talking about appearances and writing a check once in a while, but about really going down on their hands and knees to do charities. Well, they are busy playing cricket right!? Well, what about when it is off-season? They can find all the time to do ads, but no time to do charities…????
April 6th, 2006 at 6:43 pm
Only the fans who throw oranges, stuff on the field and behave poorly are being referred to IMO. General behaviour isn’t poor at all.
I do not grudge cricketers making money. The life of a sportsperson is short compared to people in other professions. The charities - some people do it off the record without publicity like Tendulkar. However, there is a lot more which can be done. The ‘image’ can be used for raising awareness much to causes which impact society and this should be exploited as much as possible. The Murali and Warne’s efforts after the Tsunami show how much impact sports people can make in this regard.
April 8th, 2006 at 2:41 pm
Pratyush for President of Indian Cricket Fans’ Association? :)
Splendid write up, the situation sounds very similar to the one in Pakistan. Here too the facilities for fans inside most leading international stadiums are deplorable to put it mildly.
Part of the ground at the NSK has no seats, where there are seats they are often broken or surrounded by dirty water; in Pindi the stadium has no roof so in the summers as a fan you can look forward to 7 hours of intense heat if you’re planning to go and see a one-day game.
In other cities, particularly like Peshawar, going inside the stadium is often the most tasking job of them all. In the recent India-Pakistan tour hundreds of original ticket holders it was reported were denied entry because the stadium was already full, in a significant proportion with fake ticket holders.
And did I mention the state of the bathrooms? Or indeed what happened to some of my friends after eating the food that the was being sold at the stadium?
The problems Pratyush highlighted about ticket sales also hold true here. It remains a mystery to me why little things such as making sure tickets are being sold at more then just one outlet for a big city that appear a matter of comman sense and logic to the fans them selves are never realised by the powers to be.
I guess in the insane world of sub-continental cricket boards it is too much to ask if you are expecting even something as trivial as a good return for the siginificant amount of money you have payed to get to the cricket, let alone demand something like “respect”…
One of the commentators here mentioned the fans don’t always display the behaviour the ought to (I’d reffer more to violent crowd behaviour in this respect than people booing some one) but you might argue on the flip side that such behaviour is enticed by the authorities poor treatment of the fans in the first place.
There is, after all, a limit to everyone’s patience, and some fans are less patient then the others. Of course I am not defending people who deem it fit to put the players’ lives in danger and take out their frustrations on the Cricket Board’s short comings/the team’s performance/whatever on the players but it would no doubt if more consideration was given to the fan’s plight.
The fans who gut hurt in that inccident reported in the Rediff have my sympathies and I hope they get well soon. I don’t suppose the BCCI has released any statements experessing their regrest at the inncident, let alone an apology on behalf of the police, but I did see a full length report in the morning’s papers about a BCCI official explaining how much money they were going to earn by TV contracts signed for such and such events…some things as the saying goes never change.
April 8th, 2006 at 10:04 pm
Pratyush for President of Indian Cricket Fans Association? :)
:D Only if you become President of Pakistan Cricket Fans’ Association!
The limit to the patience - The fans seem to have a lot of resistance in the subcontinent. But Hockey had a dedicated audience earlier as I mentioned. History has shown gaking fans for granted can be done only at your own peril.
In this incident Pawar (the politician that he is and realises the value of image) - got a family special seat or some thing. I am not aware of the exact news. But there is a lot to be done. You and I can write a thesis on it I am sure Zainub. We haven’t even talked about board politics, selections and such issues.
April 10th, 2006 at 12:21 pm
[…] Indian Cricket has suffered for long. My frustrations reached the peak when I called for boycotting Indian cricket in a recent piece. […]
April 11th, 2006 at 5:05 pm
[…] Cricket takes a whole new meaning in the sub-continent. It all fits into place when you look at the finnancial state of the game. This Article to some extent explains why the riots in Guawahati were not at all suprising. Indian cricket is in a bad state, in a country stricken with poverty, cricket becomes much more than a game to the population. The BCCI take advantage of the never-ending supply of fans and treat them anyway they like. […]
August 27th, 2006 at 6:00 pm
Dave
Interesting topic… I’m working in this industry myself and I don’t agree about this in 100%, but I added your page to my bookmarks and hope to see more interesting articles in the future
August 27th, 2006 at 6:57 pm
Dave
Interesting topic… I’m working in this industry myself and I don’t agree about this in 100%, but I added your page to my bookmarks and hope to see more interesting articles in the future
August 29th, 2006 at 11:25 pm
[…] … However, the Indian cricket follower is hardly reaping any benefits. … Every step, every aspect sees the Indian Cricket Fan marginalized. … http://indiasports.123indiaonline.com […]
August 29th, 2006 at 11:29 pm
[…] … However, the Indian cricket follower is hardly reaping any benefits. … Every step, every aspect sees the Indian Cricket Fan marginalized. … http://indiasports.123indiaonline.com […]
July 29th, 2007 at 12:39 am
India captain Rahul Dravid came down heavily on an Indian television channel on Friday and asked them to verify the facts before running stories.Read this: Angry Dravid slams TV channel
August 5th, 2007 at 10:34 am
I have to say, that I could not agree with you in 100% regarding Boycott Indian Cricket? It is about time., but it’s just my opinion, which could be wrong :)
December 27th, 2007 at 9:43 pm
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