Not a single person were sitting. Just about everyone present at Mirpur’s Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium stood up in unison when Indian legend Sachin Tendulkar recorded his 100th international hundred, against Bangladesh on March 16 in the 2012 Asia Cup. The 25,000-strong Mirpur crowd clapped away for several minutes to show their appreciation for one of India’s greatest sons. This is perhaps one of the most beautiful sights in the gentleman’s game of cricket: the home crowd acknowledging any feat by an opposition player.
But not every sports fan exudes respect. There will always be rowdy personalities like Richard Barklie, Josh Parsons, Jordan Munday and William Simpson. This quartet, fans of English Premier League champions Chelsea, racially abused Souleymane Sylla, a French citizen of African origin, at a train station in Paris and denied him from travelling in the Metro. The incident took place last February when French champions Paris Saint Germain were scheduled to entertain Chelsea in the Round of 16 of the Uefa Champions League and the quartet were duly punished later by a district judge for their act of racism and unruly behaviour.
While the Bangladesh cricket fans are famous worldwide for their hospitality, there will always be people like Barklie and Parsons, whose actions damage the reputation of the majority. The majority of the Bangladesh fans are a cricket-loving people with a lot of emotions. In a politically-divided country, cricket is the only thing that unites the whole nation. The sport brings all the people together and helps breed sportsmanship, not only among the cricketers, but also the fans.
However, without the bad there would be no good and there has been a few disorderly spectators along the way who were almost successful in blemishing Bangladesh’s repute as charitable hosts.
Here, we take a look-back at five infamous occurrences that nearly left indelible marks on Bangladesh cricket (most recent first):
Steyn abused (Bangladesh v SA, 1st Test, Chittagong, 2015)
South Africa tearaway Dale Steyn incurred the wrath of the Bangladesh fans when he said a few months ago that he was eyeing some rest against the Tigers in the ongoing series in order to prolong his career. This did not go down well with the Bangladesh cricket faithful and possibly why two young kids hurled expletives at the fast bowler during the first of two Test matches at Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium. A pebble was also thrown towards his direction while one of his black team mates was the victim of racial abuse. No action was taken due to the relatively young age of the spectators.
Shishir harassed, Shakib retaliates (Bangladesh v India, 1st ODI, Mirpur, 2014)
Rahid, son of businessman Bazlur Rahman, and his disrespectful friends bore the brunt of Shakib al Hasan’s anger when they pestered the maverick all-rounder’s wife, Umme Ahmed Shishir, during the three-ODI series against India last year in June. Shakib, a bit of a hot-head himself, not only returned the favour but it was alleged that he, alongside some staff of the Bangladesh Cricket Board, beat up Rahid and his mates. The matter was later settled with the intervention of BCB president Nazmul Hassan.
West Indian team bus stoned (Bangladesh v WI, 2011 ICC World Cup, Mirpur)
The Bangladesh fans were distraught after witnessing their beloved team capitulate to 58-allout against the West Indies in the 2011 ICC World Cup. Some lawless spectators however, took one step too far when they mistakenly pelted the West Indian team bus with stones, thinking it was the Bangladesh one. When the demand of the time was constructive criticism, some fans instead resorted to anarchic behaviour. The Windies were unscathed but Chris Gayle was a bit apprehensive as he tweeted his worries inside the bus right after the incident.
Bottles thrown during Zimbabwe ODI (Bangladesh v Zimbabwe, 1st ODI, Mirpur, 2009)
Upon realising that Bangladesh were losing against Zimbabwe in the first of five ODIs in Mirpur six years ago, some undisciplined fans took the matter in their own hands. Just when Zimbabwe were coasting towards a facile win, the fans intervened with their act, throwing countless bottles on the field, hoping to disrupt the match. Thankfully, no one was injured and cricket’s regulatory body in the country duly beefed up their security measures.
‘Rubbish’ Ashraful (Practice session in Mirpur, March, 2008)
Mohammad Ashraful had a poor ODI series at home against South Africa in 2008, scoring only 17 runs in three matches, and one particular fan did not take it kindly. During a practice session a few days after the South Africa ODIs, a spectator, standing on the sidelines, called Ashraful “rubbish” along with a few other slang expressions. Then the poster boy of Bangladesh cricket, Ashraful could not control his temper and slapped the fan then and there. Ashraful was fined 25 percent of his salary for that month and had to later apologise for the incident.
