Has cricket hit all other sports for a six?
India has a proud history in Hockey winning the Olympic gold six times in a row (8 overall) since 1908 when hockey was included in the Olympics for the first at London. The Indian football team too had a golden run since Independence when they won the gold in Asian Games in New Delhi and Jakarta and in between also managed to reach the semi-finals in Olympics held at Melbourne in 1956. Yet, it is the Indian Cricket team that is the toast of the nation as it sits on top of the Test rankings and is in the top 3 of the ODI rankings while winning the inaugural T20 world championship.
BCCI is now accused of killing other sports at the expense of cricket with its introduction of IPL, a fun filled jamboree of T20 cricket based loosely on the English Premier League (soccer). Has IPL managed to snuff out all other sports in India? Or is it a temporary phenomenon?
Let us first understand the origin of these games in India before we start making a judgment on the state of affairs. The British officers as a part of their pastime in the colonies spread the game of cricket, hockey and football (soccer) throughout the world. Kolkata was the headquarters of the British rule and it is no wonder that all the three forms of the games have its origin in this city. Kolkata was the place where first field hockey tournament was held in 1895 (Beighton Cup), the first football club was formed (Mohan Bagan, 1889) and the first cricket match between Madras and Kolkata (1864) was also there! In fact the Calcutta Cricket and Football Club is known to have been in existence since 1792! Given that all the three started at the same time why it is that today cricket is far ahead of others and despite winning the hockey gold six times and being declared the national sport, hockey and football continue to flounder? The reasons can be traced on several fronts.
All the sports have been in an amateur form in India, be it cricket, hockey, football or badminton. The government has often encouraged sports through employment quota based on sporting ability as well as promoting teams. The armed services have encouraged sports. Railways, Port Trusts and several government enterprises have sporting teams wherein the players are employees of the respective organisations. Later, some of the corporates joined the bandwagon in forming sporting clubs and employing people on the sporting ability, yet sports have always remained an amateur field until the advent of IPL.
Credit to BCCI
The credit for bringing money in sports must go to BCCI. Till the late 1970s even cricket was in no better shape than hockey or football in India. Crickets were paid daily allowance for appearing in Test Cricket (ODIs had just began and were not played in any structured form in India till 1980). The only bonuses these players got were paid leave from the respective employers for appearing in Ranji trophy matches or Test matches. Kerry Packer changed all that when he introduced the World Series of Cricket in Australia and roped in top cricketers to play in coloured clothing, white ball and play under lights! Suddenly cricket elevated from a 5 day tedious spectacle to a 1 day entertainment sport! Not only did the audience love it, TV channels across the cricket loving countries also loved it! The ICC quickly stepped in and Kerry Packer was made to back track for a significant share of the TV spoils, but it sowed the seeds of commercialisation of cricket faster than anybody had imagined. BCCI was quick to see the potential and joined the bandwagon of making money. Sunny Gavaskar had earlier made sure that the spoils of the cricketing victories are shared with the players. Winning the world cup of 1983 only triggered the appetite of BCCI and the Champions Trophy victory in 1985 further confirmed the interest of BCCI that it was backing a winning horse.
India was undergoing a sea change in 1985, and for the first time, corporate sponsorship was not a pariah. Reliance quickly joined the bandwagon and the first World Cup outside England was hosted in India under the sponsorship of Reliance Industries. The airwaves in India were also opened up in 1991 and the economic boom that started since 1992 only added more wealth in to the sporting world and more TV channels to the air. Marketing companies were looking at avenues where they could reach out to the people and branding or rather celebrity endorsement took root in India. What were football associations, hockey associations, badminton association, and tennis associations doing during this period? Why were they not in the race to grab a share of the spoils? Despite producing world champions in billiards (Michael Ferreira, Geet Sethi to name a few), badminton (Prakash Padukone, Syed Modi), tennis (Amritraj Brothers, the Krishnans), Hockey (pargat singh and others), football, the respective associations never had the visionary people to take advantage of the changing situation. How many astro turfs have we invested in since the game of hockey changed? How many football clubs boast world class pitches? Why has there been no investment in infrastructure as BCCI has done?
No champion for other sport
Sadly, there was no Gavaskar amongst the footballers or hockey players who would fight for the right of players to enjoy the spoils. For Corporates it is always an ‘economic’ decision to promote brands through sports and they quickly found that the football, hockey, badminton had no formal structure in place to take advantage of the money coming in sports. Hockey, despite being branded the national sport (though that was only because we had won 6 golds and not because it originated in India), was in tatters due to infighting and overindulgence of officials who had no interest in taking the game further.
Despite football being the most popular sport in the world, in India it sadly never took off as the national structure was in tatter and despite hosting the third oldest tournament in the world since late 1800s (Durand Cup), football never enjoyed the structure that cricket did. Again, the excessive meddling of non-playing administrators killed the promotion of sports.
