As clichés go, this one has been used so tirelessly and with such frequency that I can’t for the life of me understand why people’s heads don’t explode at the mere mention of it. Mine probably just did, which is why I’ve decided to write this before getting some much needed rest. You know which one I’m talking about. not the lame title of this post, but “SPORTS AND POLITICS SHOULD NOT MIX!” How many of you genuinely believe that they rarely don’t? At best it is idealistic, at worst it is stupidly whimsical and realistically it is impractical. But what annoys me the most is it’s hypocritical usage.
Take your mind back a few years to the “friendship” series that were organized between India and Pakistan. If the focus was purely sport and cricket, what exactly was the need for naming it so. The idea cuts into the very heart of politics and diplomacy, but because it seems to be associated with “bettering relations” it is somehow okay to suddenly infuse a little bit of politics with sport. This is nothing new though and it isn’t restricted to India and Pakistan. Nor has it been restricted to cricket. Whether you like it or not, sports has always been used as a political tool, perhaps even from the very first Olympic Games.
But its one of those self righteous phrases which seems to end all arguments. Even when there are several good ones to be made. Take this IPL auction for example. It is true that no Pakistani players were selected, but then no Bangladeshi players were bought either. And there was certainly one very good one on offer, good enough to be the best allrounder in the world according to the ICC rankings. As pointed out by Nesta Quin and Aditya in the comments’ section of the previous post, the franchises made judicious selections based primarily on the availability of players for the entire duration of the IPL. That is why the likes of Brad Haddin and Doug Bollinger weren’t bought despite being excellent picks. It didn’t help either that there was a paucity of available slots. Take a close look at all the players selected and you’ll have to agree with the statements made by the franchise owners: that they all have very specific roles and are available for the duration of the tournament.
