The Abyss
of Hype – Cricket and its Martyrs
With
World Cup Cricket, sports seems to be
turning into the primal spectacle that
it was in the beginning. Here also, you
either lose your scalp or win it.
First came the debacle
of the Indian team. They were defeated
by the young Bangladeshis for a convincing
margin. Then came the reports about the
murder of Bob Woolmer, coach to the Pakistan
team. Both these have sent tremours through
the cricketing establishment in the sub
continent. For, in the sub continent,
cricket is not just another game but a
religion that vegetates on the fanatic.
And this religion is one which in turn
is sponsored and fuelled by the media
and the advertisement industry.
These two incidents throw
sinister light on the financial and moral
economy of the game as it is 'played'
at present. According to reports, if Indian
team fails to make it to the Super Eight
stage, it is going to topple the apple
cart. It will affect the revenue –
advertisements, television rights etc
– to a huge extent. Some predict
that it could be as high as 70 per cent
of the revenues expected from the tournament.
According to industry sources, a ten seconds
advertisement on television during a match
in which India is participating has been
sold for as much as Rs.5 lakhs plus. And
for the other games it is around Rs 1.50
lakhs. This has been marketed and sold
in the belief that india would play as
many games, or all the games at least
upto the Super Eight league stage. Ironically,
we are witness to a strange situation
where the very people who created the
hype ending up believing in it themselves!
Only the media and the corporates seems
to have the stupidity to bank on the talents
of the tigers our players have been made
out to be! The debacle of Team India at
the hands of Bangladesh got all the real
players into a panic - the sponsors, media
buyers, the ICC, the travel trade, ad
agencies, TV channels etc. It is estimated
that if India fails to qualify for the
Super Eight "it would put into jeopardy
about Rs 350 crores worth of television
money, roughly $300 million of sponsorship
money, and ICC's forthcoming global sponsorship
deals, bids for which are currently open
at $60 - $80 million per sponsor"
(Economic Times, 19 th March 2007).
Obviously, it is
not an open, gentleman's game of fair
chances any more. It has turned out to
be a gambler's den where fortunes are
made and ruined. In this frenzy, the first
casualty is sense of proportion and priority.
Our players, who earn more from advertisements
than from the game, are made out to be
crusaders, out on the war front to win
the scalp for India. Only by creating
such a mass frenzy and desire to win the
cup can the viewership be maintained.
And for that, one needs heroes to sustain
the frenzy and the hope. Obviously, the
match is played not on the pitch but outside
the stadium; it is a game played by sycophants,
jingoists, and fanatics on the one side
and ad agencies, speculators and corporates
on the other. Only casualty is the spirit
of the game. This is something that became
heartwrenchingly evident in the tragic
event of the death of Woolmer at the tournament.
If it is an indicator of things to come,
the dark side seems to have won over this
'gentleman's game'. Ultimately, the game
is finding itself in the morass and abyss
of the hype that it has begun to believe
in.
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