On the other hand BCCI, had enough cricketers amongst its ranks and astute businessmen to support it and making sure that the structure and national team selection was done on a more concrete basis. One may find fault with the quota system and rotational system of BCCI, but it least ensured that all the states, regions have a representation and hence cricket took off as a national sport and was played in every street corner. BCCI took advantage of this and though it was a reluctant member of the first T20 world cup, the victory in South Africa only increased its appetite for more. Then the formation of ICL only fuelled its ambition to create IPL. Thus was born the fun-packed jamboree!
It is not that corporates have not supported hockey or football; take a look at what Tata’s tried to do with super soccer in late 1980s or Sahara did with hockey in late 1990s. But the lack of administrative structure, apathy of players and self-indulgence has been the cause of the state of affairs for these sports. It is not the IPL or cricket that has driven them to state of despair but its own doings that have contributed to the sorry state.
It’s all up to the sports bodies
Unless the sporting bodies themselves don’t create a structure and succession planning for the sport and a feel good factor for the sponsors, it is not going to be easy. Take the case of West Indies cricket. The once famed cricketing isles are today suffering due lack of structure, infighting and general apathy. Take New Zealand’s own example, the Olympic teams have been winning golds in several events, yet they are not sure of sending a bigger team next time as they are lacking funds. How easy it is for them to crib about Rugby getting all the spoils (and rightly so!)
Yet, they are looking at their own structure and promotion before blaming anybody. Hockey India and India Football Association also need to take a closer look at themselves before pointing finger at Cricket. It does not help when your sports minister also joins the bandwagon of cricket bashing, when he himself was at the helm of Hockey and contributed to its downfall.
FIH (International Hockey Federation) is on the record stating that the recently concluded hockey world cup was the most ‘commercially’ successful tournament in its history and they would like to involve India in all future programmes. But is Hockey India listening and ready to take advantage of this? The often repeated accusation that cricket has all the money is a myth as the ‘commercial’ success of Hockey world cup has proven.
So, to round up, if other sporting bodies take a cue from BCCI, and instead of just thinking that the associations are fiefdom of power, start actually creating a formal structure for the growth of the games, there are enough youngsters interested, but is anybody willing to give it a go? Or are we still going to debate till death on national TV and keep procrastinating about cricket’s influence? It’s a commercial world; wake up before it’s too late! Till then enjoy the spectacle of IPL3!
India has a proud history in Hockey winning the Olympic gold six times in a row (8 overall) since 1908 when hockey was included in the Olympics for the first at London. The Indian football team too had a golden run since Independence when they won the gold in Asian Games in New Delhi and Jakarta...
India has a proud history in Hockey winning the Olympic gold six times in a row (8 overall) since 1908 when hockey was included in the Olympics for the first at London. The Indian football team too had a golden run since Independence when they won the gold in Asian Games in New Delhi and Jakarta and in between also managed to reach the semi-finals in Olympics held at Melbourne in 1956. Yet, it is the Indian Cricket team that is the toast of the nation as it sits on top of the Test rankings and is in the top 3 of the ODI rankings while winning the inaugural T20 world championship.
BCCI is now accused of killing other sports at the expense of cricket with its introduction of IPL, a fun filled jamboree of T20 cricket based loosely on the English Premier League (soccer). Has IPL managed to snuff out all other sports in India? Or is it a temporary phenomenon?
Let us first understand the origin of these games in India before we start making a judgment on the state of affairs. The British officers as a part of their pastime in the colonies spread the game of cricket, hockey and football (soccer) throughout the world. Kolkata was the headquarters of the British rule and it is no wonder that all the three forms of the games have its origin in this city. Kolkata was the place where first field hockey tournament was held in 1895 (Beighton Cup), the first football club was formed (Mohan Bagan, 1889) and the first cricket match between Madras and Kolkata (1864) was also there! In fact the Calcutta Cricket and Football Club is known to have been in existence since 1792! Given that all the three started at the same time why it is that today cricket is far ahead of others and despite winning the hockey gold six times and being declared the national sport, hockey and football continue to flounder? The reasons can be traced on several fronts.
All the sports have been in an amateur form in India, be it cricket, hockey, football or badminton. The government has often encouraged sports through employment quota based on sporting ability as well as promoting teams. The armed services have encouraged sports. Railways, Port Trusts and several government enterprises have sporting teams wherein the players are employees of the respective organisations. Later, some of the corporates joined the bandwagon in forming sporting clubs and employing people on the sporting ability, yet sports have always remained an amateur field until the advent of IPL.
