IPL's googly: Jingoism turns regional

'There's a third observation: the Englishman and the Australian, and the South African also applauds the Indian batsman's boundary, the Indian bowler's wicket and the Indian fielder's catch. The Indian's cheering, all of us know, ceases when the other side does well.

It is as if a switch has turned the audience off, so consensually does the pandemonium end. Why does this happen? Our applause isn't mere appreciation of sporting ability: it is nationalism, and it comes from our desire that India should prevail. This is fine, but it also includes the caveat that the other side mustn't do well, and that is jingoism.

There is the applause given to a batsman for his century, true, but that is exceptional. The silence that receives the opposition's boundaries, or our wickets going, is the rule. This is the cricket viewing all of us were familiar with.

And then the IPL appeared, and suddenly it's different. Why?'

Read Akar Patel's complete article here.

Comments

This comment has been removed by the author.
I agree with you sir about the jingoism bit.
But if you look at most other outdoor team sports like football, rugby etc you will find that jingoism exists at far greater levels sometimes resulting in extreme cases of violence. The Australians, Englishmen and South Africans that you mentioned wouldnt be caught dead applauding an outstanding goal from the opposition.
They may treat cricket like a gentleman's game and applaud good performances from the opposition but they slip into another gear altogether for other sports.
Just giving my perspective and not contesting anything uve said.
Just realised now that ur post was an excerpt from an article by another author :)
Ray Titus said…
Vineeth,

You have a point there...the profile of the spectator changes as we move sports...

The English cricket lover's pretty polished...the english football fan on the other hand's a hooligan.
True boss...and it's something we can't do anything about.The Indian Culture and teachings are a definite contributor to this...m I ryt?

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