A mentally stimulating day on the greens characterised by a game of cricket, some sporting shots and bowling, several rounds of claps from very "pucca" people by the sideline, ending with some large glasses of ale, heartily shared by players of both teams in a spirit of bonhomie – seems like an image from a book written long, long ago.
In fact, simply thirty years back, cricket was not just a sport but a game to be played for some measure of mental edification. It was competitive but it was healthy competition – fans had never heard of betting syndicates, let alone the placement of honey traps to lure players with a weakness for the fairer sex into committing unscrupulous acts on the field.
Girls always ran after cricket players but that was because the game epitomised civility/chivalry of the highest degree in the sporting arena. Regrettably, today tramps and hustlers are more often seen loitering in the hotel lobby. Their aim? Either to find a quick path to stardom by engaging with a cricket star married or unmarried (the former is better) or, to use their charm and other "assets" to convince them in acting like cheap mercenaries in what used to be called the gentleman’s game.
With Indian police revealing that spot fixers had been active during the IPL, several possible names of culprits have emerged. Three players, Sreesanth, Ankeet Chavan and Ajit Chandila have been arrested while the Indian sport minister has publicly said he is ashamed.
Naturally, he has reason to feel humiliated. So far, the mere mention of corruption in cricket conjured up images of Pakistani players. The Salman Butt incident is very much fresh in our minds – a constant reminder as to how youth can be vitiated by greed.
Be that as it may, Indians, so far could take the holier than thou stance. Not anymore though. It appears the scourge of dishonestly has hit the game hard. Worryingly, investigations in India have also disclosed the name of a Bangladeshi cricketer having a finger in the corruption pie.
Just recently, after being grilled, Mohammad Ashraful, the former national skipper, said that in the last Bangladesh Premier League, as captain of the Dhaka Gladiators in two matches, he had to "give-up" two matches as pressure mounted from the franchisee.
Of course, there is no irrefutable proof but with everything said and done, the unvarnished truth is that cricket is tainted. At all levels! To understand the reason and philosophy of this practice, one needs to look at the wider aspect of professional sports where millions of dollars are involved.
Present day sport is all about making money. Coming out on top with honours is unquestionably the highest glory, but that triumph is only for the fans and the record books. Behind the lofty morals of sportsmanship lies another world where unemotional calculations rule. Here, there is no place for sentiment. Games are played to make a profit and games are also given away for money. While players play on the field, in what appears to be the most important aspect of the game, the real skills are being applied outside the gaze of the fans.
Of late, FIFA, the world football governing body, was embroiled in accusations of corruption and exhortations were made to root out the grime as much as possible. Naturally, if the top authority is stained, it’s not surprising that local level football is also tarnished. In recent times, there have been some efforts by the Bangladeshi authorities to probe into football match-fixing allegations, but the fact remains "making game" has been around for ages. Many former national players have said informally, requesting "off the record" privilege that they played such games for the club as part of an agreement with another club that required points to evade relegation.
In between, players of the club giving away the match were treated to Chinese food in the past which later escalated to cash incentives. In most of these matches, the deception factor has to be maintained but when the "fixing" became too apparent with fans protesting, the authority, to save face, had to act, going through the face-saving process.
Coming back to cricket, while the spot fixing saga is being played out, a Pakistani umpire, Asad Rouf, was withdrawn from the Champions’ Trophy in England as he was being investigated by the Mumbai police. Rouf was previously entangled in a scandal in which a model called Leena Kapoor accused him of sexual exploitation with the false promise of marriage. Incidentally, several other players have been seduced and convinced to throw away games after being persuaded by women. Talk about using the soft predator for some hard gains!
Once, a long time ago, the revelation that a top-rated Bangladeshi film actress was loitering at a local five star hotel at "obscene" hours just for the company of a famed Pakistani cricketer, made headlines. But back then it was just a case of a woman struck by the glamour of sports. It was salacious but not sin.
Sadly, today, the women seem to have far more sinister things in mind. Well, what can one say, when millions are at stake and the division between stardom and notoriety is vague – there is no real demarcation. Cricket has come out of its innocence and entered a sullied world. The trouble is the piled rot is now fabulously camouflaged by eye-popping glamour, jaw-dropping prizes and goose-bump arousing tag lines. Right, take a deep breath, close your eyes, pop the lager and imagine the pristine greens of bygone days.
Towheed Feroze is a journalist, currently working in the development sector.
