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Match-fixing, dirty-deals for television rights,
secret accounts in tax-havens, high-stake gambling, off-shore one-day matches
with dubious connections ..... all this and much more has come to light after
the Hansie Cronje revelations. But what has been exposed is probably just the
tip of the iceberg. And the CBI enquiries, ICC investigations, etc., will be
just some cover-up jobs; like the Chandrachud report in India; like the
Australian cricket authorities approach to the Warne/Wauge money deals, like the
secrecy over the inquiry report into the Pakistani team’s deals etc., etc. No
doubt the fight over the spoils will lead to some exposures; those who were
unable to mint fortunes may squeal. But the stakes are too high to allow the
entire truth to come out.
What is entailed is betting rackets worth Rs. 1,000
crore in India alone; taken internationally the figure may be three to four
times this. What is involved is probably twice this figure in advertising,
sponsorship monies, TV rights, etc. What is involved is an effective diversion
for the crores of youth and middle-classes, which enflames fake patriotism, and
acts as opium to lull their senses through passive TV/radio viewing. What is
involved is massive TV viewership gained by multinationals for their products,
advertised on shirts, pants, gloves, sleeves, pads, bats, bails, balls, all
around the ground and even on the score-boards, on slow-motion retakes, and on
just about anything that they can lay their hands on. With such large viewership,
that too of the youth, they cannot be expected to give up easily one of their
most effective methods of brainwashing for their products. Besides, those
involved are high-flying, powerful individuals with links to the very top.
Kapil Dev, who now weeps for having been caught
out, was that great ‘patriot’ who made publicity-packed visits to the Kargil
soldiers. Azharuddin receives a Mercedes Benz car from ‘fans’ in Dubai. Sachin
Tendulkar invites top book-maker, Sobhan, to his wedding. Ajay Jadeja and Nayan
Mongia figure in Mumbai police tapes. And the very head of the International
Cricket Council (ICC), Jagmohan Dalmiya, is the prime accused in the scandal on
granting TV rights, during the 1998 Bangladesh tournament, to the US based
WorldTel, depriving Doordarshan of revenue of $4 million.
Not surprisingly, most of those who run cricket are
not cricketers but businessmen and mafia. Dalmiya is a construction tycoon in
India with dubious business and political links. The earlier head of Sri Lanka’s
Cricket Control Board was the country’s top bookmaker, Thilanga Sumathipala. The
chairman of the England and Wales Cricket Board, is a director of the fourth
largest British TNC, Vodofone, which just happens to be the sponsor of the
English team.
And it is under Dalmiya’s presidentship that
cricket has been commercialised to the extent it is today. With a view to rake
in billions, the number of one-day matches have been increased phenomenally,
taking it to places like Dhaka, Dubai, Disneyworld, etc., which are clearly
nothing but money-making rackets. Globalisation of the economy has led to
globalisation of cricket. And just as the world economy is run by the worst
gangsters, criminals and mafia, so is cricket. Some pose as ‘gentlemen’, others
are direct mafia elements, and yet others, like the recently slained Ashraf
Patel, or arrested Krishna Kumar, are both rolled into one.
Sports must be a people’s event. In the country
today, let alone the ordinary masses, even the bulk of the schools and colleges
(except the elite ones) have no sports facilities whatsoever. The government
funding of sports is nominal, and what exists, is seeped in corruption,
politicking and favouritisms. Except for the wealthy families and those with
‘connections’, none of the country’s children can flower. If the vast crores of
money spent on advertising, sponsorships, TV deals etc., was spent to set up
facilities for our youth to participate in various sports; they would spend
their time actually playing the games in their neighbourhood, rather than on the
passive dead ‘activity’ of viewing it on the TV screen. But this the sponsors
will never do, as their interest is in promoting their products, not cricket.
Cricket is merely the vehicle for the products of TNCs, and not vice-versa, as
is made out. Meanwhile, crores of cricket fans will continue to be duped by the
very cricketers they idolise — going crazy about India winning, when the outcome
is already pre-arranged !!
But in the present exploitative system nothing else
is possible. Just as in all other spheres, the rich can play sports in their
elite clubs and private arrangements; for the masses and middle-classes they
may, at best, view it on TV. It is only in a more equitable social system
that sports can really be made a people’s event, which it should be. Sports is
an important activity of social life which keeps the youth fit, healthy, alert
and lively. It must be promoted by any social system that puts the people’s
interest first. For example, in the Dandakaranya Guerrilla zone, for the
backward tribals which have known know sports at all, the CPI(ML)[People’s War]
party is teaching the youth volley ball, carom, etc., and have encouraged the
introduction of sports clubs in a number of villages. No doubt, it is this
experiment, that has some lessons for the country as a whole.
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