Kushan Mitra
Sports in the age of multi-channel live television has become a global multi-billion dollar business. Today it is possible to watch almost every live tournament sitting anywhere in the world with an Internet connection. Yet, while viewing sport has become democratised, some sports bodies have increasingly become undemocratic, stuck under a labyrinthine maze of rules which seems opaque not just to the casual viewer but also to the seasoned investigator.
Nothing reflects the crisis facing sports bodies as much as those that are being encountered by the global football federation, the Fédération Internationale de Football Association, and the Indian cricket body, the Board of Control for Cricket in India.
Thankfully, unlike the crisis facing Formula One, which is deep in the throes of a financial problem, cricket and football continue to be healthy sports with huge global participation and millions of active players.
But when the Supreme Court came down with some scathing observations on the functioning of the Board of Control for Cricket in India and how the body practises ‘democracy’, people did sit up and take notice. These damning observations, while not a judgement, focussed on how the BCCI has become a chummy club of powerful people and has not done enough to raise the game in India.
India is, and will remain despite the appearance of a myriad of small professional leagues of other sports, a cricket-loving country in the immediate future unless something dramatic were to happen. The possibility of something dramatic happening is not beyond the realm of imagination, with the Mudgal report sanctioned by the Supreme Court allegedly containing the names of some star players in India. The news of the observations by the Supreme Court were, however, buried in the newspapers due to the tragic death of Australian cricketer Phillip Hughes. Yet, while Hughes death has led many cricketers to introspect about the sport and camaraderie, any future Supreme Court judgement on the BCCI will have far wider implications for the sport, particularly given that the BCCI contains the grease that allows the global cricket machinery to function.
But, just like prior allegations and charges of match-fixing did little to dull the enthusiasm of spectators and fans, with one of the dramatis personae in that case even going on to become a people’s representative in Parliament, most seasoned observers think that this crisis shall pass as well.
Whether it does or not, remains to be seen. But, unless India starts playing badly on the field, it is unlikely that cricket’s popularity will dip – no matter what the fate will be of BCCI chief N Srinivasan, his son-in-law and his cricket team, the Chennai Super Kings. But while cricket’s popularity is unlikely to wane instantly in India, it could face a severe challenge, particularly in this era of hyper-competitive news networks and instant
information dissemination. Cricket faces an existential crisis in India, whether the authorities who manage the sport realise it or not. If the Supreme Court is hard, cricket will have to work overtime to repair its image, the sport will not die, but trust in the higher echelons of the sport might.
Cricket is also going to face more and more sports as challengers in India. In the time-gap of 30 years, when India won its first World Cup, television viewership has exploded; today there are over 15 dedicated sports television channels available. And, the sport that has grown the most is undoubtedly football.
India’s latest experiment with a professional football league bringing in retired European superstars to play here has enjoyed a small modicum of success. Indian kids wear team jerseys of their favourite European clubs and players. But the crisis surrounding the BCCI pales in comparison to the crisis that now engulfs the global football’s governing body, Fifa.
The Fédération Internationale de Football Association has been around for 110 years and governs the world’s simplest and longest enduring game. Kicking a round object around seems to have been part of humanity for a few millennia. Fifa organises the World Cup, and it held a highly successful tournament in Brazil earlier this year. However, the crisis in Fifa has to do with the next two World Cups in 2018 and 2022, which were oddly bid for together and won by Russia and Qatar respectively.
Fifa, which produced a big-budget film on itself, which, much like the Brazilian World Cup team, imploded, has been facing allegations of corruption and bribery around the awarding of those two World Cups. The latter award to Qatar has been criticised globally, with loud and open questions about how the tournament will be played on the Arab Peninsula in the middle of the summer. The calls for clarity and openness have reached the office of Sepp Blatter, the President of FIFA.
