In an article on his Lewis Hamilton moment,
Michael Atherton, former captain of the English cricket team and the current Chief Cricket Correspondent of The Times brings forth a interesting but unoriginal thought.
Michael Atherton, former captain of the English cricket team and the current Chief Cricket Correspondent of The Times brings forth a interesting but unoriginal thought.There is a deeply moral thread running through our attitudes to our sportsmen. It is not enough to win or to try to win, everything must be seen to be completely above board as well, even though everybody who has played sport knows that rules, laws or conventions are pushed to the limit and often beyond. This morality is a hangover from the days of empire, when sport was seen as essential to the building of moral character, which was, in turn, seen as essential to empire-building. The biggest crime of all is not losing but not playing fair.
Leaving aside the fact that sportsmen or in our case cricketers are human, I wonder why cricket more than any other sport imposes such a high premium on playing fair.
As cricket has long ceased to be a ‘gentlemen’s game’ and not to put a fine point to it, there is hardly any ‘gentleman’ in the true sense of the word currently playing international cricket why do we still worry of ‘fair play’?
Any thoughts?
4 comments:
The game is still a gentlemans game , only those who play and control the game have become conscious about making money. LOng back took a ground catch and immediately signalled it was not on. When did you see such a thing last time. Now they pluck it from the ground and keep quiet .
I dont think it was ever a Gentlemans game. Besides the fact that the cricketers of the past wore trousers and buttoned shirts, there was nothing gentlemanly abt those cricketers.
And who said a Gentleman has to take part in fair play anyway?
And what does Athers mean when he says no one plays fair?
They're all fair.. they just play hard!
Gentlemen my @$$!
lviss,
Even in those days, you were thought to be a fool if you accepted that it is a bump catch.
Remember the famous Vishy incident in the Jubilee Test match?
Q,
Gentlemen my @$$!- To quote NC - "I like the way you think. :)
Post a Comment