News
India at Play: Cricket vs other sports at Jaipur Literature Festival
Why is it only Cricket that is discussed in India? Why is Pele a Soccer icon in India and not Baichung Bhutia? Why does IPL get so many sponsors, while other sports are not even heard of? When did Cricket become the National Sport of India?
More than anything else, India believes in Cricket.
Why? Well, this was the question that Sidin Vadukut discussed with Suresh Menon, Anil Kumble, Ronojoy Sen and Baichung Bhutia at one of the various sessions at Jaipur Literature Festival. With those who have been into sports, be it while playing, coaching or writing about it, it definitely was the best time to launch the 2016 edition of Wisden India Almanak.
Launching the latest edition of the Bible of Cricket and not discuss Cricket?!
However, trying to go beyond just cricket, the panel discussed sports. Baichung Bhutia’s presence made sure it was Soccer and Anil Kumble’s made sure it Cricket at the centre. Well, once again … Why Cricket?
Suresh Menon believes that it is because Cricket started with Test matches. He suggests that since Cricket started with being a 5-day sports event, it managed to keep people glued to the radio, and then to TV. With people listening to the commentary continuously for 5 days meant people eventually started playing the game and thus the traditional love for Cricket.
Ronojoy Sen here brought attention to how in the 70-80s, women’s cricket too was looking at an upward graph, with the crowd cheering for Shanta even during men’s games! That was how popular the game was coming to be …
So how did Cricket gained this hype?
BCCI, that’s whom everyone on the discussion panel thanked. Everyone agreed that BCCI was able to sell the game, it corporatized the game, which wasn’t an easy journey. It did take them long.
Did it, really?
Anil Kumble was quick to chip-in here saying that there was time when Cricket paid low to its players, when Cricket too, like Soccer or Tennis or any other sport, was a luxury sport. But then, today we have a captain from Ranchi. Can we, in any other sport, imagine someone joining the league from Jharkhand and Bihar? And that’s why BCCI is to be thanked as it took pains and planning to reach the grassroots.
Grassroots of Soccer and other alternative sports
Baichung Bhutia, who is now a member of All India Football Federation, said that is where sports like Football need to reach too. And then continued the ever-lasting conversation of how other sports do not reach the grassroots, while BCCI hit it right there.
But how to reach the grassroots was the question that was left more or less unanswered; though Bhutia did give us a hint when he related an incident when the state level football associations asked Praful Patel, the All India Football Federation President, for football stadiums, however, none came up with suggestions and help to the Federation. Is that how state football associations plan to help football, asks Bhutia.
Etcetra and the burning issue
There was a lot many more things discussed. IPL, ISL, club culture, Soccer icons in India being Pele and Messi and not Bhutia, the book, what wasn’t discussed however was where the grassroots for other sports are in India and how do we reach them.
Are we ready learn from BCCI? Do we have patience to survive the long gap between reaching the grassroots to see those coming from the grassroots each the sky? Where exactly the grassroots of other sports are in India? How do we reach them? How do we strike a balance between the sky and grassroots?
Can we have any answers?
Image credits: Livemint