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Let me be perfectly honest. When this whole 'cricket match-fixing stuff ' first hit the news waves, I said to myself " How could they? ", " Oh No !, not another scandal " etc. etc.
I even lost interest in the sport which I love most. But then, several months passed and I started thinking about it.
" Excuse me ! ", I said to myself.
Cricket is the first sport I remember. The Sunday matches the grown-ups played, the Test Match commentaries and the various reports in the Times of India. Why, we even had our own 'kiddie matches' with the tennis ball, a light cricket bat and box or something like that, for stumps. And it was fun, even the arguments about LBW ( leg before wicket ).
We eventually graduated from the garden variety of cricket to playing with a real cricket ball. Yes, we needed pads but could find only find enough funds to afford one pad per batsman. If we got hit on the other leg - ouch ! but tough ! Yes, we did learn though. How to avoid the ball and how to score a few runs off the 'bad' ball. Then came School and University level cricket. Those of us who were heading for the professional fields were given a choice: " either study for the profession or play cricket". Oh ! what a cruel blow that was to our hopes, dreams, aspirations and not to forget, our ego.
Years passed and we devised new variations of cricket. Living in major cities called for "Indoor Cricket" using a squash ball and modified rules. It was fun, there were the same vociferous appeals, the same disagreement with the umpire's decisions and the same disappointment at having lost the match !
Not too long thereafter, came satellite television and the internet with Live TV broadcasts of cricket matches and radio commentary via Real Audio.
It was both exciting and nostalgic. Wow !, it was good to hear commentary from India and see Indian cricket grounds on TV.
Then ! this 'match-fixing' saga blew up all over the place.
It appears that players from some teams especially India, Pakistan, South Africa and Australia intentionally 'threw away' matches in return for payments. England is the only major country yet to be tainted by this accusation of 'intentionally losing' a match. From recent form, it appears that the England cricket team did not require to "throw away" any match in order to lose. They lost matches naturally and quite regularly - all without effort
I now say to myself " What is the big deal about this match fixing " ?
Is it against the law to lose, albeit intentionally? It may not be ethical, but Is it illegal ?
But what about the " Crores of Rupees of undeclared wealth ", on which Income and wealth tax was not paid ?
I agree, that is illegal but a set of ethical questions pop up.
1. What is the Government doing with the taxes? 2. Are the taxes being utilized for the purposes they are supposed to used for ? or 2b. Are they being squandered in the various Scamming Schemes, we hear about and the VIP Foreign Travel Junkets, we know about? 3. Are any of the taxes collected from Cricket and the Cricketers used for the development of the game, its facilities and in the welfare of ageing cricketers, many of whom are languishing incognito and poverito, in many parts of the country. And finally, 4. Are Cricketers, the only ones who deserve the much publicized Income Tax raids?
As far as I am concerned, the only problem I would have is IF ANY cricketer or cricket official interfered negatively with the career of an up and coming cricketer or other citizen, with the leverage of the accumulated wealth and the resultant political contacts.
Apart from that, this whole hullabaloo about this unfortunate and definitely unethical affair, is Political circus and unadulterated Gas !
Think about it, like I did, one fine morning while strolling on delightful Cable Beach, in Nassau. Then you too might join me and say about all this and say: Yeah Right !
just my view
©José Colaço
July 3, 2000