Credit to BCCI
The credit for bringing money in sports must go to BCCI. Till the late 1970s even cricket was in no better shape than hockey or football in India. Crickets were paid daily allowance for appearing in Test Cricket (ODIs had just began and were not played in any structured form in India till 1980). The only bonuses these players got were paid leave from the respective employers for appearing in Ranji trophy matches or Test matches. Kerry Packer changed all that when he introduced the World Series of Cricket in Australia and roped in top cricketers to play in coloured clothing, white ball and play under lights! Suddenly cricket elevated from a 5 day tedious spectacle to a 1 day entertainment sport! Not only did the audience love it, TV channels across the cricket loving countries also loved it! The ICC quickly stepped in and Kerry Packer was made to back track for a significant share of the TV spoils, but it sowed the seeds of commercialisation of cricket faster than anybody had imagined. BCCI was quick to see the potential and joined the bandwagon of making money. Sunny Gavaskar had earlier made sure that the spoils of the cricketing victories are shared with the players. Winning the world cup of 1983 only triggered the appetite of BCCI and the Champions Trophy victory in 1985 further confirmed the interest of BCCI that it was backing a winning horse.
India was undergoing a sea change in 1985, and for the first time, corporate sponsorship was not a pariah. Reliance quickly joined the bandwagon and the first World Cup outside England was hosted in India under the sponsorship of Reliance Industries. The airwaves in India were also opened up in 1991 and the economic boom that started since 1992 only added more wealth in to the sporting world and more TV channels to the air. Marketing companies were looking at avenues where they could reach out to the people and branding or rather celebrity endorsement took root in India. What were football associations, hockey associations, badminton association, and tennis associations doing during this period? Why were they not in the race to grab a share of the spoils? Despite producing world champions in billiards (Michael Ferreira, Geet Sethi to name a few), badminton (Prakash Padukone, Syed Modi), tennis (Amritraj Brothers, the Krishnans), Hockey (pargat singh and others), football, the respective associations never had the visionary people to take advantage of the changing situation. How many astro turfs have we invested in since the game of hockey changed? How many football clubs boast world class pitches? Why has there been no investment in infrastructure as BCCI has done?
No champion for other sport
Sadly, there was no Gavaskar amongst the footballers or hockey players who would fight for the right of players to enjoy the spoils. For Corporates it is always an ‘economic’ decision to promote brands through sports and they quickly found that the football, hockey, badminton had no formal structure in place to take advantage of the money coming in sports. Hockey, despite being branded the national sport (though that was only because we had won 6 golds and not because it originated in India), was in tatters due to infighting and overindulgence of officials who had no interest in taking the game further.
Despite football being the most popular sport in the world, in India it sadly never took off as the national structure was in tatter and despite hosting the third oldest tournament in the world since late 1800s (Durand Cup), football never enjoyed the structure that cricket did. Again, the excessive meddling of non-playing administrators killed the promotion of sports.
On the other hand BCCI, had enough cricketers amongst its ranks and astute businessmen to support it and making sure that the structure and national team selection was done on a more concrete basis. One may find fault with the quota system and rotational system of BCCI, but it least ensured that all the states, regions have a representation and hence cricket took off as a national sport and was played in every street corner. BCCI took advantage of this and though it was a reluctant member of the first T20 world cup, the victory in South Africa only increased its appetite for more. Then the formation of ICL only fuelled its ambition to create IPL. Thus was born the fun-packed jamboree!
It is not that corporates have not supported hockey or football; take a look at what Tata’s tried to do with super soccer in late 1980s or Sahara did with hockey in late 1990s. But the lack of administrative structure, apathy of players and self-indulgence has been the cause of the state of affairs for these sports. It is not the IPL or cricket that has driven them to state of despair but its own doings that have contributed to the sorry state.
It’s all up to the sports bodies
Unless the sporting bodies themselves don’t create a structure and succession planning for the sport and a feel good factor for the sponsors, it is not going to be easy. Take the case of West Indies cricket. The once famed cricketing isles are today suffering due lack of structure, infighting and general apathy. Take New Zealand’s own example, the Olympic teams have been winning golds in several events, yet they are not sure of sending a bigger team next time as they are lacking funds. How easy it is for them to crib about Rugby getting all the spoils (and rightly so!)
Yet, they are looking at their own structure and promotion before blaming anybody. Hockey India and India Football Association also need to take a closer look at themselves before pointing finger at Cricket. It does not help when your sports minister also joins the bandwagon of cricket bashing, when he himself was at the helm of Hockey and contributed to its downfall.
FIH (International Hockey Federation) is on the record stating that the recently concluded hockey world cup was the most ‘commercially’ successful tournament in its history and they would like to involve India in all future programmes. But is Hockey India listening and ready to take advantage of this? The often repeated accusation that cricket has all the money is a myth as the ‘commercial’ success of Hockey world cup has proven.
So, to round up, if other sporting bodies take a cue from BCCI, and instead of just thinking that the associations are fiefdom of power, start actually creating a formal structure for the growth of the games, there are enough youngsters interested, but is anybody willing to give it a go? Or are we still going to debate till death on national TV and keep procrastinating about cricket’s influence? It’s a commercial world; wake up before it’s too late! Till then enjoy the spectacle of IPL3!
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