Who Are The Real Fans?

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Published on Wednesday, 01 February 2012 17:33

Written by Umhar Samsudeen

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The newest Columnist on www.thepapare.com. Our very own Umhar Samsudeen reporting from the 'Land down under'

Every time a national team of any sport that does well, it gets all the support with the whole nation being behind them.

This is especially true when Sri Lanka or India are winning cricket. But sadly it doesn’t occur in the same manner when the result favours the opposition. Most if not many supporters turn their backs against their teams and starts the ‘Blame Game’ finding various reasons, conduct post mortems to find out and point the finger at certain individuals or groups for the loss or failures or their teams performances. Haphazard blame is laid on some poor soul, sometimes giving encouragement to needless action from the administration at times.

What the supporters fail grasp is that if they were put in similar situation as the players or administrators for that matter, what would they do? Will it make much of a difference?

Taking a look at the year that passed us by, India and Sri Lanka ended meeting each other in the final of cricket’s most prestigious event, the ICC Cricket World Cup where India ended as winners in a game which had quite a twist with Sri Lanka making a mammoth total for a final and getting two big breakthroughs of the ‘Little Master’ himself SachinTendulkar and the very explosive Virender Sehwag but still being unable to defend it.

Yes, it does bring many thoughts to the minds of supporters and also other folks who follow the game. However coming back to the point, during this period the streets in every part of the world was crowded with Indian fans celebrating their victory of the world cup after a 28 year wait.

In the meantime Sri Lanka was also in a dominant position in the ICC ODI rankings which meant that Sri Lanka was also doing considerably well. Of course fans were disappointed at the fact that they lost to the neighbouring nation. But nevertheless Sri Lanka was good enough to make the finals by taking down some strong opposition.

However taking a look at the current situation where the Lankans and Indians have being putting up horrible performances like being bowled out for 46 and losing three games in a row of which two were finished even before half the due days of the game ended, most fans have started to turn their backs at the teams they support.  When speaking to a few cricket fanatics most of them blamed either the captaincy or the lack of commitment by the players. This can be heard more often than not by fans who do not follow the game passionately or the ones who follow the game just to be ‘in the scene’.

What many people fail to understand is that, even in life it is a cycle that keeps going around. Like players, teams too face bad patches and it becomes very much visible especially when the poor performances come after a great series prior to the slump.

In Sri Lanka’s case more than half the population blames T.M Dilshan for poor captaincy on and off the field. Well I personally feel that it is wrong to point the finger at an individual particularly like Dilshan who gives 100% on the field. If some of the people who blame him were in his shoes would there have been a change in the outcome I wonder?

Whilst understanding the fact of going through a rough period as a team we must also consider the fact that Dilshan took up the captaincy when nobody else was willing to take up the role. In addition the fact of the team being in a re-building stage specially after the retirement of some of the key players or players who carried a massive amount of weight of the team on their shoulders such as Murali, Vaas and not forgetting the legendary Sanath Jayasuriya is also one of the major factors that any team would have to face.

Even the mighty Aussies faced a bit of a tough time when Hayden, Warne, Gilchrist and McGrath retired within a short span of time they did struggle to find replacements as good as them in the initial stages. But thanks to their structure of cricket that runs in the domestic circles they did not take too long to adapt to the situation and make necessary changes to get back on track. As of now they are on a dream run and they also have the luxury of a great set of cricketers coming through the ranks even to replace the ones who have been sidelined by injury even after putting up good performances. Quick bowler Pat Cummins who had a great start to his career with a five wicket haul against South Africa but was unfortunate to get injured. His replacement James Pattinson continued from where Cummins left by ending up with 25 wickets in the four tests he played until he was struck with injury.

Even when taking a look at the scenario the Indian cricket team is currently facing, they have all the big names in the likes of Tendulkar, Dravid, Laxman Dhoni and Sehwag who are with no doubt some of the greatest cricketers in the history of the modern game who have put up splendid performances to make their nation proud but all of them seem to be having a bad patch at the moment which any cricketer would face.

Unfortunately for India they all seem to face it at the same time. Due to this factor many Indian fans I met in Australia at the moment have either stopped watching cricket or doesn’t want to talk about cricket simply because the Indians are in a massive rut where they seem unable to come out of. The behaviour and the chat of the fans were not the same during the period where the world cup was taking place and after. All they spoke about was how they are the greatest in the world. I personally had to face some criticism and also a fair dose of sledging while playing cricket by many people where the Indians take a special place in that lot.

Deviating from cricket, I have seen many English or British supporters who follow and are proud of their football teams and are not afraid to say that they still do and always will support their team regardless of the outcome of the game. Now they are real supporters.

However the question that arises out of this matter of the reaction of fans or supporters who hail from the sub continent puzzles me. If they are real supporters of the game of glorious uncertainties they really should be ready for the uncertainties that come with the game. So who are the real fans?

Sumsudeen is currently coaching a premiership winning Australian domestic side ‘Taipans’ and was a former U-17 and U-19 Junior national cricket representative.