sporting headlines

seems my life has been filled with cricket recently. the IPL left our shores, and once again we were glued to a forty inch box, to watch the ICC limited over cricket at lords. i have discovered that i am a great fan of cricket, most especially the armchair sports variety, though attending a limited overs game now and then is great fun.for me possibly the doughnuts smothered in melted chocolate is the attraction.

i supported the proteas with a great deal of vigour and hoped that the bad luck fairy, would be kind, and we would finally see a cricketing trophy gracing the south African cricket board shelves. alas it was not to be, once again it was so near yet so far. i thought after watching Sri Lanka demolish the West indies.an unbeaten 96 runs from tillakeratne dilshan, some impressive bowling from muralidaran, made me believe that the final, up against boom boom Afridi, was going to be an edge of the seat experience. i should have known better. it was a final after all.

Sri lanka folded like a bad poker hand. the game was over, before the first ball was bowled,...Pakistan had the good luck cricketing fairies on their side. Afridi did a brilliant job with both bat and ball,as i witnessed the Sri Lankan batting order collapse i couldn't help but believe, that South Africa, might have given Pakistan some tougher opposition.

the cry of Pakistan Zindabad reverberated the world over, as every expat immigrant Pakistani, found their patriotic voices, which only seems to rise out of the ashes, when the men in green, find victory on the cricket pitch. i have not witnessed such zealousness, and patriotism at any other time, either on my visits to Pakistan or in my dealings with Pakistanis outside of their country.

the next morning my facebook homepage was awash with congratulations for Pakistan, my own status, hailing their win, it all deteriorated into disappointment, when some of my Pakistani friends, assumed that celebrating victory, was reason to humiliate their opponents. i am firmly of the belief, that in victory, their must be graciousness and humility, that as good as the victor gives, so his/her opponents
give of their best, when i read these headline notices on facebook, i could not help, but be moved to respond.
"well played boys! Koi nai! Koi nai! No big deal"
"70 to 6 baby!"
"come on boys! show the suckers the power of green"
Un-beatable? Un challenged eh??...Die- suckers Die!!! PAKISTAN ZINDABAD"
AND THE ONE THAT KILLED ME:
"do i see my SA friends choking on their words?
shahid afridi a big chumma!....Sri Lanka go back to blackland. the future is green. PAKISTAN ZINDABAD!.....

Modern day sports is much like ancient gladiators locked in battle to survive, the spectators baying for blood, anticipating death, like wise we cheer on our national teams, cry tears at their losses, and bay for our opponents blood, but all in the name of good sportsmanship, healthy rivalries. what shocked me to the corp, was the blatant aggression and racism inherent, in the remarks above. we have carried the colonial flag, that black is weak, black is bad, black is to be opressed into our lives.

having lived and been born into a country, where my every moment in life was governed by the colour of my skin, where i could eat, where i could sleep, where i could shit, "DIE SLEGS BLANKES " (ONLY WHITES) signs of my life, ingrained deep within my psyche and those of every south African. has left scars and a deep rooted pain. i find tears roll down my cheeks as i write this, and i cry for the losses incurred by being racist. my stomach churned at the words "GO BACK TO BLACKLAND"...how can any young educated woman, as strongly as her patriotic fervour had arisen in her heart, show such disrespect, to a team and a country, who had acquitted themselves so well during this tournament. i could not help but respond.

the sad part was realising, that both arrogance and stupidity are a lethal combination, as my response was totally misunderstood, the fact that Pakistan was victorious was justification enough to be racist, and her friends were in agreement.
never once in two days of comments going back and forth, did anyone apologise for being racist. it astounds me and boggles the mind, Pakistani immigrants, find themselves being racially attacked on a regular basis, the slur of "paki go home", resounds around the streets of London,and other countries that people have immigrated to. i say this, having been attacked in this manner, on a visit to london. as i walked down a suburban street, uncouth ill mannered british "white" construction workers, yelled out "paki go home", it cut deep, and i could only excuse it away, because they were uneducated, manual labourers who were just jealous...right?
having witnessed Pakistani pilgrims in Saudi Arabia being manhadlded just because they are Pakistani, and South Africans torch Pakistani businesses, because these immigrants are seen as a threat.i cannot condone then that pakistani's would behave in the same manner, surely we treat others as we would like to be treated.

knowing all this it irritated me, that (I am generalising here i am sure)...that Pakistani nationals themselves could exhibit, such demeaning racist behaviour towards a sporting opponent, who were both gracious in defeat as well as in victory.
has our education an evolution as a species, been so sorely lacking that we are so unforgiving in our approach to other people. my mistake was believing that the woman i addressed had intelligence and grace, i obviously credited her with more than she deserved.

she became a sore indictment to Pakistan, and reason in my mind at least, that Pakistan has a long way to go, before she can progress and become a respected player in this world. if the people that make up a nation, more importantly their mind set has not evolved beyond the gutter, than how can a country make any progress in the world. political change happens, rulers and ruling parties come and go. unless the thinking and mindset of a people are not changed their can never be any hope for a country to prosper and be better than it is. if you cannot respect yourself, never believe that the world will ever respect you.